Latest News in our Community
Rotary Christmas Cakes and Puddings
Delicious traditional Rum and Brandy Fruit Cake, 1Kg traditional Steamed Pudding, and Traditional Baked Puddings all available to order now to raise funds for The Rotary Foundation
The World Next Door, showcasing the amazing work of asylum seeker Naser Moradi
The Mercy Hub are thrilled to announce the new dates for our art exhibition 'The World Next Door', showcasing the amazing work of asylum seeker Naser Moradi.
Opening night will have guest speakers including comedian and refugee advocate Tom Ballard, as well as canapés and live music. Bookings required for Opening Night only. Bookings - https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=761725
Postcards of Naser's work will be available for purchase throughout the event.
We can not wait to welcome you down at The Hub!
Rev Max Griffiths MBE - Gentle Remembrance
It is a fitting tribute to our club member, the late Rev Max Griffiths on his passing on 13th September 2021, that we quote from his own book on death, divorce, disease and other life challenges, "How to Say Goodbye"; first published in 2003.
"Life has led Max Griffiths into a wide range of experiences, from labouring in an engineering factory, to confronting the devastation of Darwin caused by Cyclone Tracy, to tackling the problems of people living in isolation of outback Australia. A graduate of Melbourne University in Commerce, Arts and Divinity, he was a minister in the Presbyterian and Uniting Churches for almost 40 years, for eleven of them as superintendent of the Australian Inland Mission. In 1978 he was awarded the MBE for services to the outback...”
“At many times in our lives we have to say goodbye to people, to places, to phases we pass through. Often this is a painful experience, sometimes seemingly impossible. At other times we say goodbye with relief.
“Both in his personal and professional life Max Griffiths has been confronted with death, divorce, job loss, parting with children, and similar crises. In How to Say Goodbye Griffiths tells how he and people he knows have managed to say goodbye and yet retain the legacy of a gentle remembrance."
Ever gracious, Max had omitted from his book that even throughout his many challenges he had continued serving the community in many humanitarian capacities. He was councillor of Ormond College, Morongo College, Geelong College and Rossbourne House, and on the board of the Austin Hospital as well as being chairman of the Austin Hospital Human Ethics and Medical Research Committee. He also sat on the boards of the Royal Melbourne, Royal Children’s and Freemasons Hospitals Ethics Committees. Max was also advisor to the Commonwealth Gene Technology Regulator, and Chairman of Norwon Association.
In Papua New Guinea, Max and his wife Merrilyn, pioneered a mobile health and educational unit for 20 villages. They supported five girls financially to attend universities, put four girls through secondary education and sixty children from a village located on a rubbish tip through primary school.
Rotarian Max has left a lasting gentle remembrance of all he was and has done in living a life devoted to his calling and purpose.
He was truly a Rotarian who exemplified our Rotary mottos of Service Above Self and in Doing Good in the World wherever his faith led him.
Goodbye Max. We will ever gently remember.
Volunteers needed now for RIMERN
Since we moved into our warehouse at 32-34 Lincoln Street, East Brunswick we’ve been operating under difficult conditions with no lift, lockdown after lockdown and learning as we go, but in spite of the challenges, thanks to all our member Clubs’ support and the mentorship of EERN & WERN, we’re now ready to start rostering volunteers, for the Authorised Work (with Permits issued) required to get our stock sorted, the warehouse functioning and orders flowing out the door to our welfare agency clients.
Our milestones include:
- We have fully Deductible Gift Recipient status and all donations are fully tax deductible!
- We have an almost fully stocked warehouse, with furniture, appliances, linen and homewares!
- We have 8 welfare agencies signed up as members and we’ve already supplied 8 client orders (with an average second hand value of $1,200 each!)
- Our lift is now working so all our space is usable.
- We have relationships with several commercial donors of furniture and homewares that are supplying significant quantities of high quality goods
- Our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/495145215239091 has over 300 followers (please ‘like’ it yourself & invite all your friends & family to do likewise as we are getting offers of donations & volunteers via this page!)
- Canard Solutions is proving to be the best ever sub-tenant as they’re helping with shelving, labour and even pick up of donations (when they’re not busy with paid jobs) as well as the obvious help with rent and overheads
- We are now 13 member Clubs, with more considering membership every month!
Prahran, Albert Park, North Melbourne, Carlton, Canterbury, Camberwell, Balwyn, North Balwyn, Chadstone/East Malvern, Central Melbourne, Flemington/Kensington, Pascoe Vale & Melbourne are current members, and all reps are actively supporting the project.
NOW WE NEED A REGULAR VOLUNTEER TEAM, can you help?
NB, to be covid safe, all volunteers must be fully vaccinated, wear a mask while on duty, check in on arrival with our QR code, enter their details on the time sheet on arrival and departure and only volunteer on one designated day per fortnight. Our space will allow for social distancing in each work area, we have hand sanitiser available on site and all volunteers will be issued with Authorised Work Permits as our category of “End of lease furniture removal/Domestic & Commercial Waste/resource recovery service” is permissible and the Care of people exiting homelessness et al cannot happen without the collection of goods.
Days: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays
Morning Shift: 9.30 – 12.30
Afternoon Shift: 12.30 – 3.30
Warehouse Volunteers Required (X 2 people per job per shift):
Warehouse :
Tasks sorting donated furniture, moving stock (with trolleys, dolleys & pallet jack)
Assembling client orders, steam cleaning sofas, wiping down appliances, sorting waste metal, other tasks as required.
If possible the warehouse volunteers might also double as truck driver & jockey for donation collection.
Linen Lads or Lassies
Tasks: sorting, sizing, folding, packing & labelling the mountains of doonas, blankets, mattress protectors and other bedding into size lots,
Sorting the linen room into some sort of workable order, collate client orders.
Kitchen Kit Kids
Unpacking, washing, sorting, stacking then repacking all the donations of kitchen goods, we set up packs for 4 & 6 so that orders can be supplied with prepacks.
Also sorting donations of electrical appliances ready for test & tag (ably coordinated by Rob Head & Steve Clarke).
Volunteers working from home
Donated Goods Coordinator(s)
We need one or two people to coordinate goods donations, not an onerous task but vital.
It entails:
- Understanding what we do & don’t accept (& why)
- Speaking with the potential donors & finding out what they want to donate (size, age, condition etc), where it’s located & when it must be collected by.
Request they send photos if not sure about the acceptability. - Adding the goods to the collection list/spreadsheet OR arrange for donor to deliver (NB someone must greet donor & they may not bring other goods without approval. Our warehouse staff reserves the right to reject goods that are unsuitable as it costs us $$ to dispose of junk).
- Organising pick up with the collections driver(s) & jockeys, advising the warehouse managers when the goods will be delivered so that space is available & stock can be put away not dumped. We plan to have a regular mid-week collection day & 2 Saturdays a month.
Other jobs will emerge as time goes on, but if you can help with the tasks above, please send your details, including full name, DOB & home address (for permit info) and task/day/shift preference to Rohan Williams rdwrcm@gmail.com asap?
Any questions re tasks, please contact susie.cole@rotaryprahran.org.au or 0414 907 263.
Soon we hope to be able to organise Club working bees, to get small teams from member clubs involved, there’s lots to do, it’s fun to work together and our clients are so grateful for the goods we provide, thanks everyone!
Presidents Message
President's Message 2021-22
The Rotary Club of Carlton has been serving the community since 1985. We have many service activities that benefit the Carlton community, as well as national and international projects. We are often called the ‘friendly club’, as our club promotes friendship among our members and builds relationships through service in our immediate community and across the world. If you would like to join us as a member or as a volunteer, you will find a warm welcome.
From July 1 2021, In Person Lunch Meetings will be held at Graduate House on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month with a Zoom Meeting on the 3rd Tuesday of each month-all subject to COVID19 regulations.
Speakers Program
Keith Ryall
Reflections based on Keith Ryall’s perceptions of a Ben ( Mojo ) Crowe Masterclass in Personal Leadership.
He talked about 3 Key Mindsets….
- The Connection Mindset-connect with ourselves before we connect with the outside world. ( The only person I can control 100% of the time is myself.) Beware the FOOPO syndrome….the Fear of Other Person’s Opinions. Think….””I don’t care what people think about me but I do care about what I think of them.”” So let go of other people’s views….Stop Doing and Start Being….write a To Be list, as well as a To Do list. ( e.g., Be Grateful, Be Kind etc )
- Develop a Purpose Mindset-what do I want in life? The 2 most important days in your life…the day you were born and the day you find out Why! What is my Why? What is it that excites me about helping others? What do we really stand for? What will be my own personal Legacy? Move from I thinking to We; from Resume to Eulogy?
- Develop a Performance Mindset….life itself is a Performance but we get so distracted by what we can’t control. Accept that there are things we can’t control so focus on the things we can control. As Viktor Frankl wisely said in his book, Mans Search for Meaning….The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s own reaction , regardless of circumstances.
There are many free You Tube clips of Ben Crowe’s thoughts on Personal Leadership; just do any Google Search and they should pop up. Some are called Mojospresso and are in many Episodes-most are short and punchy; e.g., Episode 13-Finding Purpose runs for 11 minutes.
Victor Perton
The Centre of Optimism
Rotary Club of Carlton
Meets
Tuesday at 12:30pm for 1:00 pm
Graduate House,
University of Melbourne,
220 Leicester Street Carlton 3053
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DG Dale Hoy
Rotarians worldwide are inspired by the Rotary theme of “Service Above Self” and are guided by reference to ‘The Four-Way Test’. In particular, ‘The Four-Way Test’ challenges Rotarians, in everything they do, to ask of themselves:
“Of the things we think say or do:
- Is it the TRUTH?
- Is it FAIR to all concerned?
- Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
- Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?"