Hi All, nice to be back and looking forward to seeing you all on Thursday night
I hear last Thursday night was a great success so thanks to P.P. Con for stepping in. Queensland offered some respite from the Melbourne cold.
This week's Guest speaker Warwick Duncan sounds inspirational. I am looking forward to his presentation.
Please remember our Footy Finals night on September 10. Gary is still working on the night but as always it will be a wonderful night and proceeds will go to Foundation. Please chase up a guest or two.
Special thanks to Gary Williams for his continual hard work arranging speakers. It is a tough job and Gary does a Grand job.
This week we are to enjoy an inspirational story. Warwick Duncan, now 56, received a liver transplant in 1989 to defeat a rare hepatic virus. The experience proved life changing- Warwick set about achieving self promises made in memory of his donor to whom he is extremely grateful.
Key feats so far include
walked the Kokoda Trek in 2008
climbed world's highest free standing mountain, Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, in 2015 to mark 25 years post transplant
representing Australia 4 x at the World Transplant Games with great success, has won 5 gold medals!!
Warwick also is a Partner of Thexton Armstrong Broadfoot, providing advice on business solutions.
President David will resume following a week in the Queensland sun. Kevin Darling-Filby will be in the chair whilst Ian Toohill may invent a new method of raising dollars as Finemaster.
Venue is The Common, 6.15pm for 6.45pm, $35 for two course meal, drinks @ bar prices as per usual.
The Week That Was – Report on Meeting of 20 August 2015
In President David’s absence, Past President Con Proussalis presided.
Chair: Ian Thomas
Guests: Rotarians Charles (Shepparton) Pat O’Shea (Bright) Francis Acquah (Greensborough)
Guest speaker: Graeme Kent (Aussie Aid Abroad)
Fines: Peter Roden
Raffle winner: Alan McCleary
Reports from the Floor
Roger Male
Club has donated $14,000 to Walter and Eliza Hall Institute so far. This funding has been used to purchase microscopes for Malaria research. WEHI is now developing a very promising vaccine which has the potential to save thousands of lives worldwide.
Ian Toohill
The Interact Club ran the BBQ at Lower Eltham Park last week and made a profit of $820.
Dale
The Youth Services team is looking for a suitable candidate for the RYLA program in late November. Please let Sally or Dale know if you know of anyone between the ages of 18-30 who would benefit from this leadership program.
Guest SpeakerGraeme Kent Aussie Aid Abroad
Aussie Aid Abroad is a Non Government Organisation (NGO) that has worked in Nepal for the past 15 years, mainly on health, education, agriculture and community development projects.
The April 25 earthquake devastated much of the country. Some 8790 people were killed, 22,000 injured and 500,000 homes were destroyed. The earthquake has directly impacted on 8 million people.
Our Club became involved with AAA after the earthquake through Ian Toohil. AAA became the conduit for getting aquaboxes into the country – negotiating with airport officials and customs to bypass customs duties and then arranging for the boxes to be transported to remote villages where they are desperately needed.
Graeme gave us an informed and fascinating insight into Nepal, the reconstruction challenges and the work that AAA is doing. He illustrated his talk with photos showing the extent of the damage and the challenges ahead.
Graeme will be leading a team of 60 volunteers going to the town of Rithepani in Gorkha to reconstruct some of the 90 homes lost in the earthquake.
Acting President Con presented Graeme with a cheque for $500 for AAA and thanked him for his work in Nepal and his ongoing support in getting Aquaboxes into the country.
The International Team comprises John Skinner, Kevin (of India) Hadingham, Ian (Gunna) Toohill, Frank Lynch and Margaret Clarke. We started the year on a high note with the very successful Bollywood extravaganza held at the Manningham Reception Centre, ably managed by MC, Kevin of India Hadingham and organised by Marion Hadingham. What a great night it was with Rotary Club of Eltham Members ( approx. 6 tables) helping to make the event a sold out success.
Great food and wine along with marvellous entertainment were a feature of the night along with club members taking up the challenge to learn dancing Bollywood style. The night was a great success raising over $9,000 towards the Muskaan School project in Bhopal, India. Our committee has liaised with the Community Committee and asked for two Lower Eltham Park Barbeques for Muskaan (which they have agreed to) as we continue to support this great project.
Last Thursday we had the entertaining talk from Graeme Kent from Aussie Action Abroad giving us an update on the ongoing situation in Nepal following the devastating earthquake and how he got our Aquaboxes into the most needed areas despite some difficulties with customs in Nepal. We also gave him $500 to help AAA as it plans to return to Nepal later this year. We received a request from the Shamalar Foundation to help fund the building of a school in Nepal and have put them in touch with Aussie Action Abroad.
Last week we sent more funds to the Dominican Sisters in East Timor following Ian Toohill and his team's successful recent trip to finish off the accommodation block at Hera. The Nuns requested funding towards the purchase of tiles to finish off the project. This was discussed at our last meeting and $1300 has been transferred to the Dominican Sisters via the RAWCS coordinator in Dili. There are no plans to revisit East Timor this year.
After the talk on Wheelchairs For Kids we decided to look into the possibility of supporting them further through Monty Secondary College and involving the Interact Club and the SRC. Ian Toohill, as our liaison with Monty Secondary College, is looking into the plan to send wheelchairs to needy kids in East Timor. .
Katherine Baverstock will be giving the club an update on ROMAC on Thursday 3 Sept 2015. Put it in your diaries now.
YIR John Skinner Director of International Service RC of Eltham
Team Aquabox will be running again at this year's Melbourne Marathon on 18 October. Graham '26 Miles' is already in training for the event. You will recall that last year we had a Team Aquabox T shirt with the logos of sponsors emblazoned on it.
Now is the time to get sponsors for this year's event. Has anyone already lined up shirt sponsors for 2015? If so, could you let Peter Roden know ASAP. If you have any sponsors in mind, could you also let Peter know.
We would also like to know who intends to take part in the Marathon in its many forms including the walk. Last year some 20 or so Rotarians, family and friends participated in the walk and the lunch afterwards. If you are intending to take part this year, could you let Ann Lynch know please.
Kaye Smith will have Polo shirts available for those who have ordered them at this week's meeting from 5.30pm.
These will be packed up at the start of the meeting and NOT available after the meeting
Peter Roden is desperate for members with forklift licences to move stock at the Shed. Please consider getting a forklift licence, Peter will be very willing to provide details of how to obtain this.
PAST PRESIDENTS:
Geoff Dreverman 73-74: Neville Emerson 74-75: Bruce Holland 75-76: Bob McLellan 76-77: Doug Blaikie 77-78: Les Clarke 78-79: Keith Kelley 79-80: John Smibert 80-81: Paul Gardner 81-82: Chris Parenthoine 82-83: Arthur Trainor 83-84: Merv Günter 84-85: John Maltha 85-86: Graeme Beyer 86-87: Mike Ramsay 87-88: Terry Boocock 88-89: Ken Ferguson 89-90: Bill Penna 90-91: John Jacobson 91-92: Jim Nairn 92-93: Nigel Bell 93-94: David Bowen 94-95: Ian Thomas 95-96: Vic Vela 96-97: Gabor Tamas 97-98: Gordon Birch 98-99: Gary Reid 99-00: Mike Irwin 00-01: John Lewis 01-02: Brian Weyman 02- 03: Graeme Hardiman 03-04: Alan Anderson 04-05: Chris Chapple 05-06: Max Lee 06-07: Ross McDonald 07-08: David Flint 08-09: Tony Wason 09-10: Michael Englefield 10-11: Rob Kilcullen 11-12: Mike Wetzler 12-13: Ken Paynter 13-14: Con Proussalis 14-15;
Aussie Aid Abroad is a Non Government Organisation (NGO) that has worked in Nepal for the past 15 years, mainly on health, education, agriculture and community development projects.
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Kaye Smith will have Polo shirts available for those who have ordered them at this week's meeting from 5.30pm.