Welcome back Pam, Leonie and Brenton who have been in the wars.
Guest Speaker: Sharyn Broer - Meals on Wheels
David Middleton introduced Sharyn who is a highly experienced and strategic executive leader of in-home care for older South Australians. In her current role as CEO of Meals on Wheels South Australia, Sharyn has a passion for improving the health and well being of communities through the delivery of high quality services and programs. Sharyn has served on the Aged & Community Services SA/NT Board and on the ACSA Divisional Council. Sharyn is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Bachelor of Applied Science in Occupational Therapy and has a number of other qualifications.
Sharyn comes from a Rotary background - both parents were members and she was a Rotary Exchange Student. Valerie and Robyn have been volunteers with Meals on Wheels. There is strong community recognition of Meals on Wheels. How did it cope with Covid?
MOW in SA has 83 branches, 7000 volunteers, serves 4,500 clients and 1 million meals annually of which 80% are cooked (50% in the MOW kitchens). As Covid emerged in February 2020 effort was made to strengthen planning and risk management for the impending crisis. Particular notice was paid to the impact on clients and volunteers (50%+ of volunteers are over 70). Against the recurring issue of diminution in government support, there was a determination to achieve the following:
everyone gets fed
no client or volunteer gets sick through MOW
MOW is not to go broke
Particular attention was paid to the NZ plan to minimise risk should an escalation in covid occur. These were dramatic times.....empty supermarket shelves....lockdowns and strong social distancing ...sanitisers and gloves in short supply....and more people requiring help. To protect volunteers and clients, meals had to be left at the front door with a follow up call to ensure the client was aware of the delivery. Hot meals could no longer be prepared in the MOW kitchens so frozen meals were the alternative....much based out of the Convention Centre, providing 3500/day. Foodbank assisted with cold storage....fewer deliveries and less volunteers were needed.
Many of the volunteers headed the health advice of staying away from places of risk so an emergency call-out was made in March-May which attracted 2500 suitable providers of which 300 have remained. This response, and the meeting of all three targets, was made possible through partnerships and support from Foodbank, Convention Centre, Uniting Care, philanthropy including Macquarie donating $200,000, and Woolworths which supplied 55,000 packs of toilet tissues and sanitisers. With the sharp increase in operating costs MOW was able to draw on the $40m Commonwealth uplift fund to stay afloat. When deliveries were returning to normal and hot food being served, the Parafield cluster arose. Another challenge was met. The good news is that despite being still underfunded MOW continues to meet the needs of the elderly and disabled. Each person has a choice of a main course and the menu changes every 4-5 weeks....David was suitably impressed and signaled a future sign-in.
Sharyn was applauded for her illuminating address.
Spots
Brendan Kenny revealed that 25 contestants in the Unley Has Talent quest auditioned last night with 9 selected to go to the final concert on May 29, together with the winners of the forthcoming second round of heats.
Patsy Beckett provided directions to the TAFE dinner next Wednesday, 6 for 6.30pm, Entrance 2 , 137 Days Rd, Regency Park.
Nathan White is on the hunt for new program director/s for 2021/22; Valerie and Patsy's excellent programming is due to end 30 June.
Trevor McGuirk provided news from the Thrift Shop committee meeting recently concluded:
a sidewalk sale is being held 21-23 May and looking for volunteers
when people attempt to donate electricals please ask....does this really work? Too much time is being wasted in the testing of crappy donations.
can members put themselves on a call-up list to fill casual vacancies as they occur at the shop?
Finale
Greg again won the big bucks but who ate the fruchocs? Christina very happily has assembled 10 kilos of stamps, about to be dispatched to Melbourne...proceeds to assist returned service personnel. Stephen extolled the virtues of Sturt and his AFL playing grand-children who all excelled on the weekend.
President Graham participated recently in the 38th birthday of Unley Probus (founded by our club).
He had more advice from the District Conference.
Membership. We need to concentrate on service (to change lives) as a means of attracting new recruits. In this quest the following ideas were proposed:
each member to bring at least one other person to a meeting during the year
utilise vocational service
enhance public image by attracting people to join in with new club projects
formation of new clubs eg by occupation
membership retention....nurturing is vital
communicate freely and do not forget thank you's
have fun
Next year's District Conference will be held in the Barossa in March.
The environment will be a key component of District 9510 focus in the forthcoming year. To this end significant effort will be put into tree planting, fencing and environmental testing at Calperum. There is a river water quality testing project. The Health of the River student seminar will be held in September.
The meeting finished awfully early (should have asked for a refund)......may have had something to do with a meeting of the Board.
ROTARY NEWS
Pandemic has silver lining for Canadian Rotary clubs
By Paul Elsley, Rotary Club of Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Paul Elsley, in red coat, packs food boxes to deliver to families in the Kingston area.
A little over a year ago, my club could not have foreseen that we would add 18 new members during 2020 and do so in the midst of a global pandemic. There are silver linings in just about everything.
At the beginning of that year, we were planning to celebrate a century of Rotary in Kingston with other Rotary clubs in the city when COVID-19 struck in March. We watched as service organizations and agencies began to shut down or go into emergency mode and knew a celebration was out of the question. But it also became clear that there was a huge service gap and that Kingston was in great need.
If ever there was a time for Rotary to step up and take on initiatives for the community, this was it. We had folks ready to do something, but the question became what.
I run a local chapter of a nonprofit, Isthmus, which provides support to food insecure children on weekends. The kids receive food at school during the week. But when the schools closed, these children were immediately at risk and we had to come up with a new model. We partnered with the Food Sharing Project, an important organization that runs the in-school meal program, to use their warehouse and deliver large boxes of nutritious food directly to family homes.
We also had to reach out to the local school boards to get contact information for the families. This plan would require a small army of volunteers – calling families, packing the food boxes, delivering boxes to homes, and managing logistics. Not surprisingly, Rotarians quickly filled those roles.
When the school year ended, the families were still in need. The summer was beyond the mission of our partners, but we raised over $100,000, with the generous support of Rotarians, organizations like the United Way, the local community foundation, and members of the community. At its peak, we were feeding 550 families and have been at it for over a year.
Not long after the start of our food program, we began making Rotary masks for the same families who lacked the disposable income to purchase multiple masks for their children. Rotarians purchased and donated the material, a group of local seamstresses volunteered to make the masks, and donations flowed in from members and Rotary clubs far and wide. We not only helped families, but unexpectedly raised significant funds for our efforts.
“Through all of this, the strangest thing began to happen … We began seeing a resurgence of interest in Rotary. And other Rotary clubs in our area are seeing it too.”
The third thing we did was reach out to isolated senior residents, calling them on the phone, delivering groceries, and occasionally taking them to appointments. These activities raised awareness of Rotary in our community and we received attention from local media. The government and health authorities asked Rotarians to participate in the Mayor’s Task Force and Vulnerable Sector committee.
When a mass vaccination center began inoculating people against the virus in March of 2021, a member of the Kingston-Frontenac club, Mike Moore, reached out to public health officials and told them that Rotarians were eager to help. Officials accepted our offer and we soon had a group of 60 Rotarians and friends to act as greeters and ushers.
A silver lining has been the extent to which Rotarians and our partners have collaborated on these projects. It is likely fair to say that the four Rotary clubs in Kingston operated independently prior to the pandemic. We now work closely together with the creation of a President’s Council and joint committees for communication, membership, and international projects. This shared vision has been a bonus and will continue post-pandemic.
Through all of this, the strangest thing began to happen. Like other clubs in North America, we had been experiencing a decline in membership. We had managed to stabilize this trend over the last couple of years. But now, we began seeing a resurgence of interest in Rotary. And other Rotary clubs in our area are seeing it too. In October, we chartered a new community-based Rotaract club and it quickly had 10 young professionals join. In total, over 40 enthusiastic members have joined the Kingston Rotary family over the past nine months.
There is no doubt that the pandemic has had its challenges. But our desire to serve our community and meet those challenges head on has led to a number of silver linings.
Coffee Chat at Impressa, Unley Shopping Centre
10.30 am on a Friday, is good for a chat with Rotary friends and a caffeine fix! Next one Friday 14 May
Upcoming Meetings
Wednesday 12 May - 6 for 6.30pm TAFE SA 137 Days Rd, Regency Park Entrance 2
Event: Gourmet Dinner at Graduates Restaurant
Set-up and Welcome.......tba
Tuesday 18 May - 6 for 6.30pm Damien on Fisher
Guest Speaker: Jo Christopherson Citizen Advocacy
Set-up and Welcome.......Jerry Casburn and Judi Corcoran
Early: David Middleton & Nathan White | Late: Pam Trimmer & John Kikkert (Vera Holt)
Week 4: 22 May 2021
Early: Stephen Baker & Judi Corcoran | Late: Jason Booth & .......
Week 5: 29 May 2021
Early: Bob Mullins & Wendy Andrews | Late: Jerry Casburn & Reno Elms
Rotarians, who are unable to attend as rostered, please arrange a swap or as a very last resort contact: Pam Trimmer (T) 8293 2612; (M) 0415 238 333; e-mail: pamela.trimmer@bigpond.com
Bunnings Mile End (now Monthly) and Mitre 10 Barbeques (twice Monthly)
ALL the Bunnings Mile End Barbeque shifts are from 8am to 5pm
The Mitre 10 BBQs are first and third Saturdays of each month.....next one 15 May
The Tale End
Some more old-time humour
Little Pauline could not be persuaded to go to sleep, so her grandfather went up to her room, lay on the bed, and pretended he was very tired. Pauline, aged 3, snuggled up close, lying very still; but a few minutes later she astonished everyone by appearing in the lounge, announcing calmly, 'I can stay if you want me to cause I've gotted grandad off to sleep at last!'
In the workaday west of Yorkshire they tell a story of two millhands who remained bachelors till both were turning sixty. One day Joe decided to visit his sister in Cleckheaton; and when he returned a week later he was astonished to find Sam had got himself married. Sam cried, 'Whativver made the go and be daft?'
Sam looked a bit shamefaced and explained that his house stands well apart from others 'Thinks I to me....Ah'd better hev a wife o'sorts, me bin away at t'mill all day must make it lonesome for t'dog.'
It was no use, for, although he ran the last 50 yards, the train pulled out of the station as he showed his ticket at the gate. 'Sorry you have missed the two-ten, sir,' murmured the inspector.
'Only just,' gasped the man. 'Too bad! Can't be helped! What time's the next train?
'Four twenty-seven sir'
'Four twenty-seven! Two hours, and more, to wait! Good heavens, isn't there one before that?'
The inspector gazed into space and said, 'No, sir. We never run one train before the next'
Many of the volunteers headed the health advice of staying away from places of risk so an emergency call-out was made in March-May which attracted 2500 suitable providers of which 300 have remained. This response, and the meeting of all three targets, was made possible through partnerships and support from Foodbank, Convention Centre, Uniting Care, philanthropy including Macquarie donating $200,000, and Woolworths which supplied 55,000 packs of toilet tissues and sanitisers. With the sharp increase in operating costs MOW was able to draw on the $40m Commonwealth uplift fund to stay afloat. When deliveries were returning to normal and hot food being served, the Parafield cluster arose. Another challenge was met. The good news is that despite being still underfunded MOW continues to meet the needs of the elderly and disabled. Each person has a choice of a main course and the menu changes every 4-5 weeks....David was suitably impressed and signaled a future sign-in.
