This week at Rotary we had a 'bye', meaning an automatic advancement of the members to the next round of rotary meetings without facing the prospect of Zoom.
Our average attendance is 51% with Zoomed out, sick of Zoom, hate Zoom being the favourite excuses why members don't show up. This week, I thought if you cannot beat them, join them and I have to say I enjoyed wagging a Zoom meeting too! It did help that the meeting that was planned didn't quite make it to fruition and my job got in the way with the "PLAN B" option. None the less, I did enjoy a break from Zoom.
NEXT WEEK, the 11th November, will be our chance to be Rotarians again as we support another local business affected by the COVID restrictions. This project is an initiative of Jen Marshall. I love how proactive Jen has been with this project, firstly by supporting Busker Simon Papero and now with this business. I hope that the whole club will get behind Jen. She has put a lot of work in to make this week's meeting happen. Let's see if our members will support both the initiative and the business.
Now over to Jen:
This week's meeting will be focusing on something we are all doing a lot of at the moment... staying at home! Whether it is working from home, social distancing or isolating, with everyone at home it is important that we focus on our health.
Tonight's presenter is Kate Boyle, a nutritionist, pilates instructor, elite level ballet dancer, podcaster, business owner, mum of two and a local Berwick girl! Kate's passionate about sharing her knowledge on health and fitness and we are very fortunate to have her presenting her top tips on staying healthy at home. Kate will also get us moving with some gentle stretching that we can do at home to help keep our bodies moving. The weather is warming up so it is time to get moving, get motivated and prioritise your health and wellbeing.
Kate runs her own studio Mind & Movement Pilates here in Berwick and it is one of the many businesses impacted by the lockdown. As part of the clubs 'Support Local Business' initiative, we will be paying for a private class with Kate. So that we can continue this project to support other businesses like Kate's, we will charge a $5 fee for all attendees to be paid via online transaction on or before the night.
To buy a ticket to support this business, clickHERE. Payment can be made by credit card or PayPal.
A private session with a health professional attracts a considerable fee, for only $5 you can hear from an industry expert, have your health and wellbeing questions answered and feel the benefits by joining in with the optional gentle pilates exercises.
Comfy clothes are recommended, so come along for a fun and informative night.
Pilates is a form of low-impact exercise that aims to strengthen muscles while improving postural alignment and flexibility. Pilates moves tend to target the core, although the exercises work in other areas of your body as well. You can do Pilates with or without equipment, but no matter what, expect the moves to involve slow, precise movements and breath control. Pilates is a full-body exercise method that will help you do everything better. It strengthens and stabilises your core body, which is your foundation so that you can move efficiently while improving your posture, flexibility, and mobility.
Do you remember when we had a Fair Dinkum project and were proud to be a Rotarian? Well, the Australia Day Council reckons that us Rotarians need a bit of a hand with getting our 'Straya Day' projects going this year cause of COVID. They are backing Rotary Clubs all over Australia to put on a show and bring the community spirit back after we got smashed by some random germ. So whip out your thongs and give that COVID germ a bash! Then we can bring back some Rotary love to our fellow Berwickians.
The Australia Day Council is working with Rotary to try and get Australia Day events up and running. PP Isobel attended a zoom meeting on my behalf (Thank you!) on Tuesday 3rd November. This is a combined super cluster event and as the timeline is very tight, I have put our club down as a potential starter to be included in the application. I will get further details shortly. We will have to find a team leader in the club to organise our part, which will most likely be our major challenge, but I understand we will have plenty of support within our super cluster including IT support from DG Mark.
The good news out of this is that the outside world are holding out a helping hand (to their own benefit) and we should take it for our benefit as a community organisation.
To clarify the application process, only one application is required for a Super Cluster of Clubs. DG Mark has combined our Melbourne South East cluster with the South Gippsland cluster to make up a Super Cluster of 15 Rotary Clubs for application purposes. AG Colin Byron will be completing our Super Cluster Grant application. There is NO need for Clubs to complete individual applications
Each Super Cluster can access a grant of $20,000 of which the money will be distributed amongst those of the 15 Clubs that held an Australian Day event.
The application form is relatively generic, but it must state which of the Clubs will be having an Australian Day event. These events don't have to be finalised and can be changed at a later date.
What AG Colin Byron required from each Club was confirmation if they are planning an Australian Day event (many of you do this every year anyway) and whether your event could be shared amongst other Clubs in the Cluster. There is also a plan to have a District event that will have the technology to broadcast the on-line event.
Each year, the Rotary Berwick & District Benevolent Society organises the collection of non-perishable food items and toys from local schools and businesses, which are then delivered to Casey North Community Information Support Service (CNCISS), where the items are sorted into Christmas hampers. The hampers are then distributed by CNCISS to members of the local community who are in need of support over the festive season.
As a result of job losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Christmas season is likely to be even tougher for some families than previous ones. The distribution of the food items and toys brings welcome relief to many in the community and it makes Christmas even happier, particularly for the children of those in need.
To get the collection underway, we have contacted seven local Secondary schools and two Supermarkets to participate in the collection. This will require us to place Collection Cages in some of those venues next week. The donated items are then collected from the various sites early in December and passed on to CNCISS for distribution.
If you can assist with the delivery of the Collection Cages to selected sites next week and then the collection of donated items early in December, please advise Sam McCurdy at sblmccurdy@gmail.com.
Saturday 24th October was designated as World Polio Day. Polio is a paralysing and potentially deadly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of 5. The virus spreads from person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can then attack the nervous system.
Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years. Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease. Their goal of ridding the world of the disease is closer than ever. Recently, the African Region has been declared polio-free by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
As you would be aware from previous articles, Rotary organised a “Walk with us” event for the month of October, to raise much needed funds to continue the fight to end polio. Our Club met the challenge forming a team of ten sturdy Rotarians which they called the Berwick Boomers and Shakers. The team members identified below, set out to walk personal target distances during October, for which they sought sponsorship to raise vital funds.
Although three members of the team did not record their achievements, the other seven walked on average approximately 179 kms during October. Needless to say our President set the benchmark walking 307 kms. No wonder he is so fit!
In all, forty-four teams took part in the local District event and together they raised a total of $93,099. Our team raised a total of $4,080 and were placed sixth on the Team Leader Board. The top team was the Rotary Club of Hawthorn, who raised an impressive $9,624.
Well done to all involved in the event. Thank you PP Mark Caulfield for getting us involved and being our Polio Champion.
It is pretty exciting when a Rotary Club picks up a worthy cause and runs with it. This doesn't happen by magic, all it takes is one person who will champion the cause and then work the Rotary machine to deliver an outcome. Ending Polio is a perfect example of how Rotary changed the world. This project will change the world too!
Our End Trachoma Champion is Jane Moore. Jane will be asking us all to get some supplies to assemble into 45 hygiene kits for Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory. We will hear more about this project next week from Jane but for the moment, please have a look at the video and also visit the End Trachoma website: https://www.endtrachoma2020.org.au/ to learn more about why we should be involved in this project.
The World Health Organisation has a global goal to eliminate trachoma by 2020. Trachoma is an infectious eye disease that can be prevented with good hygiene practices. But it is still present in remote Aboriginal communities and can lead to permanent blindness.
The work of the Australian Government, the Fred Hollows Foundation and Indigenous Eye Health to treat trachoma infections has seen rates in affected communities reduced substantially. But now, we need to ensure that hygiene practices and the community environments are improved to completely eliminate the disease.
