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Meetings Over the Past Month
Club Meeting – Tuesday 10th Nov – Guest Speaker – Lakes Entrance Rotary Club’s Peter Sindrey
Earlier this year, Hampton Rotary donated funds raised from our Bayside Farmers Market to the fire relief efforts in the Gippsland area. At a recent Club meeting, we heard from Peter Sindrey, the Acting Chair of the East Gippsland Rotary Fire Aid - a joint project of the combined Rotary Clubs of the East Gippsland Cluster – Rotary Bairnsdale, Rotary Bairnsdale Sunrise, Rotary Mitchell River, Rotary Orbost, Rotary Lakes Entrance.
Peter shared how funds from Rotary Club donations and grants, totalling over $1.3 million, and in-kind donations estimated at over $1 million, were put to good use to support the recovery efforts in the fire ravaged areas. Here’s a snapshot:
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Emergency funding for personal and urgent needs
Caravans – 30 to date, complete with generators and heaters (for winter)
Rural fencing construction – assisting BlazeAid
Distribution of donated care packs, clothing etc
Livestock foddero Shipping containers – over 140 to date
Revegetation projects – especially rural propertieso Household goods for those under-insured or uninsured
Donations of funds/vouchers to individuals
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We really appreciate Peter sharing the details of this fantastic Rotary and community effort!!
Club Social Evening – Tuesday 24th November - Trivia Night
At our last social night (via zoom…of course), we were treated to a fantastic evening hosted by our Club’s sponsor, Noel Susay from Buxton's East Hampton. Noel was our Quiz Master with 3 teams in fierce competition. 'The Rep Team' started strongly with a perfect Round 1. The questions were varied, interesting and on occasion very hard. Over the following 3 rounds 'Bev's Brains' and 'Get a Zoom' tried valiantly to take over the lead, but 'The Rep Team' held on strongly. Thanks to Noel for a very enjoyable evening - we laughed hard and learnt some new facts!
Christmas Comes Early to the Bayside Farmers’ Market – Saturday 28th November
We had a fantastic turnout from the local community with families, friends…and even the family dog…getting into the Christmas spirit. Thanks to all the wonderful stallholders for the fabulous range of produce and gourmet products….and a big shout-out to Santa (aka Arran Ferguson), Hans (Santa’s personal driver), and the elves (Rhonda, Jane & Tess) who were the highlight of this very special day. Also, thank you to BMW for providing the beautiful white “sleigh” for Santa to travel in around the market.
A huge thank you to all the volunteers from our Club as well as Sandringham Lions who helped with the set-up, including decorating our tents with Christmas tinsel. Thanks also to Sandringham Rotary who fired up the barbie to keep a very Aussie tradition going! We were also joined this year by the 1st Sandringham Scouts who were taking orders for real Christmas trees…and we also had Rotary Christmas Cakes and Puddings for Sale (…..thank you Stuart for organising this).
All in all this was a fantastic team effort that has meant we all helped to spread the Christmas cheer & make this such a fantastic market for all the community this year.
Club Meeting – Tuesday 8th December – Guest Speaker - Matt Tilley, Foodbank
Matt Tilley, from Foodbank Victoria, shared details of the history of Foodbank, what they do now, especially the recent responses to the bushfire and the pandemic.
This year, with bushfires raging across the State, Foodbank were designated as a State Emergency Food Provider, and they received 3,500 donations within 48 hours into the warehouse at the beginning of the year that were distributed to the bushfire region.
Then, faced with the fallout from the tough lockdowns during COVID-19, the Government enacted Foodbank to be an Emergency Food Partner. Foodbank put together 15,000 hampers in a few days, distributed by the Red Cross. And, when some of the housing towers were in strict lockdown, Foodbank organised for 1,500 culturally appropriate hampers to be packed and distributed to the towers.
We also heard about their School Breakfast program which has grown from 300 to 1000 in the last 4 years. For many children, breakfast may be their only solid meal and during COVID, some schools organised for the school bus to drop off food to kids at home during the lockdown.
Foodbank have also set-up a pop-up supermarket in the Melbourne CBD to support the large number of international students, many of whom have been left vulnerable with no income source. So far, 8,000 students have shopped and received free food.
Matt also talked about the “Feed the Bellarine” project which serves the Geelong area, and which has now become a major distribution hub.
Foodbank’s output is phenomenal, and they currently feed 140,000 families per month. We appreciate hearing from Matt and learning of the amazing work being done by Foodbank across Victoria.
Club Projects Update
Berendale School Resilience Award Presented in December 2020
The Resilience Award was first presented by the Rotary Club of Hampton in 2010. The Award is presented to a 'Year 11' student who has impressed the Head and staff by their ability to work through problems and learn how to apply themselves to realise true and improved outcomes for both themself and those around them.
The Award is presented to a student who will be entering their final year at Berendale in the next year. This is done so that the student and their peers can see the student's name on the Honour Board throughout their final year. It is a significant achievement and the winner should be extremely proud of their effort in gaining this Award. The Club presents the winner with a congratulatory letter and a $50.00 gift voucher from JB HiFi.
The 2020 winner is Kailem Thomas.
His citation reads - "Kailem has overcome many challenges throughout his life. His resilience has been exceptional to continue to be successful at school, develop his independence and always willing to help others. He has demonstrated leadership skills during his time with different care families, in the classroom with other students and while delivering sports sessions during whole school events. He has shown courage, bravery and great mental strength during remote learning and has the potential to continue being successful leading towards future employment."
The photo shows Chris Goaley (Leading Teacher), Geoff Tickner (RCoH), Kailem Thomas, Paul Newson (Principal)
Youth Mental Health Project - an initiative starting in 2021
An initiative of the Youth Committee this year is the Youth Mental Health Project . This is a long-term program to be implemented across Bayside over a number of years. The objective of the project is to deliver mental health first aid courses that will ultimately improve the mental health of youth in our local area.
Hampton Rotary have entered a partnership with the Rotary Club of Brighton North (from District 9800) for the roll-out of two Mental Health First Aid courses:
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Youth Mental Health First Aid- this course targets adults who work with youth, such as school staff, parents, sports coaches, community group leaders, youth leaders, police. - adults learn how to assist adolescents who are developing a mental illness, experiencing a worsening of an existing mental health problem or in a mental health crisis, until appropriate professional help is received or the crisis resolves.
Teen Mental Health First Aid- this course is for high school students in years 7-9 and years 10-12. Students learn about a range of mental health illnesses such as depression and anxiety, eating disorders, suicide tendencies, and how to provide support and mental health first aid to their friends.
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The first course to be scheduled is Youth Mental Health First Aid and this will be held in March 2021. Full details on course dates, venue and registration details will be available shortly.
This is an exciting and important project, particularly given the mental health issues arising this year during the COVID lockdowns. We are thrilled to be working in partnership with Brighton North Rotary to roll-out this very important program.
Fiji Scholarships – An Overview of a Long-Term Club Project
The Rotary Club of Hampton, over the years, has a proud history of facilitating a number of projects throughout the remote Yasawa Islands. This has been possible through an association with past members, Presidents and Paul Harris Fellow recipients Helen and Greg Wragg who had on a number of occasions travelled to this location and established strong ties with the local people at Nabukeru Village. The Rotary Club of Hampton is held in high regard in this region of Fiji as many Club members have also travelled to this area.
Some 15 years ago, Liz Ware suggested, whilst on a working project trip to Fiji, that the Club set up a scholarship fund to enable children from remote island villages to continue their education on the mainland. This was achieved to a certain extent with donations from individuals within and outside the Club.
Click HERE to read about the history of this great project up to the current day.
Upcoming Club Meeting/Events Schedule
Club Meetings Now Online – ZOOM-in to get the latest updates
Here is the dedicated link to join ANY of the Hampton Rotary Zoom Meetings (it will be the same for each meeting):
The meetings commence a 7:00PM and to join the meeting, click this link from 6:50PM
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88310576978?pwd=VG41aG83RlJiMW1yQ2d5N3ZjOU5rdz09
You can also refer to our website for further updates on the upcoming meeting program: https://hamptonrotary.org.au/meetings
Club Celebration Christmas Party – Saturday 19th December
The Club’s Christmas Party will be on Saturday 19th December at 6pm at Liz Ware’s place. This will be a cocktail party with drinks and substantial finger food supplied by attendees. There will be plenty of seats available! Could you please RSVP to Liz’s personal email address by December 12th: liz.ware141@gmail.com
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