It was very pleasing to welcome our NYSF students back from their 12 day forum in Canberra. Both Braden Partridge and Renee Meaney enthusiastically described their experiences at the Forum, and both gave glowing reports on how the experience challenged them to re-think their tertiary study options.
They described the wide variety of subjects and the 'life changing' challenges they experienced. We supported both students to attend the forum, and thanks to Youth Director Anne Cox and student coach and mentor Jim Mulcahy for their input and for selecting these fine young candidates.
We wish them well in their future studies.
Our speaker Johnathan Clarke founded the Geelong Foodbank presented a contrasting and depressing picture of how poverty is affecting the Geelong Community. He described the impact of disadvantage in two local schools where over 90% of children are from single parent families, with unemployment over 80% in the school parent population. Foodbank provides meals via other agencies to the schools, and in many cases, this is the only food the children get. He described how some kids were not being fed from Friday to Monday each week. Some parents on welfare tend to waste their payments and Foodbank is able to provide wholesome food and supply it via various community agencies to these underprivileged children. He confirmed that where proper feeding occurred, school results improved significantly. He presented statistics, about the extent and impact of endemic poverty in Whittington and Oberon South which is shocking, and poses a serious challenge to us all.
When asked what to do about it he suggested the following 3 options:
* Intervene with the kids - teach them self-sufficiency. In many cases parents 3rd generation welfare recipients and drugs and alcohol abuse
make change difficult if not impossible.
* Teach kids to cook their own meals and how to avoid takeaways. This can build skills and self-esteem and help them to learn about good nutrition.
* Help the about budgeting focussing on reasons why they aren't able to provide food at home for themselves, what to do, make them aware of how to manage on a limited budget
He supports the use of food stamps as a means of minimizing abuse of the system.
The Foodbank is run by volunteers with no-one having been paid over the last 4 years, and over the last year 6-7000 meals have been provided through other Geelong agencies.
We presented Johnathan with a cheque for $300 and suggested that we follow up on assisting his organization further.
Ian welcomed our guests - Jonathon Clarke the guest speaker, Renee and Brayden our NYSF participants together with Debbie (Renee's mother) and Andrew (Brayden's father). He acknowledged the important part played by Jim Mulcahy in helping our participants be selected for the NYSF programme.
In announcements :
Barb asked us to register on line for the "Days for Girls" Fundraising breakfast. So far there are 44 registrations of which only 6 are from our club. We should be able to get a few more - surely !!! It's on the 13th March at the Yacht Club and there's a flyer later in this bulletin.
Mark told us about the visit to Karingal for next week's meeting. Be there (77 Duoro Street) at 6.00pm for the "guided tour" of the facility which brings together the catering, business solutions, and environmental solutions arms of their operations.
Brenton - looking for volunteers for the Barwon Water Barbecue on Wednesday. Guess who's coming to dinner is on again this year - on May 23rd. This is a preliminary notice, but it's never too early to let Brenton know if you're interested in being a host.
Ken - let us know about opportunities to visit Nepal so as to see/experience first hand some of the projects we're participating in and the conditions in which the people live.
Don informed us that Eddie the Echidna had coughed up in excess of $200 for Interplast last year and is hopeful of bettering that this year.
Tony gave us an update on the "Ride the Bellarine" project and said thanks to TGM for becoming the major sponsor.
Anne said the date for the Chef for a month Dinner at the Davidson Restaurant had been set for Thursday 26th March - more info' soon.
Ross reported that Ros is better (as witnessed by her appearance tonight) but that Terri was ill and an apology for the meeting tonight.
Our speakers were all of an outstanding calibre. Renee and Brayden both spoke well on their NYSF experience and if we needed encouragement to keep that programme going, seeing what it did for those young people should provide it. It was interesting to note that the programme didn't do exactly what either expected but was nevertheless an outstanding success. Best wishes to both on furthering their studies and selecting an interesting career.
If Renee and Brayden were good, then what could you say about Jonathon Clarke. Dedicated, selfless, passionate - are all adjectives which come to mind together with about a hundred others. I had no idea that Outpost served 45,000 meals a year - did you ? Or that Oberon South Primary School was part of the programme being supported by food bank. That's scary stuff.
The bit that really appealed to me was the way help was given - asking why are you in this situation and what do you need to get out of it seems to be the right approach. Simply handing out food on an ongoing basis so that people come to rely on it just isn't appropriate although we have to acknowledge that it's a necessary part of what we have to do in the short/medium term. However education seems to be acknowledged as the long term solution - and I agree with that wholeheartedly.
The bulletin's a bit short and a bit late this week. Pressure of work plus a couple of intervening power failures in the middle of everything which are guaranteed to upset computer networks didn't help.
Which brings me to the topic for this week. Whilst I shall be using our speakers' comments - NYSF and the Food Bank, the first subject is just how much computer access is controlling our lives these days. Once upon a time the computer was a tool which made life easier - quicker mathematical calculations, easy storage of information in databases and so on. Essentially it is still a tool but we have become so reliant on it for storing all our information, for communication, for carrying out every day administration tasks, that when the power goes off we sit around and twiddle our thumbs - or at least go and get a cup of tea. If we try to imagine how life will be an a few years' time and the part the computer will be playing then, the mind goes very quickly into overload. We are already at a point where 3 year old's can work an i-pad - or at least my granddaughter can. And I'm using voice recognition sortware for dictating letters these days. The time when we can emulate Star Trek and simply ask the computer to complete a calculation or give us an answer to a complex question is surely not too far off.
How does this relate to Renee and Brayden. Well they're the ones who will be living in that age, and as long as they keep up with their intentions of entering the science/engineering side of things, will be actively driving some of the development. But wasn't it interesting to hear that the programme delivered some insights on other aspects of life - bonding strangers into a cohesive group in a short time and learning about body language were two that were specifically mentioned.
Will they have to cope with an increasing number of single parents for whom simply finding a meal for themselves and their children is a problem. Will our community have become a world-wide one where we can actively help each other to survive or will it have deteriorated into self-contained cells competing for items required to sustain life. Will science and engineering overcome some of the problems which we face now or will humanitarian negotiation be the answer. Of course it's probably "all of the above" but I'm absolutely positive that with students of the calibre of Renee and Brayden the future of the world is in good hands. All we have to do is make sure that the message we were able to impart to them is passed on to as many students as possible - in other words "Light Up Rotary".
Sustainable Living Festival (SLF) 7 Feb to 1 March
Since 1998 the Sustainable Living Festival has been held in Melbourne in a variety of venues. This year the program came to Geelong.
The first SLF’s ran for 3 days and it has since grown to over 3 weeks.
The Festival theme is Learn and be inspired to make changes to your life and live more sustainably.
A key part of the Geelong Program was the Big Weekend at GPAC put on by Future Proofing Geelong and Sustainability Geelong 21&22 Feb.
Topics included: Permacluture, Take 3 for the Sea( addressing the exponential growth of plastics and other packaging getting into the water ways and ultimately into the oceans),Climate Reality, Building Sustainable Homes , Preparing homes for heat waves, Sustainable Living.
THIS IS A PRESENTATION NOT TO BE MISSED. BRING YOURSELF, YOUR SPOUSE, OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS, OTHER INTERESTED PEOPLE FROM THE COMMUNITY. THIS ENORMOUS PROBLEM DEMANDS OUR ATTENTION - IT'S A WHOLE-OF-COMMUNITY RESPONSE WHICH IS REQUIRED.
LET ROSS KNOW BY 12.00 NOON WEDNESDAY HOW MANY GUESTS YOU'LL BE BRINGING
Our Town's ICE Fight- A community's response.
Senior Sergeant Tony Francis will talk about the ICE issue from a police perspective and what we as a community are doing, and can do about it. Some information packs will be provided. Senior Sergeant Tony has been an operation police officer for 25 years and over the last 2 years has seen firsthand the impact ICE is having on our community.
Please bring guests, partners, spouses - we need to understand more about what the ICE fight is all about.
Polio this week as of 18 February 2015
The fourth meeting of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee concerning the international spread of wild poliovirus is convening this week. Outcomes and the Committee’s final report will be made available on www.polioeradication.org.
It has been six months since the most recent case of wild poliovirus on the African continent had onset of paralysis, in Somalia on 11 August. Twelve months of absence of wild poliovirus, with certification-quality surveillance, will be necessary for the Horn of Africa outbreak to be declared as closed. To receive this update by email, please write to polio_info@who.int with the subject line ‘subscribe to polio weekly update’.
Wild poliovirus type 1 and Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus cases
What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise. - Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900
Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great. - John D. Rockefeller, 1839-1937
Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. - Steve Jobs, 1955-2011
A young woman was taking an afternoon nap. After she woke up, she told her husband, "I just dreamed that you gave me a pearl necklace for Valentine's Day. What do you think it means?"
"You'll know tonight." he said.
That evening, the man came home with a small package and gave it to his wife. Delighted, she opened it--only to find a book entitled, "The Meaning of Dreams".
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According to a recent survey, 12 percent of Americans say that it's fine to cheat a little on your taxes. While the other 88 percent know not to talk to a guy with a clipboard asking them if they cheat on their taxes.
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A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary.
Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to 'clean up' the bird's vocabulary.
Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even more rude. John, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer.
For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute.
Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arm and said, "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."
John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude.
As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird spoke-up, very softly, "May I ask what the turkey did?"
Ian welcomed our guests - Jonathon Clarke the guest speaker, Renee and Brayden our NYSF participants together with Debbie (Renee's mother) and Andrew (Brayden's father). He acknowledged the important part played by Jim Mulcahy in helping our participants be selected for the NYSF programme.
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