FROM THE PRESIDENTS

We are almost at the end of 2023 so our newsletter will highlight several Christmas activities underway. Our last speaker for the year was Past Rotary International President Ian Riseley who presented on The Rotary Foundation and the "good stuff they are doing". Since it was founded more than 100 years ago, the Foundation has spent more than $4 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects.

In 2021-2022, grants supported projects in education and literacy, community economic development, disease prevention and treatment, maternal and child health, peacebuilding and conflict prevention, water, sanitation and hygiene and the environment. Our club has been a recipient over the years of these grants enabling us to make a difference.

Liz Ware and Co-President Bev spearheaded our club's efforts for the Bayside Family Christmas Event at the Hampton RSL on the 13th December.  Several members spent the Tuesday morning sorting and packing the large number of donated gifts and we greatly appreciate the generosity of St Leonards students.

Our club celebrated another productive year  with Christmas fare and games at John and Amanda's house on 9 December and now our focus is the Christmas Bayside Farmers market on 23 December at Trey Bit reserve. Santa, elves, great food and gifts will be plentiful and we hope many of you will buy tickets in the Christmas raffle which will be drawn after santa's arrival late morning. More details are in this newsletter.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and we look forward to a prosperous 2024.

Bev and Amanda

UPCOMING EVENTS

Tuesday, January 16 - Club Meeting at Hampton RSL

Saturday, January 20 - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

YOUTH and EDUCATION PROJECTS

Friendship Leader Awards at Hampton Primary School   The Club has presented the Friendship Leader Awards at Hampton Primary School since 1997. It is the Club’s longest continuing award.   Students select a year five boy and girl to be their Friendship Leaders for the following year, using the following guidelines - Kindness, Responsibility, Fairness, Friendship and Acceptance by their peers.

The Friendship Leaders for 2024 are Cleo Moran and Sam Sharp. Each receives a congratulatory letter from the Club, a book voucher to a local bookstore and their names are added to the Friendship Leader Honour Board for all to see throughout their final year at school.

At the end of the year, Friendship Leaders are requested to summarise their year.  Summaries from 2023 leaders, Grace Stott and Jimmy Wigg can be seen HERE.

COMMUNITY PROJECTS

Bayside Family Christmas Event – Wednesday, December 13 at Hampton RSL

Once again, the Club was actively involved in this annual event for Bayside families. In conjunction with Brighton Rotary (led by Jo Kwok), Passport Rotary Club, Hampton RSL, Bayside Council, Victoria Police, BayCISS, Family Life, TeamSports4All, Country Women’s Association and St Leonards College.

The night was a resounding success and the children were thrilled with their gifts from Santa. Santa’s elves (Bev, Liz, Amanda, Gill, Marie, Jenny, Anja (and Anja’s friend) spent the day before sorting age-appropriate gifts for the children attending. Passport Rotary Club and the CWA sourced and packed gifts for the carers.

Helping Disadvantaged in the Community with Donations to BayCISS

Special Support for Men

The Club identified a range of toiletries and personal hygiene products that would be of benefit and items were sourced from Kmart and Simon Kenny Pharmacy.

Geoff & Prue Tickner together with their grandchildren Harry, Jack & Phoebe assembled 50 bags and delivered them to BayCISS for distribution before Christmas.

Photos show the bags being packed and delivered.

Christmas donation

In previous years the Club shopped for Christmas goods and delivered them to BayCISS. This year we presented $3000 worth of Woolworths Simply Groceries vouchers to Rose Paduano, Executive Officer of BayCISS. The vouchers will be distributed before Christmas.

Hampton Rotary Assists The Salvos at Christmas

Since Hampton Rotary was chartered 28 years ago, Club members have provided shopping bags of non-perishable goods to Bentleigh Salvation Army for distribution amongst the needy local families.     Members brought their shopping bags to our last Club meeting and Community Services Chair, Geoff Tickner delivered them to Samantha Oldfield of Bentleigh Salvation Army the next day.

Project at DIK providing clothing for homeless people

Donations In Kind (DIK) provides a central coordination point for storage, sifting, packing and dispatch of goods for local and international efforts, minimising the costs of getting goods to where they are needed locally or in the world.

Hampton Rotary has been involved in shipping surplus hospital and medical equipment to South East Asian and Pacific Island nations for a number of years.

Last week, club members Anja and Geoff joined members of Brighton North Rotary in repackaging surplus hoodies for distribution amongst homeless people in Melbourne.

An an indication of the scope of DIK efforts, 679 containers valued at $78.5 million have been shipped from the West Footscray store since 2000.  Volunteer hours amount to 2,030,000.

November Bayside Farmers’ Market 

Our November market provided a great early opportunity to stock up ready for Christmas, with loads of hamper ideas and gifts, as well as Christmas cakes and puddings…as well as real Christmas trees to order. Of course, the market was also brimming with the usual fantastic fresh produce, gourmet foods, as well as food and coffee trucks for breakfast snacks.

Don't miss our next market on Saturday 23^rd December.

Next Bayside Farmers’ Market – Saturday 23^rd December

The next Bayside Farmers Market is coming up on Saturday 23^rd December - 8am-1pm, at Trey Bit Reserve (Jetty Road), Sandringham.

We have a bumper market in store for you…..

🎅Visit from Santa

🎶Live music

🧑‍🎄Christmas carols

🍓Farm fresh produce

🧀Gourmet foods

🧁Baked goods

💐Flowers

🎁Gifts

🥙Take-away food, drinks & coffees

You can also WIN A HAMPER with our Christmas Raffle. 🎁

HERE’S WHERE YOU’LL FIND US:

🗓When: Saturday, 23 December

📍Where: Trey Bit Reserve (Jetty Road), Sandringham*

⏰Time: 8am-1pm

🐶Dogs welcome on lead also

No need to panic about all the last minute shopping - you can stock up for your Christmas celebrations on Saturday 23rd December and enjoy the Christmas fun.🥳

More details about the market are also available at:

Website: https://BaysideFarmersMarket.com.au 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BaysideFM 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baysidefarmersmarket_

Christmas Raffle at December Market Raising Funds for Disadvantaged Families in Bayside

We are holding a raffle at the December market, and you could be in the running to win a fabulous prize, with all proceeds to help support vulnerable Bayside families at Christmas.:

1^st Prize – Designer handbag and scarf

2^nd Prize – Christmas Hamper packed with scrumptious treats

Tickets are $2 each or 3 for $5. This could be a great way to solve any last minute gifts you need…and you also know you are contributing to a very worthy cause at the same time.

Market Volunteers Needed

If you’re interested in joining our volunteer team at the monthly Bayside Farmers’ Market, we’d love to hear from you. It’s only a commitment of 3 hours each month and no experience is necessary…so if you like meeting other locals and want to get involved in a fantastic community event that raises funds for many worthy causes, please get in touch.

If you are interested, then please contact Lance Blackley at 0411 741 586 or email: admin@hamptonrotary.org.au

INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS

Tonga School Hearing Project

The Club’s International Projects Chair, Peter Read, recently visited Tonga to monitor progress of the Tonga School Hearing Project.   The project is progressing, with approximately 35% of schools screened and 1739 students up to November 2023. This stage of the project will extend to include all schools in Tongatapu.   Whilst there, Peter was presented with a flag of the Rotary Club of Nuku’alofa by President Saia Matthew Uta'atu.

For details of this important project click HERE.

WHERE TO FIND US

Club Meetings 

Club meetings are held at Hampton RSL, 25 Holyrood Street, Hampton Victoria 3188.

Details of meetings can be found on our website and you can refer to our website for updates on the upcoming meeting program: https://hamptonrotary.org.au/all-events