Co-Presidents report – 12 September, 2024
Our guest speaker this week was Melissa Abel, of the Bendigo Sustainability Group. It was very interesting to learn how the Group has gone from strength to strength in the years since its formation, to become an important resource
of information and practical help in trying to minimise our impact on our environment, and in particular, locally.
Businesses, as well as individuals, have benefited from their involvement with the BSG, and continue to do so. It was also very pleasing to receive acknowledgement and thanks from Melissa that a donation we made to the BSG in 2023 enabled 4 local families get solar panels fitted to their properties, which will result in significant savings for them for years to come. Jim’s report on Melissa’s presentation explains much more fully the role and impact of the
BSG in our local area.
In our previous bulletin, there was a brief report on the opening ceremony of the new premises of Foodshare, in
Breen St, Golden Square, which took place last Friday morning. Following are some photos we took on the day
which try to give a sense of the size and functionality of the new premises, which will be an immense boon to all
employees and volunteers who work there. Again, we should take pride in being of assistance so far to Foodshare, and no doubt, our involvement with this excellent, but sadly-needed organisation.
At Tuesday nights’ board meeting, it was resolved to join with Inner Wheel Bendigo in running a radio campaign on local station KLFM. The idea behind this initiative is to promote awareness of both organisations in our local area, so
that the activities of both become better known, with the ultimate aim of recruiting new members. We think the demographic of the KLFM listeners is suited to us, and hope that we are of interest to them. We also intend to try to
get concurrent coverage in the Bendigo Advertiser in order to maximise the impact of the campaign. We’ll give it our best shot to make it interesting and engaging, so time will tell if this strategy has been useful.
IF MEMBERS HAVE IDEAS ON TOPICS, THEMES, ACTIVITIES OR PROJECTS of our club they think the public would like to know about or get involved in, then please contact me, Ray, for inclusion in our campaign. Any and all ideas will be most welcome.
Other decisions taken by the board at the meeting were to - continue supporting the Body Safety Awareness Program at Lightning Reef Primary School; support the cost of 2 students attending the Rotary Sailing Challenge, held in Port Phillip Bay later this month; and joining with other local clubs to support a number of students wishing to participate in the National Youth Science Forum, either in Canberra or Brisbane, in January next year.
Further details about these decisions, as well as several others taken at the meeting, can be found on our Clubrunner website in the next couple of weeks.
It was lovely to see one of our past members, Kathryn Mackenzie, attend our meeting and tell us a little bit about what she has been up to for roughly the last 5 years. We hope to see more of her when she has the time to visit us.
Kathryn has already agreed to be a guest speaker at a mutually convenient time, to give us an insight into the tourism industry in Victoria and Australia more generally.
Our District Governor, Michael Lapina, accompanied by his wife, Nina, will be our special guest at our meeting on Wednesday, 25th , later this month. He will tell us of his vision for our district this Rotary year, and has made mention
already that partners of members are very welcome to come along on the day. If you are unable to attend personally on the day, don’t forget that you can still participate via our Zoom link published in our bulletin.
