Around 40 members, partners and friends of the Rotary Club of Canterbury gathered at Riversdale Park yesterday evening for a picnic to celebrate the end of the year and coming festive season.
And what a celebration it was! The Simpsons brought enough nibbles to feed us all, Pat and Helen brought their own BBQ along with gourmet snags while PE Tony and Tran brought take away chicken dinners that could have fed a family of 12. Irena finished off the BYO meals with a sharing of chocolates.
It's been a wonderful first half of the Rotary year at our club. Huge thanks go to Doug Hawley, Val Cuniffe and their faithful team for the brilliant For A Meal packing sessions and subsequent dissemination of pallets of meals to the Philippines and Ukraine - 100,000 meals to each destination.
Thanks to the growth of school packing events, students sealed and packed over 150,000, which are now in storage and ready for shipment to countries experiencing catastrophic events.
A boost to the program was the purchase of a truck that could be packed and ready to go to an event - this has saved Doug many hours of labour and we're grateful to the donors and the committee who sourced the truck and negotiated the purchase.
However, ForAMeal is not all we do. Doug, again, visited our sister clubs in the Philippines as a follow up to the delivery of 100, 000 meals and negotiated a new Upskilling program encouraging students to remain at school and complete their education. The exiting students are then in a better position to gain employment and break the poverty cycle.
RORP - the playground removal program did a fabulous job removing I think 13 (sorry Bob, I haven't fact checked this number) playgrounds and shipping them offshore to countries where children had need of the equipment. Naturally, DIK has been invaluable in their assistance.
Our Rotary4Bees program continues to grow in partnerships as it ensures a more desirable environment for pollinators. Thanks to John McCaskill for being our champion here along with Ted Waghorne.
We provided a second Lucas mill to RC Mitchell River to aid in the re-purposing of burnt and fallen timbers during the floods and fires in the region. This simple, portable timber cutter allows farmers to re-set fence lines and rebuild their livelihoods. It also provides a vital social and support network for those affected by these devastating events as they come together to use the mill.
Our Community and Youth programs continue to provide support and experiences to those in need.
Sadly, we wound up our Busy Feet program after 6 years. Our thanks go out to Jenni Nankervis, Bill Grainger, Ciska Syauta and Rose Taylor for their dedication in providing music and movement activities to children with special needs. Some of these students will now join the Stonnington Busy Feet program.
The Wear the Wattle badge program was re-booted with a good outcome for the first half of this year. Many thanks to my team of PE Tony Nguyen, Lili-Ann Kreigler, David Chivers, Rob Simpson and Gillian Swinnerton for giving your time to getting this done.
Many other activities have occurred which if listed would make this into an epic tome, so I'll stop there other than to thank the many people who make magic happen - newsletters published, financial matters taken care of, minutes written and distributed, running sheets appear and weekly dinner meetings run smoothly.
A huge shout out to my Board who are working hard to ensure that the club runs smoothly (and legally). I look forward, too, to the progress that our Strategic Planning team makes in the new year. Thanks to Hans Carlborg for leading us through this process.
I wish each and all a happy Christmas and happy Hanukkah - however you choose to celebrate and I look to an equally successful 2023.
Take care, drive safely and rest.
Edda
This is the last bulletin for the year. Thanks to those who have contributed, it makes it easier to produce something which you all find interesting, have a safe and relaxing break. (The Ed.)
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