Our club was fortunate at our meeting on 13 April to welcome a number of important people. It was a pleasure to welcome our Rotary District Governor, Mr Jeremy Wright AM and Mr Renga Rajan, District Membership Director.
A surprise guest, Consul General of Timor-Leste, Mr Lucian Valentim da Conceicao, He addressed the club very briefly about his life fighting for freedom for Timor Leste and he has been invited back to address the club on 11 May.
District Governor, Jeremy Wright inducted our new members, Ken Patterson, Warwick Nelson and Mark Swain. Needless to say our Club is very excited to have them join us.
Our main guest speaker Clem spoke on the ProjectKindness story and was highly commended for the synergy and the work of her very dedicated board members. We were even more amazed at her partnering with two local community organisations - Keith’s Closet and Little Heroes - and the assistance and support the three are providing to the flood victims in Lismore.
At a special Members-only meeting on 20th April we had an amazing roll up of members to start the planning process for the year ahead. Some excellent ideas were put forward and a further meeting is planned for 18th May to develop them.
Next week, another dynamic guest speaker, the principal of JJ Cahill High School, Mr Ralf David, will speak on his school and his ambition to engage the students to prepare them for their working lives by creating a flow-on culture of positivity through the creation of a Barista training program at JJ Cahill.
We welcome anyone who would like to come along, hear stories from great speakers, meet interesting people, enjoy excellent food and good company.
2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month at the Graphic Arts Club,
182 Coward Street,
Mascot.
6pm for pre-meeting drinks and chat. The meeting, with dinner, starts at 6:30pm and normally concludes by 8:30pm.
The meeting on 13 April was another highlight, with a very varied program. Along with all our members to hear our guest speaker, Clem, were District Governor Jeremy Wright AM, District Membership Chair Renga, Timor Leste Consul General Luciano, and visitors Danco (Rotarian from Chile), John, Karen, Galit and Brendon.
Timor Leste Consul General Luciano spoke briefly about his book, based on his own personal experiences and his struggle for survival throughout the resistance era in Timor Leste. He will return at a latter meeting to tell us more of his incredible story.
After proposing the toast to Rotary, District Governor Jeremy formally inducted Ken, Mark and Phillip as members of the Club, presenting them with their membership badges. Jeremy will also be returning to the Club at a future meeting to tell us more about his year as District Governor.
Our guest speaker, Clem, spoke about ProjectKindness. A passionate advocate for stronger, more connected communities, Clem has a background working in child protection and adult mental health. Through her many years of experience working with vulnerable children and adults, Clem realised the need for more kindness and support services in our community, and started ProjectKindness with the hope of providing access to a little care and support for those in need.
From small beginnings, driving around Sydney, picking up donations and delivering to those in need in the inner-city areas, ProjectKindness quickly gained traction and expanded to helping people all throughout the greater Sydney region. Through ProjectKindness the homeless and the helpless are all supported through the selfless acts of others. More and more people are coming on board, donating their possessions, their time and their kindness in order to improve the quality of life of some of Sydney’s most vulnerable citizens.
We are pleased that we were able to help ProjectKindness with a small grant as part of our special COVID Community Grants Scheme.
The Club also received the following recognitions:
From Rotary Foundation, a Club Annual Donor, Level 1 Certificate, recognising our donation of USD100+ per member during 2021-22.
From Australian Rotary Health, a Certificate recognising our support of the Indigenous Health Scholarship Program
The Club will be represented at various Dawn Services. President Christine, Richard, Alan and Aya will lay a wreath at the Coogee Dawn Service. Tracey will lay a wreath at Botany and Aunty Barb has been invited to deliver the Welcome to Country at the Bondi commemoration. Other members are welcome to attend and lend their support.
In closing the meeting, President Christine thanks everyone for the attendance at what had been another great meeting of the Club.
ROMAC Chair Harold Sharpe OAM has written to advise that his good friend, Bruce Tyrrell AM, has offered to help ROMAC once again, and has agreed to release some more of his popular DRINK NOW VATS wines especially for us.
These are currently available to you at a very attractive price of just $110 per dozen - delivered direct to your door. By purchasing these wines, not only will you be able to enjoy a great drink, but you will also be helping change the lives of sick children from our neighbouring islands in the Oceania region, as a generous percentage of all sales will be donated to ROMAC.
The Rotary Club of Botany Randwick has donated $1000 the Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) project to to provide funds for humanitarian programs to assist the people in Tonga recover from the volcano and tsunami disaster.
Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) will be working with Rotary New Zealand World Community Service (RNZWCS) and Rotary Club of Nuku'alofa (Tonga) in providing aid and assistance to the affected communities and restoring their livelihoods. The aim is to get Tonga back to normality as soon as possible so that they can look after their own communities again.
The Club will also continue its association with the Its Time Raffle, with tickets selling at $10 a ticket for 1, with a generous discount for purchase of multiple tickets and use the funds raised to further support the people of Tonga.
Our Club retains 50% of the sale of the tickets, with all these funds being further donated to the RAWCS Tonga Appeal. 40% of the funds raised will go to Its Time Foundation in Fiji (Solar Schools Project) and 10% to Plastic Free Oceans, an Its Time Foundation initiative.
In addition to the many projects carried out by every Rotary Club, other projects are initiated and managed at District and National levels, taking advantage of the "economy of scale" of many clubs banding together. The combined Rotary Clubs and Districts across Australia support three such projects, with the support of Rotary International.
Australian Rotary Health (ARH): Australian Rotary Health is one of the largest independent funders of mental health research within Australia. Australian Rotary Health provides funding towards research grants, fellowships and PhD scholarships focussed on finding preventative and curative solutions for mental illness in young Australians. It also provides funding into a broad range of general health areas, provide scholarships for rural medical and nursing students, as well as Indigenous health students. Australian Rotary Health provides funding into areas of health that do not readily attract funding, and promotes findings to the community. Australian Rotary Health has a broad vision to improve the health and wellbeing of all Australians. https://australianrotaryhealth.org.au/
Rotary Australian World Community Service (RAWCS). RAWCS was formed to enable Australian Rotarians, Rotary Districts and Rotary Clubs to assist disadvantaged communities and individuals through humanitarian aid projects. RAWCS has a financial infrastructure system that facilitates fundraising for projects that deliver humanitarian aid and charitable support in Australia and overseas. Projects are registered through Rotary Australia Overseas Aid Fund (RAOAF), Rotary Australia Benevolent Society (RABS) incorporating Rotary Australia Compassionate Grants (RACG), Rotary Australia Relief Fund (RARF), Rotarians Against Malaria (RAM) and Repurposing Medical & Health Equipment. https://rawcs.org.au/
Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC). ROMAC provides surgical treatment for children in Australia and New Zealand from developing countries from our Pacific region in the form of life giving and/or dignity restoring surgery. Assisted by many eminent Australian and New Zealand surgeons who generously donate their time for the treatment of our patients, this humanitarian program has provided life-giving surgery to over 500 children from more than 20 developing countries, with urgent medical treatment that was not available to them in their own country. https://www.romac.org.au/
Our Club is pleased to be able to support each of these programs, both in terms of annual donations together with a number of our members actively involved in their management and operations.
Ukrainian Relief Aid - To meet immediate lifesaving needs of the crisis-affected civilian population in Ukraine & provide early recovery assistance as soon as feasible. To save & preserve lives, easy suffering & promote self-sufficiency. For more information visit http://www.ukrainecrisisappeal.org/
A national flood appeal has been set up to provide assistance for flood victims in Queensland and Northern NSW. Australians impacted by the recent floods will be the beneficiaries of money raised by Flood Appeal and will be able to liaise with their local Rotary Club to advise of their needs.
“The money raised from the Appeal will go directly and quickly to support those impacted, providing essential items and financial support where Disaster relief and Insurance claims won’t stretch,” said Rotary Australia World Community Service Ltd CEO Andrew Woodward. For more information visit
The Four-Way Test The Four-Way Test is a non-partisan and non-sectarian ethical guide for Rotarians to use for their personal and professional relationships.
Of the things we think, say or do:
Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
To contact the Club, please email info@botanyrandwickrotary.org.au
eneral Luciano spoke briefly about his book, based on his own personal experiences and his struggle for survival throughout the resistance era in Timor Leste. He will return at a latter meeting to tell us more of his incredible story.
and started ProjectKindness with the hope of providing access to a little care and support for those in need.
ROMAC Chair Harold Sharpe OAM has written to advise that his good friend, Bruce Tyrrell AM, has offered to help ROMAC once again, and has agreed to release some more of his popular DRINK NOW VATS wines especially for us.
The Rotary Club of Botany Randwick has donated $1000 the Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) project to to provide funds for humanitarian programs to assist the people in Tonga recover from the volcano and tsunami disaster.
$10 a ticket for 1, with a generous discount for purchase of multiple tickets and use the funds raised to further support the people of Tonga.
