The 39th Starsearch event on Friday night went off very well. The publicity for the event really got great coverage within the Geelong region. Stephen Bath and his team did a very professional job in putting together a talented group of vocalists and instrumentalists, as well as gaining sponsorships to make the event a financial success. Fourteen acts vied for the top award, and the youthful performers demonstrated a high level of talent. Caleb Vines, former winner of Starsearch in 2009 was compere for the event. The overall winner on the evening was Casey Reid, a 15 year old vocalist currently in year 10 at Christian College. Thanks go in particular to Paul Brewster who was a key sponsor of the event. Our Club achieved great exposure in the local press and in social media as a result. Well done to all involved. It was a great night.
Last Thursday the BBQ team cooked at the Karingal ‘Big Day Out’ at the Anakie Rd Leisure Centre. The team combined well to assist Karingal provide lunch for about 80 people. The photos show the team in full swing! Thanks to Brenton and the team who cooked up a storm.’
OK it's time to stop messing around. I've stopped thinking about how to put together the Annual Report and Blue Book and have actually started work on them both.
You should have received an email with your Blue Book info' asking if any changes are required. Please reply promptly.
Directors reports are due to be presented at the meeting this week so you should have them - just pass them on to me please. I have a few but by no means all and it takes 3 weeks for me to get everything together and printed - and how long have we got 'til the changeover dinner - work it out !!!
My name is Stephen O'Brien and I would like to thank you for your very generous support for the Rotary Club of Bhaktapur and their earthquake relief project. I spend about four months each year working on educational projects in Bhaktapur and during this time I have become very good friends with several members of Rotary there. They have been very helpful to me in my work there and I have always found them to be people of very high integrity, Now I am back in my home in Ireland, and I am trying to help the Bhaktapur earthquake survivors in any little way I can. Our first ten shelters have been completed and ten homeless families moved into them yesterday. We will be putting some photos of the shelters up on our website shortly. You can visit our website at www.rotaryclubbhaktapur.org.np Thank you again for your wonderful support.
Kind Regards. Stephen.
When disaster strikes, our partner ShelterBox often works closely with Rotarians to evaluate local needs and devise a plan for immediate response. The Rotary family provides vital assistance to ShelterBox Response Teams by helping with disaster assessments, housing response team volunteers, and helping coordinate relief logistics. Over the past twelve years, Rotarians, Rotaractors, and Interactors have partnered with ShelterBox to help communities in dire need of assistance immediately following a disaster:
When the April 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal, Rotaractors and Rotarians quickly connected with ShelterBox to assess damage and mobilize emergency relief teams. The Rotary family in Nepal and around the world has been instrumental in helping ShelterBox with logistics, transportation, housing Response Teams, and sponsoring emergency shelter tents and relief kits.
In December 2014, Malaysia was devastated by heavy flooding. A response team was deployed to the country after Rotaractor James Ong, a member of ShelterBox Malaysia, contacted ShelterBox for assistance. James was instrumental in arranging response logistics from greeting response team members at the airport to arranging transportation for the teams’ operations. James helped translate and interpret key information from Malay to English and assisted with box distributions in Pahang State. James and fellow Rotaractors worked with PDG Khoo Boo Khean to mobilize a District 3300-wide response coalition of Rotarians and Rotaractors to assist with the month-long deployment.
In November 2013, the largest storm to make landfall struck the Philippines. Because local Rotary clubs members were able to quickly assess destruction severity, ShelterBox deployed a response team with relief equipment within 48 hours of the disaster. Rotarian Stephen Castillo from Cebu City, Philippines, helped ShelterBox with warehouse and logistics during the deployment.
In addition to distributing transitional housing resources, ShelterBox also provides SchoolBoxes with educational materials to mitigate disruption in education as teachers continue working with students while communities are rebuilt. ShelterBox works with a variety of implementing partners and fellow relief organizations to ensure necessary aid including medical care, food assistance, and permanent housing is included in recovery initiatives:
Since conflict first broke out in Syria four years ago, more than 10 million people have been displaced with four million seeking refuge in other countries. ShelterBox is working with implementing partners including Hand in Hand for Syria to distribute needed aid, including shelter kits, tents, mosquito nets, water filters, water carriers, blankets, groundsheets, SchoolBoxes, and solar lamps.
The meeting of the Rotary Club of Geelong on the 9th June is a special occasion to recognise the contribution of Past DG Geoffrey Betts AM, MBE to Australian Rotary Health.
*** Our speaker is Dr Tonelle Handley
Tonelle Handley is a researcher at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, and is supported by the Geoffrey Betts Postdoctoral Research Fellowship.
Her research focuses on suicide prevention for young Australians. In particular, she is exploring the potential for an internet-based treatment to make mental health services more
accessible to young people, and to reduce thoughts of suicide in this group.
*** Joy Gillet OAM, CEO of Australian Rotary Heath will also be attending.
*** ‘ The Geoff Betts Geelong Mental Health Research Award’ will be presented to the inaugural recipient.
We invite members of your club to this special occasion to honour the very significant contributions of Geoffrey Betts
Polio this week as of 27 May 2015 Ministers of Health from around the world adopted alandmark resolution to end polio once and for all at the World Health Assembly in Geneva last week. The discussions were informed by a status report prepared by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Polio staff continue to offer support to the humanitarian response to the devastating earth quakes in Nepal. Read more.
The 11th IMB report was published last week, reporting on progress towards polio eradication and making recommendations
Wild poliovirus type 1 and Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus cases
Total cases
Year-to-date 2015
Year-to-date 2014
Total in 2014
WPV
cVDPV
WPV
cVDPV
WPV
cVDPV
Globally
25
0
84
14
359
55
- in endemic countries
25
0
74
14
340
52
- in non-endemic countries
0
0
10
0
19
3
- See more at: http://www.polioeradication.org/Dataandmonitoring/Poliothisweek.aspx#sthash.quD7dKcT.dpuf
Last Sunday week we held our Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner meeting and it was a successful evening once again with 35 Rotarians and partners attending.
Thanks go to our 5 hosts, Terri Bosna, Graham Blood, David Sinclair, Ian Campbell & Ray Dunn and from what I hear everyone got involved in the evening; I believe very few guests left before 11 pm on the night.
It is a great opportunity to spend social time with Rotarians and partners that you may not get a chance to talk with at length at Rotary meetings, so I encourage other members to attend if the event is held again next year.
WBDO BBQ
Thursday was our Workplace Big Day Out BBQ that we do for BacLinks twice a year. This is an event where the people from Karingal and other locations have a fun day in the company of their carers and volunteers from local Geelong companies. We have been covering this event for a long time and it gives us great satisfaction to provide a service to some of the less fortunate people in our community.
Thanks to Colin Bayliss, Jacko, Doug & Jenny Green, Di Pearce, Ian Campbell, Malcolm John & Ken Mansfield for helping in what is a rather hectic few hours.
All members need to tell Ros or Ross at the meeting on 4th June of their attendance or not at the Davidson Restaurant meeting on the next week, 11th June. The final numbers have to be to The Gordon by first thing Friday morning.
If you do not let Ros and Ross know either way you will be counted as going and will have to pay.
Class is an aura of confidence that is being sure without being cocky. Class has nothing to do with money. Class never runs scared. It is self-discipline and self-knowledge. It's the sure footedness that comes with having proved you can meet life. - Ann Landers
More important than talent, strength, or knowledge is the ability to laugh at yourself and enjoy the pursuit of your dreams. - Amy Grant
To succeed... you need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you. - Tony Dorsett
There was a knock at the door. It was a small boy, about six years old. Something of his had found its way into my garage, he said, and he wanted it back.
Upon opening the garage door, I noticed two additions: a baseball and a broken window sporting a baseball-sized hole. "How do you suppose this ball got in here?" I asked the boy.
Taking one look at the ball, one look at the window, and one look at me, the boy exclaimed, "Wow! I must have thrown it right through that hole!"
Dear Rotarians,
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