Pres Sangeeta
- Welcome Guest Speaker
- Peter Hadwen – wedding anniversary 21 March – he isn’t doing very well please keep him in your thoughts
- Conference – thank you to the team behind the scenes – thank you Gayle and Lyn for all your efforts – Hita and Kris presented – well done!!
- Well done to Marcus for all the coordination you did before and during our wonderful weekend away
- On to Bendigo!!
Flowers were presented to Sangeeta to thank her for the loan of the wonderful saris
PP PHF Shalini - Chairperson
The Good Life Farm – Lesley Porter – Founder and CEO
(and Bronwyn who looks after all the management)
- Had a traumatic childhood and moved around a lot
- Helped working on a farm with animals and it changed her life – felt safe there
- Got married and had a couple of kids
- Decided to start the farm for young people utilising 10-week programs
- Young people aged 7-17 can attend
- 6 acres – 11 types of animals – animals don’t have to work with the young people
- Video was played about the organisation – check out the website
- Animals are used to build empathy and understanding and relationship skills that can be translated to day to day relationships
- Evidence and data shows the program works
- Animals can assist so much in connecting with young people
- 6 young people come per day and they come for one-day-a-week for 10-weeks 8.30 – 1.30 and the ratio of staff is 1:2
- Goodlife Farm is a circuit-breaker for young people
- Referrals from many sources – young people visit first to see if they would like to be part of the program
Committee Reports
PP PHF Marcus Adams - Youth
Rotary Sailing Challenge – happening on 6 April – an opportunity to go and support the young lady and Roy.
PP PHF Emma Clark - Community
- Tracey – busy tonight making up Easter packs x 60 for the residents.
- Taking to Life View tomorrow
On Wednesday 27th March, in keeping with our support to the elderly members of our community, a few of our members delivered Easter eggs to surprise the residents at Lifeview Emerald Glades. The Club likes to provide small gifts at Christmas and Easter to ensure that the residents know that they are being thought about. Community group member Tracey-Le Bannister volunteered to undertake the very taxing job of bagging the eggs – which no doubt needed a bit of testing.
PP PHF Gayle Barrot – Vocational
A reminder ... 20th April – Humble Mission – please let Gayle know asap (by end of weekend) if you are/are not going
Stand In Sergeant
Gayle Barrot - OMG those who went to Conference needed to watch out!!!!!
Last Words from Pres Sangeeta
- Thank you, Gayle and Shalini and Emma for looking after our guests
- A big thank you to Marcus for all the organising of Conference it was a lot of work and you did a terrific job
Conference
What a great weekend our club members had at the Rotary District 9810 Conference in Warnambool.
The theme of the conference was Mind Matters and took a look at all things mental-health and wellbeing.
After a welcome from the Mayor Cr Ben Blain we heard from our International President's representative, Haresh Ramchandani who attended from Jamaica.
Speakers included Bernadette McSherry who spoke about the Victorian Royal Commission in our mental health system, Greg Ross, Director of Australian Rotary Health whose funding focus is mental health research. Our very own Hita Mistry spoke about trauma and Tom Boyd gave us an insight into his AFL journey and retirement.
One of the highlights was hearing from Prof. Arnold Dix who worked tirelessly to free 41 miners in the Silkyara Bardot Tunnel Collapse in India - his calm focus on his goal came though loud and clear in his presentation.
Kirsty Porter from Umbrella Dementia Cafes provided insight into their unique support of not only those with dementia but their carers too.
We heard about local Rotary projects and were stewarded through the conference by excellent hosts Dee Mason and Jonathan Usher.
This was the last conference of our district as we are combining with district 9820 in July to form District 9815!
The Gala Dinner was great fun and with the theme of Masquerade, our club, as usual took a different slant and went as an Indian Wedding Party.
Kris will compile an online photo album of the best images from attendees - can you send through your photos to her (via email please) and she will set this up for everyone to view and put the link in next weeks' Sparkle.
Vale Peter Hadwen
It is with great sadness that I inform you of the passing of our esteemed honorary club member, Peter Hadwen.
Peter was an integral part of our Rotary family, and his contributions to our club will always be remembered and cherished.
Peter dedicated countless hours to serving our community, embodying the spirit of Rotary in all that he did.
His kindness, passion, and unwavering commitment to making a difference touched the lives of many.
As we mourn the loss of Peter, let us also remember the joy he brought to our club and the positive impact he had on those around him.
Our thoughts and deepest condolences go out to his family and loved ones during this difficult time.
We will forward funeral details to you as soon as they become available, so we can come together to honour Peter's life and pay our respects.
In the meantime, let us keep Peter and his family in our thoughts and prayers.
