UPCOMING PROGRAMS

Standard meeting venue and time: Dorset Gardens Hotel, 335 Dorset Road, Croydon

6:00 pm for 6:30 pm start, unless otherwise specified

$25 for two course meal.

DATE Tuesday 28th November 2017

SUBJECT AGM and Club Forum

CHAIR Greg O’Neill/Stephen Bode

DATE Tuesday 5th December 2017

SUBJECT Syrian Refugee Experience.

SPEAKER Hagop (Jacob) Kazandjian

CHAIR John Anderson

DATE Tuesday 12th December 2017

SUBJECT TBA

CHAIR TBA

DATE Tuesday 19th December 2017

SUBJECT Christmas Event: BBQ at the President’s home

CHAIR TBA

DATE Tuesday 26th December 2017. NO MEETING

DATE Tuesday 2nd. January 2018. NO MEETING

DATE Tuesday 9th. January 2018. NO MEETING

DATE Tuesday 16th. January 2018.

SUBJECT TBA

ROTARY CLUB OF CROYDON

45 Years of Serving our Community

28th November 2017 – Volume 45 No. 22

1

THE CHRONICLE

A publication of the Rotary Club of Croydon ID No. 18360, District 9810.

President 2017/18 – Stephen Bode

MEMBERS CORNER

All members to advise apologies or additional numbers for meetings to:

Ian Cumming on: 0411 605 854

before 10:00 am on Monday

Cashier for November : Sue Jonas

Greeter for November : Jean Stuart.

If you are on duty and cannot attend, PLEASE ARRANGE FOR A SUBSTITUTE.

Raffle Prizes for Partner Nights:

Marlene Sinclair; Bev Stehn; Jean Stuart; Ross Taylor.

Warm Birthday wishes to all those celebrating their special day during

NOVEMBER

John Hexter 10th November

Heather Tinney 24th November

Viv Baum 25th November

We have no Wedding Anniversaries to celebrate the month of November.

Chronicle contributions and any articles of interest are invited from all members and

persons that have an interest in the promotion of Rotary International.

Please email Jean at: prcommunications@rotarycroydon.org.au

By close of business Friday.

President’s Report: 28-11-2017

Terry McEvoy, from Swinburne University provided us with an overview of the

operations of Swinburne at Croydon. Partnership opportunities with Swinburne cover

Vocational, Community and Youth Avenues of service. In particular the Indigenous

Reconciliation Action program, Migrant English, Yolngu Trades Training in Arnhem

Land and the Young Mums program. Also, furthering connections with the Croydon

Men’s Shed located at Swinburne.

We look forward to developing our relationship with Swinburne to extend our involvement with the local

Croydon community and hopefully creating a direct membership link with the Club.

Ian Cumming, as Raffle Co-ordinator, is developing a sales roster schedule. We will be selling at the

Primary Schools Speech Competition on Thursday Night and at the Maroondah Carols on Friday night.

Please allocate some time assist with sales to the public. As previously advised it is intended that members

also place books in Club partner organisations (where they have a connection) or their businesses. More

laminated flyers will be available to go with the books when they are placed at selling locations. Ian will

provide an update on raffle sales next week to incorporate results for School and Member sales.

Bev Stehn, Jean Stuart Ruth Bode and myself assisted with the Kids Club Family Fun Day last Sunday.

Bev and Jean helped prepare the food platters while Ruth and myself operated a dress up photo booth.

All ex Pegasus “within use by date” soft drinks and water have been sold. Buyers will be able to pick up

their purchases on Tuesday. We still have a quantity of sports drinks available. Let me know if anyone can

use them.

The first gifts are starting to arrive for the Ray White Little Ray of Giving Christmas program. Wrapped

gifts will be delivered to children at Safe Futures Foundation. John Anderson will arrange to get the gifts

to Ray White via Brian McDaid.

Let me know if you can assist Helping Hand Food Bank move their bulk storage stock and shelving on

January 20th 2018.

Michael and Ann Jackomos are busy preparing Christmas biscuits for the Mental Health Units at

Maroondah. Greg O’Neill has provided some “Christmasy” labels.

Maroondah Community Assist are preparing around 3,000 Christmas Hampers for the disadvantaged in

Maroondah and have requested public support via donations of goods to fill the hampers. Donations can be

delivered directly to Maroondah Community Assist in Mt Dandenong Road.

This week we have the AGM and Club Forum.

The AGM is the time to confirm the Board for the next Rotary year. Hopefully we will be able to confirm

the President for 2019/2020.

As part of the forum, a member Needs Assessment Survey will be conducted. Forms have been distributed

by email but will be available on the night. Also for discussion will be the need for a Program Co-ordinator

and the actions required to maximise fundraising in 2018.

Members have also been advised of two District proposals for RI Legislation changes. We need to vote on

these issues if the proposals are to be endorsed. The first proposal is to request RI to consider success

factors other than absolute member numbers for District member number minimums. The second proposal

relates to Clubs obtaining DG approval for Club name changes or Club boundary changes.

Regards,

Stephen Bode

Chairman’s Report:

Last Tuesday, Terry McEvoy, Senior Project Manager of the Croydon Campus of Swinburne University

spoke to us about the many opportunities available for young people to get into trades, adapting to new

technologies to become highly skilled trades men and women, thus creating massive opportunities,

especially with the new infrastructure coming into Victoria over the next few years. He recognizes that

although traditional education may not suit every student, the key to personal growth is finding the right

educational strategy that suits the individual.

Swinburne have paired up with Australian Industry Group and Siemens to create an apprenticeship that will

have a diploma qualification attached to it. It has practical and higher education skills combined.

Terry and his team are now helping to create employment opportunities for Indigenous communities in the

Northern Territory, especially in East Arnhem Land. These people want to work but there is no one there

who can do the jobs or train the locals. By developing training programs, Terry and his team have given the

opportunity for the people living in remote areas to get the skills needed to make their communities a better

place with access to high quality vocational education.

Terry also spoke to us about the Young Mums program that provides mothers aged 15-20 years a Victorian

Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL), which is an equivalent to Year 11 and Year 12 studies.

Regards,

Jean Stuart

A Little Ray of Giving brings thousands of gifts

Tens of thousands of gifts have been donated locally to less fortunate children thanks to a partnership between Ray White

offices across Australia and New Zealand and their local Rotary Clubs.

The Christmas initiative is run throughout December each year and community members are encouraged to wrap and

deliver gifts to their local Ray White office.

The gifts are then collected and distributed by the partnering Rotary Club to appropriate individuals and organisations. This

is the second annual “A Little Ray of Giving” campaign.

The localised nature of the gift drive allows local organisations Rotary and Ray White to pick a suitable benefactor in their

community. It’s all about local giveback at an important time of year.

Across New Zealand, offices in Kumeu, Waiheke Island, Hornby, Hamilton, Ponsonby and many more across the nation

participated.

In South Australia, Ray White Keatley in Mount Gambier supported the Mayor’s Christmas Appeal and collected gifts for

ac.care while Ray White Gawler teamed up with the Rotary Club of Barossa and aspired to top their 2012 gift drive where

$8500 worth of goods and vouchers were donated by businesses and locals. Ray White Plympton and the Rotary Club of

Holdfast Bay collected gifts for children in the south-western suburbs and Ray White Waikerie publicly encouraged the

community to consider gifts for mums facing hardship too.

In New South Wales Ray White Wetherill Park teamed up with the local Rotary Club to collect gifts for Blue Mountains

bushfire victims. Emma Biasetto, the local coordinator, hand painted the gift paper and managed the program

locally. Emma’s personal touch really made a difference. As June Bragg of the Rotary Club of Wetherill Park wrote to the

business principal, “I just wanted to say what a delightful young woman Emma is and what a wonderful job she did

collecting all the gifts and then personally wrapping etc each one of them. They looked terrific. I am sure that the many

children and families who will benefit from her hard work will truly appreciate all the effort she went to.”

Also in New South Wales, Ray White Rural in Murwillumbah had 44 gifts donated by locals. Ray White Dapto donated

over 150 gifts to the Salvation Army. The Double Bay office had 85 gifts donates and Gerringong on the South Coast

doubled their gift intake from 2012 to 2013 – this year distributing 122 gifts. Rural offices, Ray White Temora and Ray

White Rural Murwillumbah, distributed 108 and 53 gifts locally, respectively. Ray White Menai totalled 64.

Menai’s Matt Debreczeni said it was a fantastic initiative. “Great to be a part of and see all these gifts coming in. Wish we

could see these kid’s faces!”

In Victoria, Ray White Ballarat participated for their first time. Phillip Lee, Director of Ray White Ballarat said a big thank

you to clients, staff and members of the community who put toys under the Christmas tree in their office over the last few

weeks.

“We had the pleasure of handing the toys over to Merv Lincoln from the Salvation Army on Friday to distribute to those in

need this Christmas”.

Mr Lee said, “the generous contributions of toys will help put a smile on a young child’s face this Christmas.”

Across Whittlesea in Victoria, offices joined forced with the Rotary Club of Bundoora including Ray White Mill Park, Ray

white Bundoora, Ray White South Morang, Ray White Thomastown and Ray White Epping. In Croydon, Melba College

supported the campaign.

In Queensland, Ray White Rockhampton distributed 7500 pamphlets to encourage the community to get behind the gift

drive. Gladstone donated their gifts to the Salvation Army, Roseberry Community Services and UnitingCare Community

via the Rotary Club of South Gladstone. The benefactor of the gifts donated to Ray White Whitsunday and Rotary Club of

Airlie Beach was the Whitsunday Crisis and Counselling Service. The corporate team collected 85 presents.

But story of the month goes to the community of Ascot in Brisbane. Ray White Ascot had 180 gifts delivered by Ascot

State School when the year four students decided to boycott “secret Santa” in the classroom and instead donated all of the

gifts to those less fortunate children in their community.

In Western Australia, offices from Narrogin to Dongara and Morley participated. So too did offices in Burnie and Central

Launceston in Tasmania.

*

Made up of men and women across all vocations and cultures,

Rotary continues to make an impressive impact. Are you:

• Keen to help others and want to make a difference?

• Seeking more meaning and purpose in your life?

• Looking for ways to help your community?

• Want to be part of a worldwide network for good?

• Interested in a Corporate Social Responsibility program in which your company can participate?

Volunteering with Rotary can provide you with a great work life balance. It’s an opportunity to extend

your life experience and business skills, to benefit your local community and the wider world.

• It provides a bridge from your working and home life – to meet and network with other business and

community people

• Ongoing personal development

• Grow your understanding and knowledge

• Open to both men and women

• Make a new extended network of friends

• Weekly contact opportunities

• Links to a vast international network

• Provides a pathway to do good in the world

The impact our members make takes shape at our Club meetings and activities. These gatherings allow

you to join other passionate, visionary people to discuss and act upon community needs.

Rotary Club meetings are also a place to strengthen connections to friends and neighbours and form

meaningful relationships that last a lifetime.

If you are interested in finding out more about:

The Rotary Club of Croydon please visit: http://rotarycroydon.org.au/

or for information about Rotary International visit: www.rotary.org.au/

Club Information

Postal Address: P.O. Box 226, Croydon Victoria 3136

Meeting Venue: Dorset Gardens Hotel 335 Dorset Road, Croydon Victoria 3136

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

Website: http://rotarycroydon.org.au/

Club President Stephen Bode president@rotarycroydon.org.au 0468 565 250

Vice President John Anderson john@anderson-assoc.com.au 0408 341 516

Immediate Past

President Dr Joy Varughese kochanattujoy@gmail.com 0451 880 186

Secretary Greg O’Neil secretary@rotarycroydon.org.au 9870-4422

President Elect Jean Stuart Jeanieos007@gmail.com 0416 036 489

Treasurer Eric Thomas royalltreasurer@rotarycroydon.org.au 9723 4162

PR/Communications Jean Stuart prcommunications@rotarycroydon.org.au 0416 036 489