The Rotary Club of Northbridge gratefully acknowledges the generous sponsorship of Northbridge Plaza
Birthdays & Anniversaries
Member Birthdays
David Hyde
February 17
Join Date
Joanne Coleman
February 1, 1984
38 years
Club Meeting News
Welcome
President Jon welcomed members and guests Richard McDonald from RC of Kings Cross, Edward Cook; and guest speaker Tony Arena.
Toast
Fay Petrou gave a toast to all Rotarians - local, national and international and to all the work they do.
Announcements
Kim Wilkins, reminded members of the upcoming Bookstall to be held on Sunday 20 February. He thanked all those have volunteered and he now has a full complement.
Luke Keighery updated members on the Footy Tipping Competition. Please think about taking part in this competition - the more that compete, the more the club charities account benefits.
David Perabo, in Alan Hession's absence, updated the members on the upcoming Rotary Fireworks on 7 May. Plans are well underway with much work yet to be done to ensure a successful event.
Guest Speaker - Tony Arena - Cryptocurrency: a fad or the way of the future?
Peter Antaw introduced our guest speaker, Tony Arena, to speak on Cryptocurrency. Tony has over 35 years as a business broker and runs a BSI Business. Tony has carried out over 1000 business valuations and lectures at Tafe.
A cryptocurrency is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or main it.
Blockchain is a chain participating in a bitcoin group of people working together on a network. There are now a number of Cryptocurrency including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple.
Features of Bitcoin – Digital, Decentralised, Distributed, immutable and encrypted. Bitcoin looks like nothing and does not exist in a physical world.
A cryptocurrency is a tradable digital asset or digital form of money built on blockchain technology that only exists online.
In cryptocurrency networks mining is a validation of transactions. For this effort, successful miners obtain new cryptocurrency as a reward.
Satoshi Nakamoto began Bitcoin in 2008 and published a paper “Bitcoin A Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System”. 1 single BTC in 2008 was worth 1 single cent but today is worth $58,652.24. In May 2010, 50 Bitcoin paid for 2 pizzas and now those Bitcoin are worth over $2m.
Peter Antaw thanked Tony for telling us about this new concept and giving us a better insight as to what is happening in the Cryptocurrency world.
Ros Virtue
A little bit of humour ....
Now try and work some of these words into a conversation .....
If anyone has any jokes or funny stories, feel free to send them to me for the humour section of the Bulletin!
Thank you to all shoppers who donated to the Northbridge Rotary Club a bucket appeal on the weekend of 5/6 February, at Northbridge Shopping Plaza, raising funds for those in Tonga who have lost their homes, possessions and in some case family members to the recent volcano and tsunami.
Special thanks to 2 school boys Will Hyde & his friend Alex (pictured) who helped with our appeal. Both Wil and Alex have spent time in Tonga as part of a post school volunteer program, but unfortunately were pulled back early due to COVID, hence their interest. They have been in contact with the school principal in Tonga to let them know what is being done here to support them.
The 2021 annual Christmas ‘Tree of Joy’ appeal, organised by the Northbridge Rotary Club, was a tremendous success - given the restricting circumstances we all faced - the Northbridge Community once again generously showed their support in donating around 300 Toys & Gifts to disadvantaged children & distributed through the Starlight Children’s Foundation of Naremburn & Narang Muru - an Indigenous Community for Youth in the Fairfield area.
We know these toys & gifts brought happiness & joy to hundreds of children at Christmas & this inspires the Northbridge Rotary Club to continue this annual appeal with the support of the Northbridge Plaza & the Community.
Thanks to Northbridge Plaza management, the Northbridge Rotary Club bookstall continues at Northbridge Plaza on the third Sunday of every month from 9am to 5pm.
Our next bookstall is on Sunday 20th February 2022
The Club is selling a range of adult fiction at $4 each plus childrens’ books at $2 each; all in mint condition and sales continue grow each month.
Books can be purchased with cash or via credit card. As always, all of the money raised from these sales goes to a range of worthy causes.
In 2021 the Northbridge Rotary Club donated $3,000 to the Nusa Tenggara Association (NTA), an Australian-based NGO which has been assisting poor farming communities in parts of eastern Indonesia. The money was allocated to women from 6 different weaving groups with the opportunity to earn a better income by producing diverse products with hand woven cloth on the eastern Indonesian island of Flores, one of more than 550 Islands of the Nusa Tenggara Province.
Flores is one of the poorest provinces in Indonesia, with an average income of less than a fifth of the national average. Twenty-seven percent of the population earns less than a dollar per day, malnutrition and stunted growth there are common and primary school enrolment remains low in this Covid-affected area.
The NTA, through its peak partner NTA Indonesia, is supported by over 250 people in Australia and other countries and is governed by an elected Board. It draws on small networks of people committed to working voluntarily on fund-raising, monitoring, liaising with project participants and sharing technical expertise. It is accredited by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and is a member of the Australian Council for International Development. This ensures it has systems and measures in place which meet Australian standards, including in the areas of fraud control, accountability to donors and child protection
Members of the Flores Island community sewing group pose with their new heavy-duty machines.
Luke Keighery
Director International Service
Rotary Club of Northbridge
The NTA has operated in eastern Indonesia for 30 years and its deep knowledge of local circumstances means project risk is low and outcomes are maximised. It uses a community self-help approach with a high level of participation by the beneficiaries on the planning, implementing and evaluation level; supplying training and tools to increase their income through traditional weaving - applying a tie dye and weaving technique called ‘Tenun Ikat’ - which can add substantially to a family’s income.
Most women in the Sikka regency of Flores are familiar with this extraordinary handicraft, producing textiles to wear on a daily basis, special occasions and for traditional gift-exchanges such as a weddings and funerals. In order to sell these textiles successfully, they either need access to the market outside their local community or have to produce something different to what is already on the market.
According to Stephanie Heighes – the NTA Operations Manager, the Rotary Club of Northbridge’s $3000 donation was used to provide 3-day-training classes for 14 women in product diversification (using their own hand-woven cloth) and 5 heavy duty sewing machines for participating weaving groups, enabling them to apply the learnt techniques and increase their income.
“Covid-19 made it impossible for the Australian Team to join the biannual monitoring visit as it had for the previous 30 years,” said Stephanie.
“We hope some members of the Rotary Club of Northbridge will be able to join us during one of our field visits in the near future, when international travel is possible again. This will enable you to hear and see the direct impact of this generous donation.”
