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ROTARY CLUB of CLAYTON Inc.
District 9810 Victoria, Australia
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Club Contact & Meeting Location
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"A for a Life" - March 2010 "A for a Life" was started in 2008 by Honorary member Gaye Barnes in her role as District Governor Partner. This was to initially be in lieu of flowers at the 51 Official visits but grew into much more. This project supports the Helen Keller International organization in providing Vitamin A supplementation to the children of Guinea, West Africa. Lack of Vitamin A in their diet causes blindness, and in turn leads to the death of 70% of these young children. For the cost of $1 per child per year, their sight can be saved, and, as a consequence their lives.
The response from clubs and Rotarians was outstanding, and it is great to see the Rotary Club of Clayton continuing on with the programmed this year and raising $2500 from a Garage Sale at Safety Beach late last year.
From its inception, over $30,000 has been raised. That's a lot of flowers)
At the District Conference this year, the club had a stand in the House of Friendship and some $1000 was raised from items all hand sewn and made by one member Jean Cochrane. (Quite outstanding) Thanks Jean!
The Rotary Club of Dingley Village also had a stand with hand made jewellery also made by club members, and a donation from this will be presented next Wednesday night. Their continuing support is also very much appreciated.
The Rotary Club of Boronia is donating $25 per speaker via a certificate to the speaker recognizing a donation to "A for a Life" on their behalf.
So far the Rotary Club of Clayton and it's members have contributed $10641 (quite overwhelming) - thanks to everyone for this outstanding support." Exchange Student from Osaka in Japan - May 2009 Our guest speaker on the 25th May was Aiko Terui who is an Exchange Student from Osaka in Japan. Aiko gave an excellent presentation on what she has achieved since being in Australia. During her presentation she showed slides of her family and friends back in Japan and also showed slides of places she has visited in Australia. Aiko will be heading back to Japan in July. Also during her time in Australia one of her projects was to collect funds for Shelterbox. Every year approximately 7,000 students ages 15 to 18 go abroad under the auspices of the Rotary Youth Exchange program for one academic year. Rotary Youth Exchange students live with a host family in a country other than their own. They may learn a new language; they will learn a new way of living and a great deal about themselves. Exchange students are part of the ambassador team of Rotary International. The object of the program is to bring the world closer together. Photos from Aiko's visit to our Club.
Attached is a copy of an e-mail received from AG Keith Maxwell with regards to Aiko’s visit:-
Michael,
Thank you on behalf of the District Youth Exchange Committee for the opportunity to have Aiko speak at your Club. It allowed for her to further develop as a student in this country and provided her with a good experience. Please thank the club members for the way in which they hosted her and Miyuka Sato. It was a very good experience for them both and I was very proud for you of how your club members responded.
Thankyou
Kindest Regards, Keith Maxwell, Assistant Governor, District 9810 Fundraiser for Mandeville Hall - November 2007 This year the Loreto year of Justice, the year 12 Councillors of Loreto Mandeville Hall chose to direct their annual September Feast Day celebrations towards rasing funds for education in Kenya against the practice of Female Genital Mutilation. Sr Dr Ephigenia Gachiri IVBM is a Loreto sister based in Nairobi who has worked for many years campaigning against the wide spread practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Kenya and East Africa. Her programmes aim to educate these communities and in particular the leading Elders, about the consequences of FGM in order to overcome many long held cultural beliefs. Her work is of vital importance in the broader picture of the improvement of woman's health in our world. Sr Ephigenia leads the "Holistic Growth & Research Centre" and has particularly requested that funds be raised towards the purchase of a tractor for the centre which will help to achieve planned sustainability into the future through self sufficiency. The girls fundraising has been outstanding successful and to further assist in reaching their target, Tom & Angela Portelli kindly offered their home to host a dinner which was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Clayton. $7,000 was raised on the night.
Interplast Eureka Tower Event - October 2007 On the 14th October, DGE John & Gaye Barnes along with nearly 300 surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and supporters of Interplast were involved in the Interplast Eureka Tower Event. The task was to climb the 92 floors of Melbourne's Eureka Tower to raise awareness and funds for Interplast. The sun was shining and everyone agreed the view was absolutely worth the climb. The day was a great success as $114,000 was raised. Our club was involved in the day by sponsoring one of the floors for $1,000. Attached is a photo showing John & Gaye Barnes at the top of the Eureka Tower. The Eureka Tower is Melbourne's (Australia) tallest building and the worlds tallest residential building. The building also has a Sky Deck which they call "The Edge", which is a glass tube that projects 3 metres out of the building with you in it, suspended almost 300 metres above the ground.
To learn more information and about the wonderful work Interplast performs visit their website.
International Night - January 2007 An International Night was held on 20th January at Bill Sides home where the members of the Rotary Club of Clayton sampled the cuisine of various counties and had a bit of fun too. Guests were asked to bring items of interest from abroad. So many interesting things appeared and were explained. We had a lump of concrete from the Berlin wall with an East German guard’s hat, Chinese and Russian hats and various other items of International apparel. Bill and Dianne Sides promised a surprise and they delivered that by Bill wearing a kilt and carving up a steaming Haggis to the sound of skirling bagpipes and reciting the Ode of the Haggis, it being Robbie Burn’s birthday. No guest had dared to taste a haggis prior to this night as the main ingredients are offal cooked within a sheep’s stomach! Most took care initially but then went back for more finding it very tasty indeed, so the rather large Haggis was quickly eaten. Haggis of course is the national dish of Scotland. This was followed with our Italian Member Ralph Zuccaro cooking up huge pots of pasta which nobody but an Italian can master. Bill’s wife Dianne, made the matching sauces. We also had fantastic cakes from Greece, nibbles from Japan and other tasty items from abroad and they were all washed down with Ozzie wine. Of course there was a modest charge and the funds raised went towards Clayton’s International work which has recently included provision of Shelter Boxes, Anti-Malaria Nets and educating Indonesian orphans. The night was full of good fellowship.
RAM Adopt a Village One of the projects this year for the Rotary Club of Clayton was to be part of the Adopt a Village program for Rotarians Against Malaria (RAM). For the past two Rotary years, under the guidance of Chairman Jackie Gleeson, District 9810 has been very active developing a database of volunteers and preparing information for clubs. The major focus has been the "Adopt a Village" program for the Gulf Province of PNG where many clubs and other organisations have contributed sufficient funds to provide mosquito netting in some 20 villages to reduce the incidence of malaria. Over $70,000 was raised for this program in the past two years and the program is continuing this year. Over 100 villages have been provided with bed nets so far. The village we have adopted is called Himaul and is in the New Ireland province. Where is New Ireland province, I here you ask? Click here and find out. International Night - August 2005 On the 6th of August 2005, the Rotary Club of Clayton enjoyed a fun night with a few surprises. The first being that the guys were given aprons then had to prepare Okonominyaki, Gyoza and Sushi. Sky then presented chicken and seafood Jumbalaya, a Cajun favourite, washed down by Saki. This was followed by sweets, a mixture of delights of Sue Hilliard’s Pavlova and Lesley Zuccaro’s Italian Pastries and Japanese Ice cream, although we had to point out that Pavlova was Aussie not Russian. Many intriguing curios were present ranging from part of Napoleon’s coffin to British yachts, Scottish fiddles, International shopping bags and Egyptian papyrus with explanations given of each. A pleasing aspect was the many nationalities represented amongst those present. An International search and find around the house tested imaginations and knowledge and kept people busy too. Approx $450 was raised to assist our club’s International commitments. All present would like to thank Bill and Dianne for their hospitality and our cooks. Reiner, Karen, their mother Terry and District Ambassadorial Scholar Kayoko prepared the Japanese food and Ambassadorial Scholar Sky prepared the Cajun food.
MUNA 2005 The Rotary Club of Clayton extended an invitation for year 11 students, Rifat and Kimberley to attend MUNA or Model United Nations Assembly on the weekend of 14th & 15th of May at the Victorian Parliament.
"We were taken to the City early each morning at Westall Secondary College by a Rotarian lady called Kelly and Mr. Gesthuizen. We entered the Victorian Parliament building, clutching our research folders.
Westall was to represent South Korea and like the other 35 countries, we were dressed in a splendid costume. Iraq was represented by students from Yarra Valley Grammar School. All three of the representatives (delegates) from that country were hearing impaired and did a fantastic job.
We had ten resolutions to debate on Saturday and each country had the option of writing their own resolution to date on the Sunday. The resolution put by Mexico to the assembly was to merge the U.S.A and Canada to avoid confusion. This resolution took all day Sunday and was not passed. What we did pass included a resolution to make genetically modified foods available for the third world countries.
Later we had a tour of the amazing Victorian Legislative chamber. The room had gold trimming to represent the 1950’s Victorian gold rush. We learned that the Royal family never walks on the green carpet, they are only allowed to walk on the red carpet.
It was a great weekend, and we earned a lot about how the United Nations actually works. I’m pleased that we had the chance to represent Westall and Rotary, even though I was really nervous because I don’t usually participate in debates."
By Kimberley Ellis VCE year 11
McDonalds Drive Thru Challenge - October 2004 On Friday the 29th of October 2004, McDonalds along with Rotary ran the Drive Thru Challenge with all proceeds going to ROMAC (Reaching Overseas with Medical Aid for Children). Four members of the Clayton Rotary Club attended at the McDonalds store in Clayton and gave away balloons in the driveway of the drive thru. McDonald were donating $1 for every purchase made in the drive thru during the hours of 6:00 to 7:00 PM. During this time they served 113 cars and raised $113 for ROMAC.
Ampang Stroke Rehabilitation House - April 2003 This is a commitment we have long had, it was held up while waiting on permits etc but the way is now cleared. Ampang is a suburb of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. This is a joint project with our sister club, The Rotary Club of Ampang. They are working with us and a number of other clubs to buy/build a house specifically to assist stroke victims. Our club has just donated US$ 1,320 along with two other clubs (Rotary Club of Hong Kong City North & Rotary Club of Panchiao East). The official launching of this project is tentatively planned for 25th of April 2003. After the official launch we will provide more details and photos. (Update from the Rotary club of Ampang. The official launch date was on the 12th of June 2003.) As part of our fundraising over the last few years we are currently running a opportunity shop on Clayton Road, Clayton. The use of this shop has been kindly donated to us by H&R Block, which we use in the tax off season. So far we have raised approx $5,500 which will be donated to Interplast. See pictures below showing the shop from the inside and outside. if you get the chance come in and take a browse. The Rotary shop is now closed again and during our last three weeks we raised $5000.
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