This is my half brother PDG Bob Button who lives in New Jersey USA. In March 2019, Bob posts this picture with the caption: So in the small world department, I was talking with past Rotary International VP Jennifer Jones and she said she was recently in Melbourne, knew my brother David and spent a couple of hours touring his nursery! Go figure.

While it did make the world that little bit smaller at that moment, it also broadened my take on Rotary. I was very fortunate to be invited to lunch with a few others at a restaurant in Berwick and had an opportunity to have a good talk with Jennifer about all sorts of things from photography, the struggle of women in Rotary, flowers and plants, Rotary projects in Cambodia and Jennifer's travels around the world. 

 

Sometimes at Rotary we can talk a lot of rubbish. This coming weeks meeting will be no different with rubbish and what we are supposed to do with it will be front and centre. Environmental Education Officer at City of Casey, Abbie Lane will be zooming in  to bring us all up to date with the new "Food waste 6" plan amongst other things.

Women should watch this. Your secret is out! If Jennifer Jones can push her way to the top of Rotary then women in the Rotary Club of Berwick have a good chance to advance our club too. 

Disaster Aid Australia (DAA) was founded in 2003 as a project of the Rotary Club of Endeavour Hills.

 

The Rotary Club of Endeavour Hills has merged with the Rotary Club of Greater Dandenong, so the organisation is now a project of the Rotary Club of Greater Dandenong & Endeavour Hills.  

 

It has members/volunteers from across Australia and is a member of Disaster Aid International, a partnership of Rotary Based organisations dedicated to providing Humanitarian Aid.

 

DAA responds to disasters with the supply of humanitarian aid by providing 'Smart Aid' to the affected communities and/or individuals, until the needs are reasonably addressed.  It also responds to the disaster of contaminated water with the ‘'Safe Water for every Child' project, which aims to provide clean drinking water using 'SkyHydrants' for schools and communities.  View the benefits of 'SkyHydrants' in the next article

 

 

Smart Aid involves sending a 'Disaster Response Assessment Team' (DART) to assess the needs of communities and individuals at the disaster sites. They can then distribute funds and/or resources to meet the needs.  They are also instrumental in involving local partners and the community to ensure that the aid provided gives the community ownership of the outcomes.  In this way the community becomes ‘A Resource Not Victims’

 

 

Where contaminated water is a feature of the disaster DAA can provide SkyHydrant^TM water filter units to communities, and displaced persons camps.  

 

Each of the SkyHydrant GEM Rapid Response Packs can be set up in around 2 hours and immediately remove all bacteria from 5,000 litres of water a day.  

 

DAA is working with the SkyJuice Foundation to bring safe, clean, drinking water to communities in many countries that need safe drinking water.

 

 

DAA also helps local communities to become more resilient by:

The DAA's Office is at 92 Doveton Ave, Eumemmerring VIC 3177.  You are welcome to arrange a visit by to see a SkyHydrant^TM in operation, by ringing CEO Brian Ashworth on 0491 104 943.