In my speech at the Club Changeover last week, I talked about the fact that one of the things we need to do this year is concentrate on membership and, in this regard, this year I would like our Club to establish a satellite club.
A number satellite clubs have been established across Rotary over the last five or six years. The Rotary Club of Boulder, Colorado in the US, was the first to establish satellite club. There are several satellite clubs in District 9820 including one in our cluster aligned with the Rotary Club of Mt Martha.
The Boulder New Generations Rotary Club encourages members to have fun, be innovative and creative, display dedication, passion and commitment, commit to the ideals of service and Rotary's 4-way test, engage in ethical practices, promote the betterment of the local community, empower the international community and serve as a catalyst for change.
A satellite club meets at an alternate time and location and can meet online. Typically satellite clubs appeal to younger professionals who may not be able to make the time during their busy work schedules to regularly attend a normal Rotary club meeting. By so doing, a satellite club works with the sponsor club to ensure that younger professionals have an opportunity to participate and give service as Rotarians.
Members of the sponsoring club (RC Mt Eliza in our case) are welcome to attend either the sponsoring club or the satellite club meeting (or both).
Rotarians who are members of a satellite club have the same rights and pay the same membership as other Rotarians. A range of exciting and innovative projects have been developed by members of satellite clubs across Rotary.
Rotarians who are members of a satellite club can determine the best meeting arrangements to suit them - for example, maybe on weekends, holding "no charge" meetings, an e-club or a coffee club.
A satellite club has its own board and office holders including Chair, Chair elect, Secretary, Treasurer and Immediate Past Chair (once up and running)
The satellite club also allows existing Rotarians, who may be thinking of leaving as a result of work or other pressures, an opportunity to transfer to the more flexible operations of the satellite club.
Our Board will be considering the establishment of a satellite club over the coming months and I will keep you informed as things develop.
Separately, at the time of writing Metropolitan Melbourne is about to go back into Stage 3 COVID-19 restrictions for the next six weeks. This means that it will be late August at the earliest before we can return to Toorak College for our regular dinner meetings.
Until next time
Yours in Rotary
Sue
District Governor Mark is busy settling into his new role and carrying out Changeover duties in a number of District 9820 Clubs.
Our guest speaker this week was Alana Street, the first ever Friend of the Rotary Club of Mt Eliza, on the topic of Health Care for Indigenous People in their own Country.
Alana was the first Friend of the Rotary Club of Mt Eliza when that category was introduced in 2008 - 2009.
At that time, Alana was travelling to Kimbe in the New Britain Area of Papua New Guinea (PNG), training mid-wives at the Kimbe Maternity Hospital.
In conjunction with the local Rotary Club, our Club set up a voucher system as there was no food provided to the nursing mothers. Alana coordinated the scheme with the Rotary Club of Kimbe, with the scheme, from our side, continuing for a few years
Subsequently, Alana went to serve on the Nursing/Midwifery staff at Christmas Island refugee detention camp, and more latterly in remote communities in the Northern Territory.
Alana currently continues to enjoy ongoing volunteer work in Papua New Guinea with the PNG Buddy Leadership Program developed by the Morialta Rotary Club of South Australia/Australian College of Midwives, and Midwifery Society of PNG.
These days Alana is a full time healthcare worker in remote Northern Territory, currently managing the Robinson River Health Centre, 40 kms from Gulf of Carpentaria.
Living and working in this remote part of Australia is a challenge however it is clearly something that Alana is passionate about.
Many of the local indigenous people have chronic disease including heart issues, renal problems and diabetes. Medical staff often fly in when required with an airstrip being just down the road from Alana's centre.
A doctor visits once a week while for emergencies patients have to access doctors in Darwin and Brisbane.
Alana was joined in her presentation by Johnny, a local elder and his daughter Sonia, who is a local ranger.
The local area is alcohol free and Alana and Johnny spoke about educating younger people about healthy living. They showed a chart that is used to teach people about the sugar content of various drinks.
There has been a strong push to encourage people to go back to the ways of eating bush tucker and the benefits of exercise programs.
An underlying theme of the education process is: If you want it you have to work for it.
The centre operates a community kitchen and the older local women "cook up a storm".
Alana has developed a strong connection to the people and community. Teaching how to cook, eg make bread and yoghurt, engages younger people.
Johnny has taken on a role supporting young men in prison and assisting many of them to deal with mental health issues. Having an indigenous worker in the clinic is a great role model.
During this time of COVID-19 the clinic is promoting hand washing and social distancing. At present they are dealing mainly with emergency cases until Coronavirus is overcome.
The clinic is well supported by government and it is clear that Alana loves her job.
Alana concluded her talk commenting upon issues such as Closing the Gap (reports), Deaths in Custody and Black Lives Matter.
We were fortunate in having such a passionate, committed and articulate speaker provide a wonderful presentation.
Alana Street address the RCME via Zoom with Johnny in the background
Thank you to Kay McCauley, Frank Flowers & John Gilbert for information contained in this report (Ed)
Our three minute speaker at this week's Zoom meeting on 7 July was Rotarian Bernie Edwards who spoke about the move away from cash. The text of Bernie's talk follows:
At the beginning of March I put my loose change on the bedside table. Since that time, I haven’t touched it. Even more the point – since then I haven’t used hard cash at all; it has all been by card.
This got me to start musing about the demise of cash.
I expect that you have noticed that there are stores in Mt Eliza which, prior to Covid, would not accept card payments but now want you to use plastic and are not at all keen on hard cash.
The Royal Australian Mint has seen virtually no demand for coins in 2020. There was a 53% decrease in demand for coins between 2013 and 2019 and this has accelerated in 2020.
In contrast, the Reserve Bank , which controls the bank notes, has seen an significant upswing recently in the demand for $50 and $100 notes but this has been put down to precautionary savings in a time of uncertainty rather than for transactional needs because $5,10 & 20 demand is diminishing.
Not much noise has been made about legislation going through Parliament, banning the use of cash for transactions over $10000. That’s not loose cchnage but it does further emphasise the trend.
The elimination of cash may not be at hand. We may not reach the same level as Sweden where only 2% of transactions are in cash. Even so, there are some predictions of its demise during this decade but it is certainly going to become a niche payment method.
Asia-Pacific is leading the way for mobile payments – Singapore has announced that it wants to be cashless by 2025 and China has the largest card network in the world with 7.6 billion cards, the vast majority being debit cards.
There is a benefit to our economy through the elimination of cash payments which is estimated at between $6 and $10 billion in additional tax revenue.
Banks would love to get rid of cash handling – it is their highest cost transactional activity. Think of tellers employed, ATM’s maintained, strong room construction, and secure cash transportation. There has been a strengthening trend towards reducing the number of ATM’s as ATM transactions diminish.
In addition to their own e-payment systems, Commonwealth, Westpac and NAB have joined together to provide an app called Beem It, which has now been downloaded around 1 million times. It is particularly aimed at the millennials and Gen Z and has expanded capabilities around a financial transaction. It is a further sign of change.
The Salvation Army and Legacy have been implementing tap-and-go donation machines which are geared to be more streamlined than the EFTPOS machine. The Big Issue magazine (sold on the street by homeless, marginalised and disadvantaged people) is now accept PayPass. Buskers now have specialised digital QR codes (black & white pixel pattern) which enable passers-by to donate by scanning a printed picture through messaging apps.
So with less cash transactions, we need to look at how this may affect our Club. Consider gate takings at Farmers Market gates or our sausage sizzles which are currently totally cash based for nominal amounts.
It seems to me that we will need to put in some thinking on how we are going to move with the trend
The Rotary Club of Mt Eliza has donated $1000 from our Community Trust Fund to Carers Victoria’s Young Carer Scholarship Program.
Mount Eliza Rotary Club were a founding partner in the Young Carer Scholarship Program in 2007 and the program is still in demand.
This year Carers Victoria extended the application period due to the challenges faced by students and teachers with the adoption of remote learning in schools.
94 applications were received from deserving young carers. The economic, physical and social isolation caused by Covid19 has exacerbated the stress on young carers, making the recognition and support provided by the Young Carer Scholarships more important than ever.
Kate Topp, Membership & Fundraising Coordinator from carers Victoria has thanked our Club for its generous and ongoing support.
Kate has also suggested that the organisation would be pleased to provide us with a guest speaker to update the Club on the fine work of Carers Victoria.
Presience (n) 1325 - 1375; Middle English < Middle French <Late Latin scientia knowledge, equivalent to scient - (stem of sciéns) present participle of scíre to know + -ia
Participle:an adjective or complement to certain auxiliaries that is regularly derived from the verb in many languages and refers to participation in the action or state of the verb; a verb form used as an adjective. It does not specify a person or number in English, but may have a subject or object, show tense, etc., as burning, in a burning candle, or devoted, as in his devoted friend.
You heard it here first, Biggles. .....
As you all knowbecause our Members participate willingly in our East Gippsland & Peninsula ReliefProgram [some still are, thank you]. A plethora of new donated items, like an oil immersion electric radiator, post - hole shovels, knitted items, riggers' gloves etc., aggregated at our house for collection and distribution by Victoria Police, Mornington. This latest consignment was collected by LSC Greg Kraus PHF.
In subsequent discussions, Greg mentioned the number of citizens around our area who, with winter coming on, the Corona Virus impact on jobs and so on, that the Charity outlets were hard - pressed to keep up with demand for such items. I remarked by way of a bon mot 'we probably don't have a charity store in Mount Eliza', because we're too proud to admit we need help. Alternatively that we wouldn't give anything away; either because it is too good, alternatively we don't want to see our old clothes on someone else. I segued into the fact that being seen in the Salvo's Store could draw false assumptions.
Later that day I took my ritual walk to the Village (it was a sunny day and the golf was not on Foxtel yet) to get my Solidarity Coffee from The Sand Bar Cafe. The Salvo store on the corner of Mount Eliza Way and Canadian Bay Road was permanently closed. Spooky.
As he was about to retire Bob became worried that during the last ten years at work he had put on almost 20 kilograms.
He was watching television one day when a commercial came on guaranteeing that a person could lose 20kg over a three week period.
"Why not", he thought to himself and he rang the number and signed up for the weight loss program.
He received an email telling him to buy some running gear and be at his from door the next morning at 7.00 am.
He also had to sign a waiver form indemnifying the weight loss company from any action or lawsuit.
Early the next morning Bob answered his front door bell at 7.00 am and there stood a most attractive woman.
She looked at him and said, "We are going running every morning this week. If you catch me you may make love to me". Off she set with Bob in pursuit.
All week, no matter how hard he tried Bob couldn't catch the woman.
At the end of the first week he had lost 5 kg.
At the start of the second week an even more attractive woman turned up with the same message.
Bob raced after her. No matter how hard he ran he couldn't catch the woman. At the end of the second week, Bob had lost another 6 kg.
On the morning of the third week Bob opened the door to see an enormous man with a ferocious look who yelled at him, "Start running. If I catch you I'm having my way with you."
At the end of the third week, Bob was supposed to have lost 9 kg making a total of 20 kg in all. He actually lost 15 kg in that week alone!!
Thanks to Rotarian Alex Anderson for these pieces of sage advice:
Last week, I stated this woman was the ugliest woman I had ever seen. I have since been visited by her sister, and now wish to withdraw that statement.
- Mark Twain
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The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible.
- George Burns
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Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit people only once a year.
- Victor Borge
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Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
- Mark Twain
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By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
- Socrates
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I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.
- Groucho Marx
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I have never hated a man enough to give his diamonds back.
- Zsa Zsa Gabor
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Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
- Alex Levine
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My luck is so bad that if I bought a cemetery, people would stop dying.
- Rodney Dangerfield
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Money can't buy you happiness. But it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.
- Spike Milligan
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Until I was thirteen, I thought my name was: ' SHUT UP .'
- Joe Namath
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I don't feel old. I don't feel anything until noon. Then it's time for my nap.
- Bob Hope
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I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it.
- W. C. Fields
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We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its way through Congress.
- Will Rogers
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Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
- Winston Churchill
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Maybe it's true that life begins at fifty, but everything else starts to wear out, fall out, or spread out.
- Phyllis Diller
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By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he's too old to go anywhere.
- Billy Crystal
And the cardiologist's diet: if it tastes good spit it out.
A woman came home from work very late one night and she quietly open the door to her bedroom. She could see that their were two people in her bed rather than just one.
Very annoyed she went out to the kitchen and filled a bucket with ice cubes topped up with cold water. She then raced into the bedroom and dumped the icy cold mixture all over the sleeping couple causing a great kerfuffle.
She then walking into the lounge room to pour herself a stiff drink when she saw her husband sitting on the couch reading a magazine.
"Hello dear", he said "I have a surprise for you. Your parents have come over to visit us, so I let them stay in our bedroom. Did you say hello?"
A woman went missing and her husband was charged with murder.
Witness after witness came to the stand and told the court that he was a nasty husband who had been seen and heard threatening his wife.
Things looked quite bleak for the man when his lawyer went up to the jury.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury", he said, "I have something exciting to tell you. If you would all please address your attention towards the door on my left you will see the supposedly dead woman walk into this court room!"
There was a loud murmuring in the courtroom and every member of the jury turned their eyes towards the door and waited.
Nothing happened and the lawyer then said, "Ladies and gentlemen, to be honest with you, nobody is going to walk through that door. However the fact that you all turned towards the door makes it quite obvious that you are not sure beyond reasonable doubt about my client's guilt!"
The lawyer was feeling very smug with himself so he was greatly surprised when the jury declared that the man was guilty.
"But how could that be?" stuttered the lawyer. "Didn't I prove to you that there was doubt?"
"Well", the foreman of the jury replied, "It is true that everyone on the jury and other people in the court turned towards the door. But there was one person who didn't. Your client!"
Orville Wright (19 August 1871 - 30 January 1948) and his older brother Wilbur (16 April 1867 - 30 May 1912) were two American aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building and flying the world's first successful motor-operated aeroplane.
They made the first controlled, sustained flight of a heavier than air aircraft with the Wright Flyer on 17 December 1903, just south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
The first flight by Orville at 10.35 am on that day lasted 12 seconds and covered approximately 37 metres at a speed of 10.9 km per hour. The next two flights, first by Wilbur and then by Orville, covered approximately 53 and 61 metres.
During the period of 1904-05 the brothers developed their next flying machine, the Wright Flyer II, making longer running and more aerodynamic flights.
Their first truly practical fixed wing aircraft, the Wright Flyer III, successfully took to the air late in 1905.
The Wright brothers were also the first to invent aeroplane controls, a three-axis system, that enable proper powered flight.
Over the next ten or so years, the Wright brothers had to deal with a skeptical press, various lawsuits, patent issues and claims that others had flown earlier than them.
Following a trip to Boston in April 1912, Wilbur fell ill and died the next month from typhoid fever.
Orville succeeded his brother as President of the Wright Company which he then sold in 1915.
Orville made his last flight in 1918 in a Wright Model B plane. He retired from business and became an elder statesman of the aviation industry serving on a number of boards and committees, including the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the predecessor of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
While records are sketchy, Orville was made an honorary member of the Rotary Club of Dayton, Ohio on 5 February 1914. Apparently, after he retired from business ownership some years later he became a more active Rotarian.
In 1930 Orville was awarded the Daniel Guggenheim Medal for his promotion of aviation and in 1936 he was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
On April 19, 1944, the second produced Lockheed Constellation aeroplane, piloted by Trans World Airlines president Jack Frye and Howard Hughes, flew from Burbank California to Washington DC in 6 hours 57 minutes. On the return trip the plane stopped at Wright Field to give Orville his last ride in an aircraft, more than 40 years after his historic first flight.
Never having never married, Orville Wright died on 30 January 1948 having lived from the horse and buggy age through to the dawn of the supersonic flight.
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