Ron was our chairperson for this morning's club meeting at Cilantro. Guests included Colleen D'Offay, our guest speaker, and Nicky Chung. Charles and Karin attended via Zoom.Ron commenced the meeting with 1 minutes silence in recognition and to honour the service of the 2 recently slain policemen in Porepunkah, and pay respect to their families. Terrible and very sad - our hearts go out to them. All of our community is impacted by such events.
PRESIDENT ANNOUNCEMENTS - President Grant
1. SES Presentation - Grant commented on the success of last Thursday's evening meeting where Clarine Wheeler from SES Moorabbin Unit was presented with a PHF recognition, instigated through her Rotarian brother - Denis Tan, R.C. of Wausau in Wisconsin in the USA. Grant read out a thank you letter received via email from her brother on the following day, expressing his gratitude to Grant and our club for holding the meeting and presenting the PHF.
2. BMC Club Meeting Survey Results - Grant read out the results of the club survey conducted recently on Survey Monkey on the running aspects of our club meetings. Survey Monkey was the process selected to run the survey as this enabled all club members to participate. A little over 50% of the club members participated in the survey. Below are the results.
i) Display flags at club meetings - display or not display, and when
Result - 58% Only display flags at formal Rotary meetings when dignitaries representing Rotary International are visiting - representing a change and only displaying flags for formal meetings with visiting Rotary dignitaries.
ii) Invocation - continue or discontinue
Result - 54% Discontinue with invocation - representing a change and dropping invocation
iii) Toast - to whom
Result - 85% to Rotary; 86% to Australia; 62% to Our Club - representing a change in also including a toast to our club.
iv) Who should conduct the toast - Chairperson, or Chairperson calls someone from the Floor
Result - 67% - Chairperson calls someone from the floor to conduct the toast - representing no change from current procedure
v) Club Meeting - time and frequency
Result - 62% - Continue to meet weekly - with 3 morning meetings at Cilantro and 1 evening meeting - representing no change to current procedure
The results are available in a pie chart - if any club member wishes to check with the club secretary.
Any changes resulting from the survey are effective immediately moving forward.
3. RYDA Event on 25/8 - The following club members attended and provided assistance at RYDA - Ian, Helen P, Grant, Ron, Paul, and Linda. Bert also turned up.4. BMC Board Meeting - was held on 25/8. Minutes of the August board meeting held on 4/8 are now available on the club website
5. Club Members - Jim Magee has applied for leave of absence, and Sam Langridge has resigned from the club. Warren Stahel (honorary club member) - flowers have been arranged for delivery since Warren has returned home following surgery.
6. Ken Mirams - is the District Club Protection officer, and will visit our club next week as Guest Speaker. Changes in Youth Protection policies are expected.
GUEST SPEAKER - DONATIONS IN KIND - Colleen D'Offay - Operations Manager.
Colleen is the current president of the R.C. of Brighton, and recently took the reigns of Donations in Kind as their Operations Manager. She has been busy reviewing and redirecting some of their operations since.
Donations in Kind is based in West Footscray and commenced in 1978 for the purpose of collecting and distributing donated goods to charitable organisations - initially for international developing countries,and now also to local organisations and disadvantaged individuals in the local community. It is solely run by volunteers who sort and distribute donated items - mainly consisting of educational, medical, and clothing items, principally donated by companies, hospitals and educational institutions. Colleen provided some facts and figures, and detailed the typical items that are donated and distributed. Developing countries in Africa have been the main recipients in recent times, however, Colleen also mentioned an indigenous school in NT who were overjoyed to receive educational material for the school and students. Colleen outlined their processes and pathways for having goods distributed, and how Rotary clubs can become involved. Their warehouse is huge in a space of 3,400 square metres. Operating expenses are high, and Colleen is introducing ways to minimise and offset some of the expenses with a cost recovery program. Their premise is leased on short tenures and they are currently seeking property to purchase for a permanent base for their operations. Colleen finished by answering questions from the floor. Thank you Colleen for your excellent and very informative presentation - it's great to see equipment that is serviceable, but no longer used, being put to practical use and making a difference in other people's lives.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. Halloween Night in Orange Street - October. Geoff put a call out for volunteers to help with a BBQ being run by Geoff for the Scouts on Halloween night in Orange Street. Geoff has only scant information at the moment - but will provide more information closer to the date.
2. District 9815 Conference in Hobart - March 2026. Linda asked members planning to attend the conference to let her know and where they have booked accommodation - this will be helpful for sorting out the Friday night dinner, and planning for costumes for the Saturday evening dinner.
