President Peter welcomed club members and guest, Tara Tan, to the first meeting for 2020.
Toast
Paul Sullivan proposed a toast to the Rotary Clubs of Moruya, Bateman's Bay and Narooma, which towns have suffered devastating bushfires during the summer. These clubs run literacy programs, support the RFS, scouts, etc and organise small farm field days amongst other interests.
Announcements
John Garrett advised that over $40,000 has been raised by the club’s bucket appeals, Probus donations and donations from individual club members and others. The board will now consider where and to whom the funds should be distributed.
Funds from our first appeal of $15,000 were sent to Nambucca Rotary club and distributed to those in most need, for a variety of issues.
President Peter mentioned that members from Northbridge Golf Club had a golf day and fundraiser last week which raised around $60,000 for BlazeAid. Northbridge Rotary gave a donation of $2,500 and congratulated the club on its successful event.
President Peter also mentioned that several members of Wellington Rotary Club are coming to help with our Fireworks and asked if any members would like to host some of the members in their homes whilst they are here. Please contact Peter if you would like to host some Wellington club members at the time of the Fireworks.
Clean up Australia Day is on Sunday, 1 March. If anyone is interested in taking part, you can find details on https://www.cleanup.org.au .
Pride of Workmanship will be held on Tuesday, 10 March and as usual the awards will be presented by Premier Gladys Berejiklian. If you can suggest any worthy recipients for these awards, please contact Garth.
John Turner spoke about the club’s intention of making better use of the Friends of Rotary to involve them in the club and its activities. A list will be compiled, mainly from those who help out at the fireworks, and each person will be contacted.
Luke Keighery spoke about the start of the Super Rugby Footy Tipping which has commenced for the football season. He encouraged all members to be a part of this fun event which could earn you a prize at the end of the season if your picks are good, and also makes $1,000 or so for the charities account. Obviously the more people who are involved, the larger the pool and end donation.
“Rock for a Cause” fundraising event will be held on Sunday 22 March. To be held from 5pm-9pm at Northbridge Golf Club, a popular local band will be performing, and finger foods and a BBQ will be available. It’s an excellent way to spend a Sunday afternoon with friends, listening to good music, with plenty of food and drinks. Tickets are $50 each for music and food; and wine and beer will be available at the bar.
Guest Speakers - Tara Tan, Royal Far West
Valda Andrews introduced Tara Tan, the fundraising manager for Royal Far West. Tara gave a brief history of Royal Far West, which started over 100 years ago, and spoke about the developmental health challenges facing children and country communities in rural and remote areas of NSW. 100,000 children from across rural and remote Australia have health and developmental needs which are not being met and Royal Far West does much to help address some of these.
Tara gave us an overview of the various programs undertaken by RFW such as their paediatric developmental program, Telecare for Kids, and the Windmill program which is a fee for service program mainly accessed by those on NDIS. Another program is their bus which travels to country towns and provides screening and assessments for children such as dental, hearing, occupational therapy and speech.
The objective of Royal Far West is to identify and intervene to prevent negative outcomes caused by not addressing developmental issues. Tara spoke about the funding for RFW which comes from community fundraising, corporate partnerships and government grants.
Peter Antaw thanked Tara for her talk and spoke about the added stress of drought and bushfires affecting the health of children in the country and their families.
DID YOU KNOW
The Rotary Foundation grants a Paul Harris Fellowship to any donor to the Foundation in recognition of a donation of US$1,000.00 irrespective of whether or not that donor is a member of Rotary. The philosophy of our Club has always been that in recognition of outstanding devotion to the Club and/or its administration, principles or projects, the Club will make a donation of the required amount to the Foundation on behalf of and in the name of a worthy recipient whom the Club wishes to so honour. To date the Club has made donations in the names of and honouring 65 members and 6 non-members.
During our summer of bushfires, a poignant Christmas Poem from Henry Lawson, written in 1911 ….
A Bush Fire
One Christmas time, when months of drought
Had parched the western creeks,
The bushfires started in the north
And travelled south for weeks.
At night, along the riverside,
The scene was grand and strange;
The hill fires looked like lighted streets
Of cities in the range.
The cattle tracks between the trees
Were like long, dusty aisles,
And, on a sudden breeze, the fire
Would sweep along for miles.
Like sounds of distant musketry
It crackled through the breaks,
And o’er the flat of silvery grass
It hissed like angry snakes.
It leapt across the flowing streams,
And raced o’er pastures broad;
It climbed the trees and lit the boughs,
And through the scrub it roared.
The bees fell stifled in the smoke
Or perished in their hives,
And, with the stock, the kangaroos
Went flying for their lives.
If anyone has any jokes or funny stories, feel free to send them to me for the humour section of the Bulletin! Email them to helen.gulson@ozemail.com.au
The Rotary Clubs of Northbridge (Sydney) and Wellington (NSW) have embarked on a joint project to support the families of drought-affected communities in Western NSW. There are 744 primary school kids from the Wellington District and they are all being treated to a day at the Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo including a BBQ lunch.
The project is being run over a 7-week period. Rotarians from Northbridge are driving there to connect with their fellow Rotarians in Wellington and to jointly run the BBQ. Northbridge President, Peter Antaw, said that of the families: “The children are suffering as well, most of them don’t understand the financial and extreme pressures that their parents are going through.” The families are anxious about their future but there is also much determination to keep their communities alive.
Australia is experiencing one of its most severe droughts on record, with areas in NSW facing the prospect of running out of water by mid-2020.
The Burrendong dam is now at 4.5% capacity and dwindling rapidly.
The crisis is severely impacting the Wellington area and so special treats like a visit to the zoo is just not possible for many locals and their families.
3000 muesli bars, supplied free by Nestles, as well as 744 sausage sandwiches and a cold drink will be given to the children of the district which includes regional small towns such as Geurie, Mumbil, Stuart Town and Euchareena.
The joint project was launched on 11th September and Channel 7 Prime TV attended the Zoo to film the event. ABC Morning Radio interviewed the Presidents. The kids thoroughly enjoyed their day with most of them citing the Cheetahs and Meer Cats as their favorites.
Ben Shields (Mayor of Dubbo Regional) and Daryl Thompson (Headmaster of Wellington Primary) also attended the launch. They both congratulated the Rotary Clubs for identifying children as the hidden victims of the drought. President Greg Hart of Wellington Rotary also thanked Northbridge Rotary and the Rotary Australia Benevolent Society for their very generous contributions to the project, and for driving up from Sydney to help at the BBQ’s. Without Northbridge, Wellington would not have taken on this project.
