Thursday, June 19

Vol: 32 No: 50

June: Rotary Fellowships
Rotary Club of Ocean Grove Meeting: 17th June 2014
Roster for Meetings @ 18 The Terrace, Ocean Grove, 6pm for 6.30pm start:

24th June
Activity
Change Over Dinner 6.30pm for 7pm start
Chairperson
Rod Birrell
Greeter
Jill Grigg
Assist Cashier
Alex Magee

1st July
Activity
TBC
Chairperson
Graeme Chamberlain
Greeter & Assist Sergeant
Coral Barker
Assist Cashier & Thanker
John Fox
Weekly Raffle
Wal Kelly
3 on Me
Richard Clay
Birthdays
1st - Rod Greer
7th - Tony Haines

8th July
Activity
Club Assembly
Chairperson
John Paton
Greeter & Assist Sergeant
Richard Trigg
Assist Cashier & Thanker
Gordon King
Weekly Raffle
Geoff Brentnall
3 on Me
Rod Bush
Birthdays
8th - Peter Cullen
11th - Barbara Cummins
Rotary induction anniversary
2004 - Rod & Judy Greer
2008 - Richard Trigg

Dates for your Diary:
24th June - Ocean Grove Rotary Change Over Dinner - 6.30pm for 7pm start. PHF regalia and Dress to impress!
28th June - District Change Over Dinner
29th June - Volunteers needed to man the gates at Geelong West Football ground from 10am - 3.30pm
6th July - Indoors market
22nd July - Helen & Craig Salmon from the Solemaid Community School will be guest speakers and it will be a partners night

3 on Me: Martin Geerings
Martin provided us with a snapshot of an interesting period in his life when, after working at Ford for 23 years, he was asked to join a company called Amacom (not sure if I have the spelling correct). This company, based in Williamstown had won a major government tender worth $3.8B, which involved building frigates for the Navy - 10 for Australian Navy and 2 for NZ Navy. Martin's role was to capture and contain the movements of currencies of the period of the contract. It took him months just to read through and understand the contract, then he had to monitor the negotiations on each part of the contract to make sure that it fell within the scope and cost for that section. It sounded quite complicated and involved, but the money offered was good and although he loved working at Ford, it proved to be a worthwhile job change. He stayed on for a couple of years until he was not needed anymore, and that is when he moved into Dry cleaning.

Club Committee News
  • Community Development
    This past year has seen Surfside Primary School benefit from the raising of the garden beds and new paths, $3,000 was raised by manning the gates at the Geelong Football League Finals, and the maintenance of the Lookout Reserve. Coming up is the installation of the water feature, possibly at the Uniting Church in Ocean Grove, involvement with this year's Relay 4 Life, possible involvement with the Community Showcase picnic and looking at donating to the Strive 2 Thrive program.
  • Vocational 
    This year has seen the Pride of Workmanship award presented, as well as the Gordon scholarship to a trainee chef, and 3 successful workplace visits. Nominations are being called for 2014/15 Pride of Workmanship awards, suggestions for future workplace visits which exemplify good business practices and benefit to the community and possible involvement in Shine on Awards - the 'Shine On' Awards recognize and acknowledge service to the community by people with disabilities.
  • International
    Donations have been made to ROMAC, Interplast, DIK and Polio Plus. Two Shelter Boxes have been purchased and the Solemaid Community School in Bangladesh has been receiving donations towards providing meals to the students. The District grant that has been approved will now allow sponsorship of 6 children at the school.
  • Youth
    Numbers participating in the Graham Bath awards have increased with 28 from OGPS, 15 for Star of the Sea and 6 from Surfside PS.  We were able to send 2 students to the National Youth Science Forum this year, and we have selected Madeline Baker to attend in 2015.  Sam Gravener has been successful in being accepted into the Rotary Exchange program and is off to France in January.
  • Foundation
    the Centurion program was very successful and it is intended that it continue for another 12 months. The Board granted $2000 to the Rotary Foundation, collections at 2 markets when towards Foundation and several PHFs have been awarded. Planning is underway to hold a Black Tie Supper Dance with proceeds going to Rotary Foundation, with all Geelong & District Rotary Clubs being involved.
  • Membership
    The direction for the 2014/15-year is for a revamp of the mentoring program and the possibility of setting up a satellite club.
  • Publicity
    The major focus of the press articles in the Voice has been to present Rotary as a friendly and relevant organization. We have had excellent coverage and support by the Voice.
  • Markets
    Over the past 12 months the winter & summer markets have raised around $20,000 profit
  • Social  Lots planned for next year. 
  • Art Show
    The 2013 Art show was a great success, and the planning for the 2014 Art show is well underway. Entries will be going out 1st July.
  • Red Cross
    Over $10,000 was collected this year by the club for Red Cross and for our efforts the club was presented with a certificate of appreciation.
  • R u OK?
    Members will be given phone numbers to call, twice a year to ask R U OK? Let's look after our more vulnerable and lonely community members
  • Bowel Scan
    Had approx 500 participants involved in Bowel Scan this year. Due to changes in the testing, this may not be able to continue next year
  • President Elects' plans for 2014/15 Rotary year - John Paton
  • The theme for Rotary in 2014/15 is "Light Up Rotary"
  • Greater emphasis on involvement with service committees e.g. Approx every 6 weeks committee members will sit together at the meeting
  • No head table and keep meetings relatively informal
  • Guests to have seats allocated prior to start of meeting
  • Combined dinner meetings with Queenscliff Rotary club, at least 2 a year
  • Funding requests are to come through the committee before being presented to the Board
  • Workshop on the Vision for our club
  • Encourage members to visit overseas Rotary projects
  • Liaise with the community about what projects they want and prioritize the list
  • Encourage local business people to attend our meetings as guest speakers with the aim of increasing their involvement with Rotary
  • Instigating an OG Rotary Club Alumni for people who have had exposure to Rotary in the past
  • Upgrading of Rotary signs at town entrances
  • Encourage members to increase their giving to Rotary charities
  • The major focus of Foundation to be on Polio Plus
  • Possible social meetings once a month instead of the regular meeting
  • Encourage all members to invite others along to meetings and get involved in Rotary
Finally…
Request from Peter Hawthorne:
If anyone has a copy of last Sunday's Age, Peter is especially interested in the article on page 6 regarding a Rotary Club taking up the project of Domestic Violence.
Jill G

An additional note: Well done to Jill Grigg on your excellent reporting skills throughout the year!
VH