We believe good health care is everyone’s right. Yet 400 million people in the world can’t afford or don’t have access to basic health care.
Disease results in misery, pain, and poverty for millions of people worldwide. That’s why treating and preventing disease is so important to us. We lead efforts both large and small. We set up temporary clinics, blood donation centers, and training facilities in underserved communities struggling with outbreaks and health care access. We design and build infrastructure that allows doctors, patients, and governments to work together.
Our members combat diseases like malaria, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and polio. Prevention is important, which is why we also focus on health education and bringing people routine hearing, vision, and dental care.
HOW ROTARY MAKES HELP HAPPEN
We educate and equip communities to stop the spread of life-threatening diseases. Rotary members have hundreds of health projects underway around the world at any given time.
Jane and I were looking forward to our club Christmas party. Like many of the 55 attendees, we had paid well in advance, packed the banners into the car 2 weeks ago, decided what to wear (not a big decision for me), taken cash out for raffle tickets, ready for the big night with our members, guests, and Club sponsors. We were looking forward to the hospitality of Jason’s Restaurant, but it was not to be, thanks to Covid yet again. So far, I have avoided a second time around, but Jane tested positive Wednesday morning, although thankfully, her symptoms are minor at present. Disappointingly, we had to cancel.
I spoke to DG Paul Mee today, Di and Geoff Double, and as expected, everyone had a great time. The raffle went off a treat with generous donations from members, Adrianne from Jason’s and our usual hosts, Vicky and Bob and now another sizable donation to the Casey North Community Information and Support Service for Christmas. Thanks must go to Di Double, our social convenor, for organising the event and PP Geoff Double for managing the raffle. I am sure our guests and sponsors enjoyed the night; it is wonderful to have them involved in our club. They are always most welcome.
Next week we have a great opportunity to connect with another organisation this club has helped for almost 30 years, Berwick Secondary College. An update from the school’s Principal, Kerry Bolch is timely and welcome. This will be the last meeting of the club until next year. We look forward to seeing as many members as possible.
DG Paul Mee also presented to the club a Foundation Certificate, an award and a banner for the support that members of the Rotary Club of Berwick give to the Rotary Foundation.
It is only through the Rotary Foundation that we have access to District and Global Grants. This presentation is a way to recognise our Club's support of the Rotary Foundation through individual donations (Centurion Club, Polio Plus and direct giving) and a Club donation on behalf of all members of the Club. Well done us!
For the 14th consecutive year, The Rotary Foundation has received the highest rating — four stars — from Charity Navigator, an independent evaluator of charities in the U.S.
The Foundation earned the recognition for adhering to sector best practices and executing its mission in a financially efficient way, demonstrating both strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency. Only one percent of the organizations Charity Navigator evaluates have received 14 consecutive 4-star evaluations.
The collection of donations for the Rotary Berwick & District Benevolent Society’s ‘Christmas Appeal’ is now in full swing.
(L to R) Russell, Sam, Trevor, Isobel, and David
This week saw collections from St Margaret’s Junior and Senior Schools, Berwick Grammar, and Haileybury Junior School in Berwick. The donations from Haileybury were exceptionally generous and required 6 car loads for their delivery to the Casey North Community Information Support Service (CNCISS) in Narre Warren.
Sam & Trevor with the Haileybury Junior School Captains
Next week we plan to collect donations and cages from Berwick College and Kambrya College.
The public donations made at the Shopping Centres at Eden Rise and Berwick Market Square will be collected in the week beginning on Monday 19th December.
A big thank you to those members who have helped me with the recent collections, namely Russell Fellows, David Anderson, Isobel Caulfield and Trevor Watson.
Every year at Christmas, the members of Berwick District Woodworkers Club create a range of beautiful wooden toys for distribution to families in need, via several local welfare organisations. This includes a generous allocation to the Casey North Community Information Support Service (CNCISS).
To assist with the toy distribution, Rotarians from the Rotary Berwick & District Benevolent Society collect the toys allocated to CNCISS and deliver them to the Narre Warren centre.
Sam & Vanessa with a selection of the wooden toys
This year, Gus Dominguez and Sam McCurdy collected and delivered 4 carloads of wooden toys, which were gratefully received by the CNCISS staff.
The toys will make many children very happy over Christmas.
Thank you to the members of the Berwick District Woodworkers Club for all your creative work. Well done!
The Regional Pilot project for Zone 8 (that's us) is getting up to speed and is keen to hear from members and clubs as the pilot progresses over the next 3 years. Members, particularly past office holders (and that is most of us), can have their say right now, through a link. Here is the content of an email sent to me as the current Club President.
Dear Club President,
As you are aware over 90% of clubs in our region voted for the Regionalisation Pilot. We thank you for your support and we would now like to invite you to participate in helping us in planning for the requirements of a new regionalisation model. This is a relatively straight forward process where we are seeking your and others in your club to submit User Stories. The results will then be collated to ascertain the business and technology needs of our clubs. This is in the form of “As a [persona], I [want to], [so that] …………….
For example:
As a Club President, I want to be able to access my members Rotary data to communicate with them as needed. As a Club President, I want to be able to request assistance from a Rotary specialist or RISPPO on an administrative matter, so that I can get a timely response.
You are welcome to access this link and give others in your club the opportunity to add their stories too. Secretaries, Treasurers, Committee chairs, all members. A minimum of 5 is requested, but there is plenty of room for more!
What a fantastic evening we had at Jason’s Restaurant on Wednesday night!
Adrianna, our lovely host for the evening, totally spoilt the 55 of us with a never-ending selection of canapes, followed by two delicious courses superbly created by Jason. It was so good to finally get together for a social event and also have representation and support from both of our Club sponsors, with Lisa, Linda and Rhonda from St John of God Berwick and Andrew and his wife Kate, from Bendigo Bank Beaconsfield, joining us for the evening.
District Governor Paul Mee and Adele both helped us celebrate the end of another busy year and DG Paul presented ‘stand-in’ President Geoff with a banner for The Rotary Club of Berwick’s outstanding contribution to Foundation and also a certificate thanking our Club for its support of Polio Plus.
The visit from Santa was, once again, one of the highlights of the evening, with Santa’s helper, Maddy, keeping him under control, especially when he got ‘particularly friendly’ with Diana Nutter whilst David was (mysteriously) out of the room.
The drawing of the raffle was the highlight of the night, especially after the number of prizes grew from 3 to 5, with a generous donation from Adrianna and Jason followed by an equally generous donation from Vicky and Bob Carlyle.
Winners are grinners and there were some very happy winners on the night:
Dinner voucher donated by Jason’s Restaurant – won by Diana & David Nutter
Two tickets for QUEEN ROCKS at Beaconsfield Club, donated by Bob & Vicky – won by Rhonda O’Connor
Dinner voucher for Shanikas – won by Jill Ridgeway (rumour is she may even take Funno with her)
Bottle of Chandon – won by Jack & Ann Kraan
Lindt Chocolates – won by Eric & Wendy Boon
A huge thank you to everyone who supported this evening. Treasurer Andrew has advised us that after all outgoings for the evening were accounted for, the raffle raised a whopping $600 – which we would like to give to families in need in our local community to make their Christmas a little brighter via our Rotary Berwick & District Benevolent Society.
Bendigo Bank Beaconsfield Manager Andrew Gardner and Kate
When we come together and do something terrific in the community, it creates an opportunity to tell a story of what we are doing, who we are helping and how we feel about the experience. Our Public Image is the anchor that brings recognition to our Club. We do some amazing stuff, so we need to make sure that perspective members, sponsors, volunteers or supporters know they have the right team.
Finally, after years of trying, I have a photo of everyone in the right uniform with the right branding doing great work in the community. This is a pretty big moment for me (as the Bulletin Editor), the Club as a unified brand and the community as supporters of our work.
Soak in the moment and celebrate the fact we are no longer a rag-tag team. We are a unified team that can be instantly recognised by our uniforms and celebrated by our work.
RC of Berwick Christmas Party
DG Paul Mee also presented to the club a Foundation Certificate, an award and a banner for the support that members of the Rotary Club of Berwick give to the Rotary Foundation.
Saturday Coffee Catch Up over Zoom, and all members are welcome to drop in for a chat.