No meeting last week on Easter Monday so no report or matters in the interest of Rotary

 

I thought I'd come up with a thought for the day and apt considering the weather the last 2 days - The Ed.

 

 

There are some updates and new meetings coming up

 

The RIMERN venue for Monday April15th has changed to Darebin RSL. See the leaflet below

 

The Cluster meeting on April 16th has changed with Dr Monique Ryan - Independent member for Kooyong replacing Kath Thwaites Fed Labour

 

2nd in our ongoing series of messages via QR codes courtesy of Lili-Ann

 

 

AND, don't forget that next week Val will be giving us a presentation on her and Patrick's very own "Escape to the Chateau". Obviously this does not need an excuse but sounds like an ideal time for a good drop of Bordeaux (or Burgundy or whatever takes your fancy)  

 

 

Now we all know our favourite project is going gangbusters and we have been fortunate to receiver feedback on a number of deliveries

 

FORaMEAL: Shipment of dry goods packs to Sri Lanka:

 

In the Rotary Year 2023-2024, the club was successful in securing a District 9810 Rotary Foundation Grant (DG18 part of DG223654), valued at $3,000 to undertake a shipment of FORaMEAL packs to Sri Lanka. The final club contribution to this successful project was $3,581.69 with unspent funds from the 2021 Rice Meal making up the gap.

 

This grant afforded us the opportunity to ship to Sri Lanka, 480 cartons of FORaMEAL emergency relief dry food goods. This project drew on the assistance of the Rotary Club of Canterbury (D9800) and Dr Doug Hawley OAM in particular, the Rotary Club of Colombo Regency in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health who facilitated the arrival and distribution of the food packs and Transitainer (WA) who assisted with the shipment of the container and local logistics in Australia.

 

Thanks also go to the year 11 students at Yarra Valley Grammar who participated in a mass packing day exercise. This was a new experience for them and reinforced that compassion has a practical side, not just something in a though bubble.

 

Shipment of the container was on 26/3/23 with final delivery into Colombo, via Singapore on 01/6/23.

 

The distribution and importantly education on how to use the food packs was undertaken by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health. The following comments sum up the effectiveness of this first-of-a-kind project for the club.

 

“A total of 16,320 packs were distributed to three highly malnourished areas, namely Matara, Matale, and Vavunia. Through the efforts of dedicated medical officers, families in immediate need were identified and a comprehensive plan was implemented to address the issue. The distribution of packs and the number of packs for family was tailored according to thorough research conducted in these areas. Recognizing the economic challenges faced by most families, cooking demonstrations were organized to highlight how to prepare the packs, using locally available nutritional ingredients to enhance flavor and cater to local preferences. Witnessing the joy of children as they enjoyed the prepared porridge firsthand was a memorable experience during my personal involvement in the project”. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Members of the Rotary Club of Colombo Regency The execution of the project faced many challenges, but without the assistance of all those organisations mentioned earlier, this may never have happened. Thank you all for making this project a great success.

 

 

Andrew Brownlie – Foundation & International Chair Rotary Club of Maroondah Inc. D9810, Club No 18382

Our second report simply includes photos of delivery to meals in Somaliland in a collaboration between our club, RC Footscray and DIK. Many thanks to Jama Farah - project creator of RC Footscray - he provided a significant number of photos - too many to include here but what has been selected will tell the story.

 

Firstly the recipients and their banners of thanks

 

 

Here are some of the photos - in no particular order

 

 

 

 

 

Last 2 weeks in this cycle - NB again - we need a replacement for Roger this Sunday please

Thanks to those who have volunteered to help at RIMERN, here is the roster for the coming year.

 

20 Jun - Rob A, John B, David C, and Wayne D

22 Jun - Joe F, Cathie Mac

18 Jul - Lili-Ann K, Bob L and Ken M

15 Aug - John P, Elizabeth S and Alan S

19 Sep - Ted W, Rosemary W and Kyle W

17 Oct - Neil W, Jill W and Steve W

21 Nov - Rob A, John B, David C, and Wayne D

23 Nov - Joe F, Cathie Mac

16 Jan 2025 - Lili-Ann K, Bob L and Ken M

 

June          19 Greenacres Golf Club

                  31 Box Hill Golf Club