Hello fellow Rotarians,

As the weeks of this cold winter have flown by many of our members have been away from Rotary meetings, travelling to warmer parts of Australia or overseas.  However, our club has been pro-active in organising a public meeting, in conjunction with the Port Fairy Lions Club, to promote fundraising efforts in Port Fairy for Peters Project to build a Cancer Centre in Warrnambool.

 

At the meeting held on the 28th August, Vicki Jellie, spokesperson and driving force behind Peter’s Project,  spoke very eloquently on all the latest developments with Peters Project.  I feel sure that the Port Fairy community will embrace the cause and many fundraising events will be held in the next 12 months. 

Recently Ross Morey resigned from Rotary due to his many other commitments and work.  His contribution to our club will be missed.  Brendan Donahoo has applied for leave of absence due to a heavy work load.  Fellow Rotarian, Jeff McLean, has offered to fill the role of Youth Affairs which Brendan previously occupied. I would like congratulate Jeff and thank him for his offer.

Rotarian, Maureen Beattie, a long-serving volunteer of many organisations in Port Fairy for nearly 30 years has won a National Volunteer’s award, something she richly deserved.  The local member for Wannon, Dan Tehan MP, has offered to present the award at a future Rotary Dinner meeting.

We have had two interesting guest speakers in the past month.  Brenda Hampson - a former mayor of the Moyne Shire - spoke about an organisation called ConnectU, connecting those in need of transport services. Eligible users are people who have the services of Community Care (HACC) or are unable to access public transport.  Brenda has informed me that Moyne Health Services will be providing vehicles and that drivers will be registered under a volunteers’ register at MHS and covered under their insurance.  Brenda is wanting volunteer drivers to come forward.

Recently, Karen Stock and Margaret Millard from the Rotary Club of Portland Bay spoke about their RAWCS project in Nepal, training teachers and providing bilingual books for the schools. This was a very informative talk and slide show.  

On September 9th our District Governor, Ken McInerney, will attend our Dinner Meeting.  I encourage as many members and partners to come along on that evening.

In the coming weeks we will be planning our summer activities and, as we will be wanting events to be listed in the Moyneyana Program, members are urged to “put their thinking caps on” as we prepare the way ahead.

Hester Woodrup - President