What a buzz there was in the room at this week’s meeting!
It was really great to welcome a number of members from the Casey – Cardinia Rotaract Club and also Keira Parton, President of the Peninsula Rotaract Club.
Casey Cardinia Rotaract President, Mat Wise, gave us an update as to what our local Rotaract Club has been up to. They have been busy with the Mental Health QR code initiative which, by coincidence, we will be hearing about at our meeting next week.
The members have also been collecting items for their ‘Share the Dignity’ bags, with the plan of putting these together and distributing them before the end of this year.
These special bags are filled with all the essentials (period products, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, soap, body wash, etc) and are gifted to women and girls waking up in domestic violence shelters or homelessness refuges on Christmas Day.
How special is this amazing group of Rotaractors, to support mental health and women and children in need.
And, the most important reason why the Rotaractors were at our meeting was to support one of their own, Ruby Wilson, who our club sponsored to attend the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), back in July.
Throughout the 6 day camp Ruby was challenged to step out of her comfort zone and to try new things in a supportive and caring environment. The camp also allowed Ruby to meet like-minded people, to show initiative and also gave her many experiences where she could use skills she had learnt throughout the camp. Ruby loved the experience so much, that she is hoping to be one of the camp leaders in the future.
With a focus on youth, we were also fortunate to meet and find out a little bit about Courteny Ho, who our Club is sponsoring to attend the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF) in Queensland early next year. Courtney is a local year 11 student, who recently moved from Beaconhills College to John Monash Science School, a select entry government school specialising in Science, Mathematics and Technology, located on the Clayton campus of Monash University. We look forward to welcoming Courtney back, early in 2027, to find out all about her experience at NYSF.
Next week, we are welcoming Trish Carr to our meeting. Trish is a Community Leader and member of the Rotary Club of Box Hill Burwood, who will be joining us to tell us all about the initiative that her Club has created to support Mental Health.
As October is Mental Health month, we will also be doing our annual ‘Lift to Lid’ on Mental Health evening…so make sure you wear a hat (the funnier the better) and bring some cash to donate to support Mental Health.
Our BBQ coordinator PP Jack Kraan also gave a call-out for a few more members to assist at the next Farmers’ Market on Saturday 10th October. We could still use a couple more people to assist during the morning, so if you are able to lend a hand, even if it just for an hour or two, can you please let Jack know ASAP.
For those of you who are coming to our Marengo Redoubt Winery lunch, on Sunday 25th October, can you please let me know you are coming before Wednesday 21st October. As our hosts Ros and Andy will be supplying us with a lovely lunch (with some of their wines to enjoy as well) I will need to give them definite numbers by 22nd October. The cost is $40pp and we would love to see as many of you and your partners there, for what will be a relaxing social day.
See you all next week…and don’t forget to wear your hats!
