Last Week's Meeting
- Catherine welcomed guests Roy, Annie and Tina, and special guest speaker and local business person, Belinda Smullen.
- There are many events coming up before the end of the year so please put the following dates in your diaries:
- 22 Oct – In lieu of our usual meeting, members will be attending the Primary School Speech Competition to be held at Menzies Creek Primary School. Tina will send an email advising of volunteer jobs to be undertaken on the night. Please bring a plate of food for the supper to be shared by teachers, parents, students and our members. Please wear your badge as it’s a great opportunity to chat about Rotary.
- 24 Oct – World Polio Day. End Polio Now badges are available to purchase.
- 29 Oct – Our meeting will be Halloween-themed so please wear something for the occasion.
- 24 Nov – Kids Fun Run with Thomas.
- 26 Nov – Annual General Meeting.
- 14 Dec – Catherine’s milestone () birthday event. Keep the date free!
TOAST TO THE ELDERLY
As part of our monthly tradition, Peter Hadwen read out a lovely story and we raised our glasses to toast Joyce Foster, a lady in her late 80s who lives at The Glades.
She is contented at The Glades because she doesn’t think she could manage in her own home. She particularly likes the care staff who she feels do a good job! Her greatest love these days is the companionship she finds at the Glades.
Joyce loves watching movies, with Doctor Two her favourite, which I believe is set in Russia. She is a lively sort of person, and enjoys lawn bowls, bingo and playing the pokies. She has fond memories of social life at the Worker’s Club in Dandenong.
She is in her late 80’s and lived in Melbourne all her life. Family members visit her regularly and she also has good friends in the Retirement Centre, especially a lady called Denise.
On behalf of the club, Peter will visit Joyce later this week to present her with a plant and a signed letter by our president informing her that we gave a toast in her honour at this week’s meeting.
GUEST SPEAKER – BELINDA SMULLEN
Belinda and her husband, Paul “Dougie” Douglas own several local places of hospitality including The General Food Store, Bam Bam Italian Restaurant and Incy Wincy Coffee Shop.
With an inspiring vision of “Enriching people’s experience of food in their local community”, Belinda shared how she and Dougie have built their businesses with community spirit at the heart of all they do.
They opened The General Food Store about eight years ago at the same time they welcomed their first child and it has been an upward trajectory since then, with the other two businesses following soon after.
Their business culture is positive and values-driven to ensure they provide a safe, stable and supportive environment for their 60 employees. This, in turn, flows through to the customer experience with happy staff enjoying their jobs.
All of the food is locally sourced, generally within a 30km radius, and they will shortly launch an online directory of the local suppliers and producers they use so they can share this information among the community.
Belinda and Dougie understand well that food places bring people together and contribute positively to the mental and social wellbeing of the community. They are involved in a variety of community activities and events, and regularly support local fund-raising initiatives.
PP PHF Ian Wakefield thanks Bel for attending
BEHIND THE BADGE – KERRY CHAMPNESS (Part 2)
Kerry continued his fascinating story of his personal, professional and community life in Victoria.
Kerry was a prominent agriculturalist in the Kaniva area and was also an active community volunteer. In the mid-1970s, he became the secretary of the Kaniva CFA, a position he held for 13 years. In this time, he was instrumental in equipping the local brigade with accurate maps and radios to assist the aircraft to track fires more accurately. Kerry’s work in this area was modelled by the CFA across the state.
Kerry was involved in the Victorian Farmers Federation and had a strong focus of educating the farmers on what happened to their products once they had been delivered so that farmers had a better understanding of the entire production process.
Kerry was on the V-Line Board, a position that would see him spend two weeks of every month working in Melbourne to attend various meetings. After the Board was disbanded, he became an adviser to the Minister for Agriculture Bill McGrath for about three years.
Kerry ultimately sold up the farms and moved to the Emerald area where he drove a bus, did French polishing, among other things. Kerry has led an active and full life, and continues his community work through Rotary.
THANK YOU LETTER RECEIVED
Rise Against Hunger meal packing
Secretary Peter Brock attended a meal packing event for Rise Against Hunger on 16th Oct. He and wife Tanya found out about the NGO at the International Convention in Hamburg and signed up to participate. Good work Peter and Tanya!!
