www.rotaryoceangrove.blogspot.com
Vol.26 No.36
March 3, 2009
Notice for the meeting at the Ocean Grove Hotel, Tuesday, 10th March, 6.00 for 6.30
Subject This is our life Speakers Ingrid Cummins and John Paton
Chairman Peter Cullen Attendance Officer Norm Elliott
Assistant Cashier & Thanker Martin Geering Greeter & Assistant Sergeant Alison George
Birthday 16th Alison George
***********************************************
The Stella Awards – 6th Place
Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles, won 74,000 plus medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Truman apparently didn’t notice that there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor’s hub caps! It could only happen in America
Another of Gerry Spencer’s church notices
‘Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered’.
Notice for the meeting at the Ocean Grove Hotel, Tuesday 17th March
Subject Car Racing Speaker Ernie Matinez Chairman John Paton
This is also the time of the Special General Meeting of which you have all been given notice
Attendance Officer Alison George Assistant Cashier & Thanker Heather Wallace
Greeter & Assistant Sergeant Gerry Spencer Birthday 19th Gerry Spencer
***********************************************
Rotary Projects around the World CAMBODIA and TAIWAN
A US$22,700 water project is giving more than 350 households in northwest Cambodia clean water from 80 hand-operated pump wells. 14 clubs in 3 Rotary districts which cover parts of Cambodia, Taiwan and Thailand, plus a Rotary Foundation Grant have supported the effort.
Villagers using the wells, the last of which were drilled in December, previously obtained water from rivers and ponds. Less than 40% of rural Cambodians, and in some areas, only 10%, have access to clean potable water.
Bunthai Prom, past president of the Rotary club of Siem Reap Angkor, which led the project, says villagers use the water for vegetable gardening, drinking and cooking. Households without well access received 80 water filters through the effort.
The project also taught villagers how to maintain the wells and educated them about the health benefits of clean water. The Siem Reap Angkor club provided training through radio broadcasts and direct visits. This month, the international sponsor clubs are holding a free medical service camp, which means that District Governor-elect Chin-Hsien Lee, of the Rotary club of Pnchiao North, Taiwan, and other Rotarians will spend a long day bouncing along remote roads to reach a dozen wells built through the project. When the driving becomes too rough, they will hike.
*******************************
Political correctness From the Victorian Mallee publication ‘Blowflies and Bulldust’
‘Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end’. This was the winning entry in a Texas University competition on definitions.
Which leads me to one from Keith Nixon of Canada; “Liquidity is when you look at your retirement funds and wet your pants”
Did you read the bit in last weeks bully re. the coy. of about 500 employees, with a crook record!
Well, it’s the 535 members of the South African Parliament. Fair dinkum!
******************************
A letter of appreciation [reproduced verbatim from the original, handwritten, and shaky signature.] [Address withheld]
Dear Mr Fox,
I would like to thank you for your very generous gift, which went towards the cost of a lovely portable radio. It is so wonderful when strangers like you remember people like me. I am 85 and have been in this home for 13 years. They treat me very well, but the loneliness is sometimes too hard to bear.
I share a room with Mrs Smyth-James who has had her own radio for many years now, but she won’t let me touch it and turns it off when I come into the room. But now, thanks to you, I have a lovely radio all of my very own.
My son and daughter are very kind, and they visit me one Sunday every month, but I think they only do that out of a sense of duty. That is why your gift is all the more wonderful because it was given out of compassion for a fellow human being.
Today, Mrs Smyth-James radio went wrong and she asked me if she could use mine. I told her to fuck off.
Sincerely yours and thank you again XXXXXXX Julia Frazier [Mrs]
******************************
My ‘Rotary club members only’ list
I e-mailed, last Thursday morning, an advice about the Barwon Heads & Ocean Grove Bushfire Relief day in the Barwon Heads Community Hall next Sunday. It is an example of the notices which I consider too large for inclusion in the bulletin. Two of our members have requested they be removed from that distribution list, and I expect others will follow. Please note that this list is ‘all or nothing’. You either get what I choose to send in this format, or strictly only the bulletin. I cope with up to 20 in-e-mail items each day, either here or in the office, and I can sympathise with those who want to reduce their e-mails. But don’t blame me if you miss something important that you could have simply scanned and deleted.
*******************************
Notice Board
TO ALL OG ROTARY MEMBERS WHO LIVE SOUTH OF THE OG NATURE RESERVE. A public meeting will be held at the Shell Road Fire Station at 7.30 PM on Wednesday 11th March.
Almost $200M has been raised for bushfire relief. The Age reports that in fire-ravaged Flowerdale and Kinglake West, almost half the houses were uninsured. Do those idiots get compensated?
Market O.C. Phil Edwards reports that despite several other district attractions and the threat of rain, the occupants of 451 cars contributed $902 to the bushfire appeal. Season net profit est’d $17K. FAB!
J.C. complimented the organizers of the Mental Health Forum [300] and the Golf Day [72] $940 PP.
Noel Emselle is pretty chuffed about the OG Surf LS Club’s brilliant effort in 10 successive titles.
Wal Kelly seeks entrants for the 1st aid course, and Geoff Ford, helpers for the Easter seafood fest.
Peter Hawthorne and his 11 supporting members signed up 290 organ donors during the rostered week.
Ian Downing is looking for mentors in secondary schools in the Greater Geelong Region to help young people move through school and onto further education, training and employment. The program, commences 1st June for two school terms. There is an introductory lunch next Tuesday, 17th March. Contact Ian for details.
Easter Monday market rosters will be printed next week, together with requests for advance publicity.
John Mamonski, our guest speaker, was an experienced and persuasive local and very active citizen, who represented the Ocean Grove Community Enterprise Ltd., one of its activities being the operation of the Bendigo Community Bank. There are numerous such banks throughout Victoria, capable of generating $2000 - $3000 per month for community projects, several examples of which were described by John.
Telco is one such project, a telecommunications business which has proved enormously competitive and commercially successful.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
