Those on raffle duty, it is only the selling of the tickets, the club has accepted to responsibility for the prizes. There will be a container of mixed prizes held in the store room of the tennis club.
Director’s reports, are due no later than 10th of June. Please e-mail Paul Henderson with your reports, also try to support Paul in collating the end of Rotary year annual report with photos from your directorship
Thanks to all the members who helped out at lightning Reef primary school last Wednesday, cooking the BBQ as part of education week.
Update on Olive harvest, 32 litres of fantastic oil now residing in my shed awaiting to be bottled in seven weeks.
Weekend saw the Club’s annual fellowship pilgrimage to Barham. Another great weekend for about 24 of us. With trips to the Murrabit market and local pubs always a favorite and my understanding was everybody was well behaved. It was noted an empty bottle of scotch was spotted at the camp kitchen?? Thanks Kev for another well-organized trip.
This Sunday Judy and I attended a Cluster meeting at Echuca. Generally these meetings have been held via zoom or over the phone. Main items on the agenda below.
Introduction of incoming Presidents.
Sharing of a major positive in the past Rotary year from each club. Most clubs were effected early in their year by Covid, but generally returned to normal operations from November onwards.
Opportunities for interclub cooperative projects and sharing member’s capabilities and capacities, especially on big projects as clubs have ageing membership.
Major goals for the 2022/23 Rotary year.
Cluster structure in future years. Potential to reunite North and South to one cluster?
The guest speakers for the meeting were Mikaela Stafrace, Kerry Kornhauser and Sheryl Batrourney of Women Can Australia. Women Can Australia is a not for profit and self funded organisation which supports women reconnecting with the workforce. Breaks in employment and family breakdown often make it very challenging for women to find work. Mikaela was moved to action when she saw first hand a well presented woman washing her hair in a public toilet. 75,000 Victorian women spend each night facing the challenges of homelessness.
Women in these situations need a lot of support in transitioning to work. The strategy for this involves creating a community of women and in the first instance connecting them to traditional areas of work such as aged care and child care. There is a particular focus on women moving into the trades in Melbourne. This will become a priority in the near future in Bendigo where Sheryl is based. Sheryl oversees the operation in Bendigo where there is a monthly intake of women who train under the direction of a local RTO.
Mikaela outlined the business arm of the organisation. This involves the delivery of trades, cleaning and gardening services for women by women. The business sustains the work of the enterprise financially and provides a pathway to work for those graduating in trades from TAFE. It is hoped that this initiative will be implemented in Bendigo next year. Although Women Can is sponsored by other organisations including Rotary and benefits from donations the business arm is the main source of revenue for operational purposes.
Doug noted the under representation of women in our club. Kerry suggested that taking up projects which are appealing to women is one way of attracting more women to Rotary. She also mentioned that Rotarians can play a very important role in acting as ambassadors for Women Can. The team works closely with Margot Spalding who is the local ambassador. Further information can be sourced from the website https://www.womencanaustralia.org/. We congratulate Mikaela, Kerry and Sheryl on this wonderful initiative and we thank them for being our guests.
RCoBS Industry Visits to Thales Bendigo
Wednesday June 29th & Thursday July 28th
Two Industry visits to Thales, Finn Street Bendigo, have been arranged in the near future. As there is a limit of twenty visitors two dates have been arranged in an attempt to accommodate all members who would like to participate.
The dates are Wednesday June 29th (10AM until 12 NOON) & Thursday July 28th at the same time.
Please note that the June date is two days before the Changeover Dinner. Please contact Jim Rolfe (0407554263) or jimrolfe9@gmail.com if you would like to participate indicating your preferred date. If both dates are suitable please indicate this as it will help accommodate everyone who wishes to participate. I will confirm the allocation of dates well ahead of time.
