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THE UNLEY ROTARIAN: Meeting 4194 -  5 May 2020 Website: https://portal.clubrunner.ca/2039/
 Rotary Club of Unley Inc.

 District 9520 - Chartered 17 April 1935

 President:  Jason Booth: 0419 034 063
 Secretary:  Vera Holt: 0417 892 624
 Address:  PO Box 18, Unley SA 5061
 Email:  vera.holt@hotmail.com
 Meetings:  Tuesdays at 6.00 for     6.30pm
 Venue:
 Damien on Fisher, 123 Fisher Street, Fullarton SA
President Jason Booth
 

 

 

  

Our Last Meeting

 
Venue:                    Zooming
 
 
Guest Speaker:      D'Arcy Walsh - Royal Oceanic Medical Aid for Children
              
 
Attendance:           18 members 

President Jason opened the Covid 2 meeting and reflected on a return to normality......whenever it may be

Guest Speaker D'Arcy Walsh: ROMAC

He called on Trevor McGuirk to introduce our guest speaker as follows.

D’Arcy has been a Rotarian since 1994 – 17 years with the Rotary Club of Adelaide and 9 years with the Rotary Club of East Davao in the Southern Philippines. He has served in a variety of positions at the club level, included President, and undertaken a number of leadership roles at the District and National level. He is very familiar with most of the countries in the Oceania region having designed, managed and evaluated a variety of official development assistance projects over the last 35 years in 23 different countries across the Asia-Pacific region. Of particular significance is his work in Samoa, Kiribati, Fiji, Solomon Islands, PNG, Vanuatu, East Timor, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. D’Arcy’s late wife, Carol, was also an active Rotarian, and he has three children and four grandchildren.

ROMAC was established in 1988 by Australian and New Zealand Rotary Districts combining together to provide surgery for children in Pacific countries which form part of their Districts, namely Timor Leste, PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga, Fiji and Nauru. Since then there have been 500 kids, and recently 40 - 50 per year, aged 15 and under who have been brought to Australia for operations to save their lives, improve mobility or restore dignity.

A video was shown of what ROMAC is all about. None of the islands have the capacity to adequately treat complex cases caused by accident, disease or birth defect. Needy kids are identified through a range of sources including the Royal Australian College of Surgeons, local medicos and Rotarians and brought to Australia with a family member after selection. One of the more famous cases was the successful separation of the Bosin twins from PNG 24 years ago. Footage included successful treatment of tumours, cardiac defects and scoliosis.

ROMAC is entirely voluntary and enlists the aid of many helpers to meet and greet, host the families, drive  to appointments, and a whole lot more. Some stays can be as short as 3 weeks but others as long as 4 months with an average cost of $30,00 per child. Donations have tended to diminish this year but the number of cases needing attention is growing.

D'Arcy was applauded  for his presentation.

Reports

Thrift Shop -  Pam Trimmer

Last week significant changes were made to the Thrift Shop....see below. Given the progress made with Covid 19 it would seem appropriate to open the shop by 30 May, a month earlier than the date agreed with the landlady. A number of suggestions were made including starting slowly with limited hours, utilising as much Rotarian help as possible, contacting all our volunteers for their reactions, negotiating reasonable rent with landlady, and ensure conditions laid down by Federal and State Governments can be met,   

Detmold - Jerry Casburn

Feeding the Detmold staff as a thankyou for their move to manufacture face marks is underway. We are to bake scones, 450 of them, for 225 staff for delivery on Friday 15 May. Cream can be sourced from Coles and Trevor has a heap of jam.....hopefully vaguely edible. Briony Casburn has a fail safe recipe and Jason recommends the now famous CWA (Muriel) recipe....he suggested a SCONE OFF. Members will be contacted to participate. The editor is giving a special prize, not for the best scone but for the worst example of flour abuse.

Almoner Mavis Martin

Mavis provided an update on Bob Laws (Parkinsons), Pauline Daly (eye issues) and Patsy (cataract operation successful)

Spots

Wendy Andrews related that Rhonda's initiative to contact  isolated nursing home residents was progressing. At Regis, which has 160 residents, 54 names were provide. Wendy had written a letter, copied it and sent it to each.....see below. It had been well received. Feedback will determine how we proceed from here.
 
Chris Davis reported on behalf of Leonie that POOTY had been postponed until 2021. However discussions were being held to have Rotary District make a special presentation to the Police Commissioner in recognition of their efforts during the bushfires and covid crisis. It can be held in the police media room.
 
David Payne reported that Unley's oldest resident Bernice Roberts died at the age of 102 with her funeral held this afternoon at St Augustine's Church. Bernice had helped in our Thrift Shop for many years.

Finale

The meeting closed at 7.50pm...…….nice work
 
There is a big question on everyone's lips....What has happened to the chocolates?
 

POOTY

An excellent article about Chief Inspector Matt Nairn the SA Police Officer of the Year 2019 can be found in the Police magazine Blueprint at Page 36 of the first issue for 2020
 
 

Thrift Shop

 
Last week a motley crew led by Jerry, supervised by Pam, and comprising Trevor, John P, Chris and Stephen made a few changes to the Thrift Shop. Photos below show Jerry under the table claiming he was sober and Chris and John (bottom left) screwing something up.
 
 
 

Wendy's letter to Regis residents

ROTARY NEWS

4 ways to celebrate Youth Service Month virtually

By Erika Emerick, RI programs and promotions specialist
 
Posted on by

Youth Service Month is a special time in Rotary. Throughout the month of May, members of Rotary clubs, Rotaract, Interact, and those involved in Rotary Youth Leadership Awards and Rotary Youth Exchange celebrate the opportunities Rotary provides to connect, grow through service, develop leadership skills, mentor or be mentored, and have fun.

The outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, may alter the way we observe Youth Service Month this year. But it need not dampen our enthusiasm, excitement, and gratitude for these programs and the volunteers who make them possible. Here are four ways you can safely celebrate:

  1. Serve. Make the month special by identifying needs in your community, and getting creative with ways to meet them within the safety of local shelter in place guidelines. This could include sewing masks for essential workers, collecting and distributing supplies for shut-ins, or creating a phone chain to offer a message of encouragement to seniors who are isolated and alone. Check out this list of projects being conducted by Rotary clubs around the world for inspiration.
  2. Stay Connected. Schedule an online meeting with your sponsor Rotary club, or with program participants and alumni. Recognize past accomplishments and discuss ways to work together in the future to strengthen participation. Visit the Meeting Online learning topic to find and share resources, join discussions, and ask for expert advice about creating online meeting spaces.
  3. Unite behind a fundraiser. Empower Rotary’s response to the pandemic by donating to the Disaster Response Fund. Grants from this fund are already providing hospitals in Belgium, Croatia, and Italy with lifesaving ventilators; and equipping frontline healthcare workers with personal protective equipment in Korea, Nigeria, the Philippines, Spain, and the United States. In India, disaster response grants are providing disinfectant sprayers, beds, and mattresses for healthcare facilities.
  4. Set and achieve goals. Take this month to focus on initiatives that will help your club earn this year’s Rotary Citation. Brainstorm sustainable service projects, ways to increase giving to The Rotary Foundation, and build awareness of Rotary in your community. Young people are looking for a way to make a difference. Show them how Rotary equips them to do so, especially in this time of crisis. And watch your membership grow.

Share how you’re celebrating Rotary’s Youth Service Month on social media with #RotaryYouthService.

Member's corner......a spot for magical/funny/informative Rotary short stories

Stephen Baker The editor first joined Rotary in 1998 in Manila....the Rotary Club of Mandaluyong. It was a very active club: feeding and giving medical and dental support for the poor in nearby barangays; supplying equipment for vocational training; and staging the best of social events.....singing and ballroom dancing were tops. Stephen eventually rose to the esteemed position of Environmental Director and his first initiative was to develop a strategy to reduce the dramatic air pollution caused by emissions from old diesel buses and jeepneys. Club members rightly threw that in the bin as it would incur the wrath of the bus owners (military and police). His next initiative was to beautify a boulevard in a poor area and to that end sourced robust ficus trees from the provinces.  Arrangements were made with the barangay chiefs for watering. Club members enthusiastically committed to planting them. D Day arrived and members rocked up......but with their gardeners to do the spade work. While it came as a bit of a surprise to see staff rather than members in action at least the job was done well and the
supervision beers tasted great.
 

Upcoming Fortnightly ZOOM Meetings...….7pm

Tuesday 19 May - Guest Speaker Rob Croser from Independent Theatre
 
Tuesday 2 June - Guest Speaker Greg Patterson from Foodbank
 
Apologies to: Jerry Casburn by e-mail jerry@thecasburns.com.au  or  0407 646 396
Meeting Enquiries to: Secretary Vera Holt on 0417 892 624 or email to unley.secretary@rotaryclub.org.au
Venue Set-up Enquiries to: Bulletin Editor Stephen Baker on 0403 687 015

Watch this space for:

  • Thrift Shop details.....on resumption

  • Bunnings and Mitre 10 BBQs......on resumption

 

The Tale End

Lets start on a positive note
 
The Night Light

An 80 year old man goes for a physical. All of his tests come  back with normal results.  The doctor says, "George,  everything looks great.   How are you doing mentally  and emotionally? Are you at peace with God?"

George  replies, "God and I are tight.  He knows I have poor  eyesight, so He's fixed it so when I get up in the  middle of the night to go to the bathroom, poof!  The  light goes on.  When I'm done, poof! The light goes  off."

"Wow, that's incredible," the doctor says.

A little later in the day, the doctor calls  George's wife. “Ethel," he says, "George is doing  fine!  But I had to call you because I'm in awe of his relationship with God.  Is it true that he gets up  during the night, and poof! the light goes on in the  bathroom, and when he's done, poof! the  light goes  off?"

"Oh sweet Jesus" exclaims  Ethel.   "He's  pissin' in the refrigerator again!"
 
Lemons
                                  
Sally Mulligan of Coral Springs , Florida, read an ad in  the newspaper for one of the jobs that most Americans are not willing to do, and decided to apply. She submitted to a Florida lemon grove, but seemed far too qualified for the job.
She has a liberal arts degree from the University of Michigan, and a master’s degree from Michigan State University. For a number of years, she had worked as a social worker, and also as a school teacher.

The foreman studied her application, frowned and said, "I see you are well-educated, and have an impressive resume. However, I must ask whether you have any actual experience in picking lemons?”

"Well, as a matter of fact, I have," she said. "I've been divorced three times, owned two Chryslers, and voted for Trump.”
 She started work yesterday.