Posted by Sam McCurdy, with photos provided by Jane Moore and David Anderson:
At 10:30 am on Sunday 28th August, a group of approximately 35 volunteers met at Grasmere Wetlands, off Inglis Road in Berwick, to plant 1,000 trees and shrubs. After the preceding cold and wet days, we had a beautiful sunny day for the work.
The team of volunteers was made up of members of the Rotary Club of Berwick and the community, the St Margaret School’s Interact Club, as well Vadasna Gunawardena from Nossal High School with her parents Vichi and Vichithrani. Vadasna was volunteering as part of her Duke of Edinburgh award.
Simonette Charles, met us there with a Ute filled with all the equipment needed for planting the seedlings. Simonette is an Environmental Projects Officer with the Community, Education and Engagement team at the City of Casey. She explained the purpose of the plantings is to establish a wildlife corridor along the new Cardinia Creek re-alignment. The trees and shrubs planted will:
- provide protection for wildlife to safely move along the Creek,
- provide a habitat for local birds and animals,
- protect the Creek, which in turn provides a home for fish species, such as the threatened Dwarf Galaxies fish,
- improve stormwater quality and
- provide a beautiful place for local residents to enjoy.
The seedlings had already been placed on the ground by the City’s contractor, where each was to be planted. This meant the volunteers job was to dig a hole using the implements provided, plant the seedlings, and ensure that the soil was tightly packed around the surface, to ensure that the potting mix did not dry out.
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The volunteers split into teams of two or three, with one creating the hole and the others placing the seedling in the ground and packing the soil around the surface. Eric Boon and his wife Wendy were well prepared, using a battery driven drill to create the holes for their seedlings with minimal effort.
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Although the task to plant 1,000 seedlings in 2 hours, appeared to be unattainable, the goal was achieved within 1.5 hours. This allowed the volunteers to retire to the barbecue prepared by Trevor Watson and Jack Kraan, with liquid refreshments supplied by Funno, to reflect on a job well done.
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This was a very successful community effort that was organised by Jen Marshall and Jack Kraan. It sits comfortably within Rotary’s 7th Area of Focus, ‘Supporting the Environment.
Well done to everyone involved!
On Sunday 26th June, a team of Rotary volunteers joined with other volunteers to cook food at the Arthur Wren Hall in Hampton Park for the Southern Migrant & Refugee Centre celebration event. This event was organised by the City of Casey and South East Community links.
The function was held to introduce a group of migrants to key organisations in the Casey area and involved the coming together of culturally diverse nationalities, languages, performances and costumes. Tables (booths) were set up in the hall, where people were able to talk to the Police, CFA, SES, Council, and Rotary.
Our Rotary team worked with volunteers from the Eyewatch-Casey Police Service Area in a modern kitchen at the hall, to cook approximately 800 sausages and onions to feed the large audience. Others answered questions about our club's purpose and activities, providing the potential to increase our membership and diversity.
It was a highly successful day and a great effort by our Rotary team.
A great example of Rotarians in Action within the community. Well done everyone!
Sam, Laury, Graham, Trevor, and David
On Wednesday morning 25th May, five Rotarians met at Casey Fields to provide a BBQ service for the students and staff of Nossal High School at their annual Sports Day. The team of Rotarians was made up of Laury Gordyn, Trevor Watson, David Anderson, Graham Johnstone and Sam McCurdy.
Although the Rotary BBQ had been idle for over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, it performed magnicently and was kept in full operation from 10:00am to 1:30pm, as the team cooked sausages and onions for an estimated crowd of 1,000 staff and students. A small group of students cooked vegie burgers on a small BBQ to satisfy the needs of vegetarians. The food and some other resources were provided by the school through the excellent management of Nossal's Jason Bell.
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A novel approach to this event was that some Nossal students and staff took turns at collecting payment for the food, or cooking the vegie burgers, while others assisted by serving the food to a hungry but appreciative crowd. This arrangement left the Rotarians to concentrate on the serious work of keeping up with the demand for cooked sausages.
All in all it was a great team effort and a successful collaboration between the staff, students and the Rotarians.
Posted by Graham Johnstone.
On a chilly morning of Saturday 7th of May, over 120 attended the official opening of the Mick Morland Recreation Reserve and Legacy Link.
Guest speakers included Kay Morland, Noelene Duff Administrator and Brad Battin MP who all paid tribute to Mick's devotion to developing a community bonded by sport and recreation.
Mick's dedication earned him an Order of Australia after his second term as Mayor of Casey.
The reserve caters for a variety of activities reflecting careful planning of the site.
Anzac Day commemorations returned after a two year Covid pause. The gunfire breakfast at Bunjil Place was a shared event with the Rotary Club of Narre Warren. We were represented by Gary Cooper, David Hocking, Graham Johnstone, Jen Marshall, Andrew Somers and Trevor Watson. The moving ceremony accompanied by bugles, bagpipes and chirping birds welcomed the new day. Veterans and their families were presented with a cooked breakfast and members of the public started the day with a sausage in bread.
Later in the day, we were represented at the RSL ceremony in Berwick by President David Button, Secretary Sam McCurdy and Greg Lee. A parade of servicemen and women were accompanied by a flyover of RAAF planes.
A team of 13 Rotarians and friends successfully conducted Mock Interviews of approximately 200 Year-11 students at Nossal High School (NHS), on Thursday 31 March and Friday 1st April.
Friday's Interview Team
The team consisted of 11 Rotarians from the Berwick and Narre Warren Clubs, together with friends Trevor Watson and Kay Spencer.
The purpose was to provide students with experience in an interview, in preparation for real life situations. The Interviewers provided constructive advice on application letters and resumes submitted by each student for a fictitious job and on their performance in answering questions in the interview, in support of their application.
Science Teacher at NHS and Coordinator of the interviews, Marion Campagna, expressed her deep appreciation of the time and expertise that the team provided, adding that the students benefited greatly from the experience.
This is a very worthy community project that should be conducted annually. It also provides an opportunity to work in collaboration with neighbouring Rotary Clubs.
In appreciation of their support, Marion provided each member of the team with a NHS branded coffee mug and a personalised 'Thank you' card written by one of the students.
Last year our Rotary Club participated in Clean Up Australia Day with the local cub group and it was pleasing to see the enthusiasm of the local cubs group who echoed the ideals of the founder of the day, Ian Kernan.This year, the cubs were otherwise occupied but the Rotary Club of Berwick collected 111 kg of rubbish, recyclables and litter. The club enjoyed a purposeful morning in the park but it was disappointing that the amount of rubbish was unchanged over the previous year.
The Clean up Australia Day Council commits a significant range of resources such as printed materials, first aid kits, collection bags and safety gear plus the local council collects and disposes of the rubbish.
Now, take a step back or two to look at the project. The amount of rubbish collected has not reduced over the previous year. The cost of collection , taking into account kits and gear from CU Australia Day Council and Casey Council would be well over $1,000 per tonne. All too woke.
The law of averages says that in the week after the clean up the first 5kg of litter would be dumped in the park because there is a lack of civic awareness. No guilt feelings, no punishment, so litterers do it simply because they can. Sadly, the days when it was bad manners to eat in front of others at the shops or in public are long gone. So is he guilty for discarding of litter.
It would be difficult to suddenly apply penalties such as in Singapore where a lolly wrapper is a $300 fine and severe penalties can be thousands plus a maximum of 8 lashes of the cane!
Remember back to the “Life be in it “ campaign with Norm? It occurred simultaneously with community awareness of fitness, gyms in every suburb, cycling tracks, jogging as a pastime, home gyms, increased sport participation and taking the dog for a walk.
Let’s all lobby the Clean Up Australia Day to do some purposeful advertising to supplement or even replace the expensive kits etc. We may even tackle graffiti elimination!
The Rotary “SAFE Families” Australia Day event at Nossal High School had to be modified due to the increase in COVID transmission in the community.
The planned face-to-face interactions showcasing various significant Rotary projects to about approximately 200 invited guests of diverse cultures and closing with a social BBQ, were cancelled, and replaced with a 1-hour open broadcast featuring inspirational Guest Speakers and top-class performers. The broadcast from Nossal High School took place from 12:00 noon until 1:00 pm on Australia Day.
The BBQ component that was to be provided by the Rotary Club of Berwick volunteers, was replaced with a packaged meal alternative. The meals were prepared for distribution to people doing it tough within the local community.
They were produced By Executive Chef, Julian Robert-Shaw, who heads up the catering and food operations at Moonee Valley Racing Club and Melbourne Showgrounds. Julian collaborated with a local indigenous catering company, Bunji Catering, to produce dishes for the food packs, and with Farmer’s Daughters restaurant to produce two signature dishes under their brand. His team have extensive experience in putting together food packages, complete with compostable cutlery, plates etc and packed in refrigerated boxes.
Approximately 150 meals were prepared and delivered to the Salvation Army in Pakenham and Transit Soup Kitchen and Food Support in Narre Warren. Both organisations have refrigeration facilities and direct links to large numbers in the community in need of food support, thereby facilitating an effective meal distribution.
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PDG Mark Humphries from the Rotary Club of Mt Eliza, who also works at Nossal High School, coordinated the SAFE Families event and the distribution of the food packages. Sam McCurdy delivered 70 meals to the Salvation Army and the remainder were delivered to Transit by President David Button.
This was a great example of Rotary in Action, while celebrating Australia Day.
Posted by Sam McCurdy:
The collection of donations by local school communities to the Rotary Berwick & District Benevolent Society's 'Christmas Appeal' has been completed.
This week, a Rotary team made up of Laury Gordyn, Russell Fellows, Andrew Somers, Andy Merrill and Sam McCurdy collected donations from St Margaret's Senior School, Haileybury College, Berwick College, Beaconhills college, Kambrya College and Timbarra P-9 School.
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All the generous donations were delivered to Casey North Community Information Support Service (CNCISS) to be sorted into Christmas hampers for distribution to the local community.
This leaves final public donations to be picked up from Eden Rise and Berwick Square Shopping Centres next week, to complete this year's project.
Thanks to all the Rotarians who helped make this year's 'Christmas Collection' possible and to all those Schools and Shopping Centres who participated.
Posted by Sam McCurdy:
If you want more information about joining Rotary and using your talents to serve the community, please contact Sam on Secretary@Rotaryberwick.org and he will put you on the right path.
Extracted by Sam McCurdy from a Facebook post by DG Bill Degnan:
The Four-Way Test, was created in 1932 by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor when he was asked to take charge of a company that was facing bankruptcy.
This 24-word test for employees to follow in their business and professional lives became the guide for sales, production, advertising, and all relations with dealers and customers, and the survival of the company is credited to this simple philosophy.
The Four-Way Test was adopted by Rotary in 1943 and has been translated into more than a hundred languages and published in thousands of ways. It is now a test used by Rotarians world-wide as a moral code for personal and business relationships, and can be applied to almost any aspect of life.
Rotary members should not use The Four-Way Test to look at others, but rather to look at themselves in considering the ramifications of a thought, statement, or action.
It should not be a window through which we look to judge others. It is a mirror at which we look to judge ourselves.
Evan Burrell - Changemaker, gave a lot of thought to what each of the Four-Way Test questions asked of us and came up with the step-by-step process above, to give some real clarity behind these most often recited questions.
