I am pleased to say that our club is moving more forward than backwards as each week passes. Things are certainly not working out as planned though and it has been difficult to feel engaged when the only thing going is sitting at home looking at Zoom. If you have read the Presidents Plan you will realise that we have several objectives set for the year. Updating the Club ByLaws and Constitution was just one of them.

 

The next steps for the club is to establish a Bullying and Harassment policy and also work on our Board structure and how it sits with our obligations with Victorian Law. These steps are necessary to establish a firm set of working boundaries so that we can develop new types of projects involving people outside our club. During our course of updating our Constitution there have been conflicting views about what we can, cannot or should do and that conflict needs to be settled. Once done, I hope we will be in a good position to get onto making the world a better place with confidence!

 

Enough of the dry non-productive but unfortunately necessary stuff and onto What's your Y? I know my WHY, the reason I am a Rotarian is to do something positive in the world while building my network of friends and work colleagues. Each of us will have our own reasons for WHY and how far each will go to make that WHY a reality. In my early years as a Rotarian, I was quite confused about what Rotary did. I took a bit of a look around outside our club, talking with other Rotarians around the world and did some good learning in the Rotary Learning Centre to realise Rotary could do everything. There is a catch though and that is "what you know is just as important as who you know". 

 

So where am I going with this? COVID-19 has stopped us all dead in our tracks. We have been busy, but we haven't been productive. Our fundraising efforts are on hold and our projects are cancelled. We have a loose team of members working on potential new projects. We need to ensure they are financially sound should we be forced into further COVID-19 lock downs and might have to develop "pop up" projects that can be structured to be put on at short notice. To do that successfully we need to be very sharp on our advertising and public image. 

 

We are in a new era now with opportunities everywhere! To make Rotary fit your WHY, you will need to put some effort in! I am sure the girl in the photo above put in a lot of effort to work that one out.

 

It is with great disappointment that I announce the resignation of Gary from the job of Treasurer. I have always found Gary to have done this job to the best of his abilities, which are very good. Gary is not a bookkeeper or accountant and transitioned the Club accounts to an online platform in 2018. I am not sure how he did it, but I am sure a steep learning curve was involved. Many of us are doing jobs in Rotary that we are unfamiliar with in our normal life, which can add a level of unnecessary stress. 

 

As President-Elect, I had a tough time filling my Board with Directors that could bring the club forward to a new era. Gary stepped up for a third year for which I am extremely grateful! The Treasurer's job is demanding and when it comes to money, some members have treated Gary and previous Treasurers very poorly.

 

Gary's resignation highlights the need for all members to treat each other with integrity and respect. Gary, like the rest of us, is a volunteer and rude demanding behaviour should not be tolerated. On the positive side, Gary has offered to support his replacement until 31st December 2020.

 

Should you want to volunteer for the role of Treasurer effective immediately, please contact Secretary Sam on Secretary@rotaryberwick.org. 

 

Thank you, Gary, for everything you have done for the Club. I sincerely hope that our next Treasurer will be treated with courtesy and respect.

 

 

As reported in one of our previous bulletins, Greg Page the original Yellow Wiggle, together with Surf Lifesaving Australia organised a special training class on the 19^th of September, with the goal of breaking the world record for most people simultaneously trained online in CPR and defibrillation. 

 

Greg was motivated to organise the CPR training after surviving a cardiac arrest while he was on stage for a Wiggles’ concert during a bushfire fundraiser concert.  A nurse who was present at the time, immediately applied CPR and saved his life.

 

Two of our Club members (PP Isobel Caulfield and Sam McCurdy) took part in the Record Breaking attempt and we are proud to report that the World Record has been confirmed with 14,800 people taking part.  A confirmation Certificate has been issued to all participants.

        

 

The 1 hour training session was punctuated with speakers and entertainment.  This included the Sisters2Sisters group, a song by Greg Page written for the event with a suitable tempo for CPR  application and the Wiggles. 

 

The event finished with Channel 9's Richard Wilkins and Greg, together with all the other entertainers, doing a rendition of the Bee Gees song "Stayin Alive".  This song is also popular for providing the right beat for effective CPR application.

 

There was a prize allocated for the suburb with the most participants involved in the training.  This was won by Rowville in Victoria and they will receive:

Well done to all involved.