Notes from the President.

Welcome to the members of Canterbury Rotary, returning from your six week break. I trust everyone had an enjoyable Christmas and that 2026 is already proving to be a prosperous and fun year.

As you know I am now your 2025 -2026 president and this is my first report, so please be patient.

We ended last year with the BBQ at Riversdale Park, with members  and family and friends attending . Once again it was a night of conversation and laughter and sharing plates, for example Alan‘s delicious prawns, Elizabeth’s almond biscuits, my chocolate strawberries and Wayne’s sushi and others. Michelle presented a beautiful gingerbread house for the raffle which was won by an ecstatic Alex.

Even though the first official meeting is on 2nd February at Canterbury Neighbourhood Centre, we started the year with a casual get together at Riversdale Park on 19 January – once again with a relaxed occasion. And Alan, you can bring the prawns any day.

Last year was eventful with a very active ForAMeal program, the medical mission being very successful with us all being very well fed, and the Peace Pole garden being established. We also gained 10 new members with Steve Clarke driving the whip to drum up more. This means that we need activities to keep everyone active and engaged.

In this buzz there are advertisements for some activities in the next few months, with these being
-A golf day run by North Balwyn Rotary club on 2nd March at Kew Golf Club
– Quiz night on 12 March at Greenacres Golf club , once again organised by North Balwyn Rotary
– Lift the Lid walk/run for mental health on 22 March at the gardeners Creek reserve
- Rotary Impact Summit in Horsham from 27th to 29th March.
– Elizabeth  has also informed me that the peace pole final planting will probably take place in March.
It would be great for as many members as possible to join in , and make these enjoyable club activities

As you can see North Balwyn Rotary is very innovative in organising activities both as social connection but also fundraising and I’m wondering whether our members have any suggestions to make. The Camberwell market is not quite as profitable as it has been in the past and it would be nice to have other fund raising sources.

On a more sombre note, Victoria is being ravaged by intense bushfires, although not necessarily in our 9800 district . The District Governor , Peter Shephard has sent an email to all Rotary members in the 9800 district, offering suggestions for providing assistance to those affected. Please read the email and help if you can.

Our first meeting on 2nd February will simply be a planning/discussion of the year to come, with the following being a “member behind the badge “ discussion rather than having a speaker, and we will commence the speakers the following week .

I look forward to seeing you all again at the Canterbury Neighbourhood Centre

Signing off
P1- Jillian Woinarski

 

The Canterbury Rotary Club lunch usually meets bi-weekly at 12.30 for a meal and some fun.

 

David Zrna looks after the reservations for the lunch group. Please contact David at david.zrna@canterburyrotary.org  or on 0467033092 to advise that you will be coming to a lunch.

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We again finished off the FORaMEAL 2025 year at the Carey Grammar, Yarra Yarra Boat Sheds.

On November 20, 27 and December 3, 250 students packed 66,310 meals for distribution in early 2026 to Somaliland and other places.

We had our generous club volunteers and also volunteers to supervise and assist from RC Melbourne and Port Phillip – Yidan XI and Marg Hamilton, Rotaractors – Tahlia Vosnakis, Liam Howard, Carina Calcango and Viraj Patel and 2 students from John Monash Science School, Bell and Olivia.

 

There were 9 packing events and 2 setups prior to the event were held.   667 Students from 7 schools and 33 RC Melbourne and Melbourne University Rotaract packed 177,020 meals. 

 

100,000 meals were distributed to Food Bank, Victoria and 50,400 to Ukraine. Unfortunately, our large shipment of meals to the Philippines never reached the needy following the recent earthquake and typhoons.  A new approach is being examined and tested.  .

 

It is interesting to note that for the six months, 45 Volunteers contributed 125 event attendances – 225 hours for setup and 165 hrs pack up, 2640 hrs of supervision and management of packing at the 9 events plus travel time. (Totalling 3030+ hrs generously volunteered). In addition, there is time for product and supplies ordering, break up of raw materials to manageable weights, packing and unpacking truck, storage and distribution management, cleaning kits, planning and general administration. An incredible effort by everyone.

 

Thanks, from Doug, Val, Jill and Nora are again extended to all who have volunteered and assisted and supported our valued project throughout the six months. We just couldn’t achieve our outcomes without you all. Looking forward to your ongoing support for 2026. We have many events booked already. The first one is with RC Camberwell in early March.