Lets start by remembering this is ANZAC day and reflect on those who made it so that we all live in the world we can.
In the absence of Pres Tony. Pres Elect Elizabeth chaired the meeting and welcomed our guest speaker Peter Brukner along with regular guests Michael Stillwell, Karin Simpson and Pat Little. Also a welcome back to Geoff Ballard, friend of Val and potential new member?
Here is a thought for the day aligned to the topic of our guest speaker
and how about one a little more relevant?
"I'm the reason I'm overweight, No one made me do it. I did it. I'm also the reason why I'll be slim and fit one day. No one can do it for me. I can and I will"
Presidential matters to start with
Elizabeth advised those gathered that there had been a couple of changes on the incoming board.
With the impending departure of Rosemary and Ted who will leave Melbourne soon and move to the "sticks" - well not exactly but Country Victoria - Ballarat the roles of Environment and Secretary opened up. Joe has kindly agreed to take on the role of Secretary which means he relinquishes his vocational chair. So we now have openings on the board for Environment and Vocational and Elizabeth is seeking expressions of interest to assist in these key positions.
District Assembly is coming up on May 19th and will be held at St Francis Catholic College, West Melton. This assembly will be a chance to showcase Rotary projects and applications are welcomed. Elizabeth has been asked to coordinate this so if you are interested in attending please reach out to her - Entries etc close on May 11th.
The day before that i.e. May 18th we have a function at the Canterbury Community Centre where we will run the bbq - great opportunity to get our name out there in the community. Volunteers required so please let Elizabeth know asap.
Matters in the interest of Rotary
Bob advised those present that the RORP programme has recommenced and the next playground removal will be in June/July
Val showed us a couple of works of art donated by David Shave. Apparently, she has between 30 and 40 of those and is looking for opportunities to sell them and riase funds for the club. Perhaps you know of a trash and treasure market we could use?
Helen reminded us of the upcoming "Guess who's coming to Lunch" social event on Sunday May 5th. This is a fun event and has been dormant for a few years. Did you add your name to the list circulated on Monday? If you weren't there feel free to register your interest via the humanitix link below
Hans advised that he and Tony would attend the upcoming Swinburne Migrant Employment Forum on Tuesday May 7th. Part of the mentoring programme that Hans created and an opportunity, again, to showcase the work we do as a club.
Nora advised of the packing event tomorrow April 26th
Carey Grammar, 349 Barkers Road KEW. set up at 2pm - event from 3.30pm to 5pm
and upcoming packing events
Next booked events for the diaries : Caulfield Grammar – Wheelers Hill Campus Wednesday 5 June at 2pm and event on Thursday 6th June Time to be confirmed. NB late press - this date has been changed to August 7th/8th
Caulfield Grammar – Caulfield Campus Tuesday 18th June – Set up 11.30am Event 12.45 – 3.30pm
A final and personal note from the Ed. After a hiatus for a number of reasons I have registered to do the May50K again in 2024 - raising funds for research into MS. As I am sure other do I have close relationships (family and friends) who are suffering from MS so I'm doing my bit (and after Peter's presentation the walking will do me good). I have attached the link to my donations page below - any amount is welcome!
Well, after that in depth presentation by Peter I know what I am going to do!
Thanks to Peter Brukner - a Sports Medicine Doctor for presenting an informative "lesson" on the risks we face by getting fatter and the consequences. Also providing the actions we can take to avoid this.
How did he get to where he was? It all started where Peter, as a kid, had a huge love for sport (he wanted to be a cricketer for Australia), Sadly he realised that his talents did not measure up to his enthusiasm and thought he might make the switch to sports commentating. Seems that went done like a lead balloon with his Mum so off to Melbourne Medical School he went and got his degree. Initially he went into general practice but soon gravitated to his first love and took up sports medicine. This gave him a chance over the next almost 40 years to work across a number of sports - here is a list of those (might be some missing!)
1987 - started with Melbourne footy club (apparently, they hadn't won anything for 20 odd years but he turned them around!)
next stop Collingwood Footy club - (did I mention lead balloon before?)
After that he joined the Australian team at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 as a doctor and followed that as a team manager for the Athletics team at Sydney in 2000. He took the decision to stop travelling for a while and took a role as a boundary rider for ABC radio.
In 2010 he accompanied the Australian soccer team to the World Cup in South Africa. Post that he joined Liverpool FC as Head of Sports Medicine. Interesting anecdotes about the players - not least those about a certain Luis Suarez who seemed to have a Jeckyll and Hyde personality on and off the field!
2013 saw him return to his first love, cricket - he took on the lead medical role for the Australian Cricket team - he supported them through 50 tests. highlights included meeting the Queen (apparently not a fan of cricket!)
Finally back to AFL with Melbourne in 2020
So what about the topic of his presentation - getting fatter and sicker...
in 2012 Peter turned 60 (looking at him on Monday you would not have believed he was in his early 70's!) He had noticed that he had started to put on weight (evidenced by the photo he showed us) and also commented that his family had a history of Type 2 diabetes. So what did he decide to do - 4 things
Get healthy
have a low fat diet
exercise regularly
get his blood glucose down to normal levels
In face though he decided to experiment with what he called LCHF - Low Carb High Fat diet. He lost 13 KGs in 13 weeks and found increased energy and improved sleep.
Peter then gave us a good presentation of the goods and bads in diets, foods and no-nos. His presentation focussed mainly on significant reduction in Carbs and sugars (he called this the common denominator). a very interesting presentation and one which has given much food for thought (oooh is there a pun there somewhere?)
Thanks Peter for a very thought provoking presentation
Dennis is a Chemical Engineer by profession and has spent his working career in the Pulp, Paper & Packaging industry, most recently as a consultant to the industry. He has lived and worked extensively abroad associated with his work.
Dennis was in Apex (a service club for under 40’s) for nearly 10 years before being invited to join the Rotary Club of Aspley in Queensland in 1980. He was subsequently a member of the Rotary Club of Traralgon in country Victoria before joining the Rotary Club of Hawthorn in 1984. He served in numerous positions at club level and was President in 2002-3.
Dennis was District Governor in 2012-13 and before that an Assistant Governor, GSE Team Leader to D5520 (New Mexico) in 2005 and was District GSE Chairman for 4 exchanges. At District level Dennis has also been District Foundation Chair and District Council on Legislation & Resolutions Representative for 2 terms. He was previously Chair of Boroondara Cares Forum.
Dennis has also served as District Secretary, District Governance Director, District Finance Committee Chair (twice), Global Grant Scholar Committee Chair, District Peace Fellowship Committee Chair, Club Vision Chair and District Chair for Leader Training. He was Vice Chair of the Melbourne RI Convention Host Organising Committee and Promotions Director.
Dennis was Endowment and Major Gifts Advisor for Zone 8 from 2019 to 2022 and is a Trustee of The Rotary Foundation from 2023 to 2027. He is also Vice Chair of the Rotary Foundation Australia and a recipient of The Rotary Foundation Distinguished Service Award.
Outside of Rotary Dennis has been involved in a number of Community activities, including the Australian Shareholders’ Association, a volunteer based not for profit association and was a Director for some years. He served in a number of community and industry roles associated with Monash University for more than 25 years and was honoured to receive the University’s Sir John Monash Medal for distinguished service to engineering education. He has been involved with Scope and a community retirement village.
Dennis has been married to Lynda for many years and they are proud parents to 2 adult daughters and grandparents to four grandchildren.
Outside of Rotary Dennis enjoys trying to play golf , walking, photography and travelling.
Thanks to the Rotary Club of Footscray for the letter copied below - highlighting the fantastic work they do and the support we were able to provide via FORaMEAL in their latest shipment.
We should be very proud of our members efforts in allowing us to be part of this.
International Chairman Report 2023/24
We would like to provide an update regarding the Horn of Africa project, which has now successfully completed its latest initiative to send essential goods to the Horn of Africa region.
The Horn of Africa project was commissioned to provide those living in the Horn of Africa region with the resources and materials that would make a positive difference in their lives. In particular, the project aimed to provide medical equipment to local hospitals that were in dire need, and to support locals who would otherwise travel long distances to receive the basic medical care that they needed. The beneficiaries of these donated resources can now boast of much improved facilities and vastly superior patient care.
Through the generous contributions and support of our community, in particular Rotarians, the Somali community and the Harari community, our crowdfunding campaign was able to raise $47,809, which has covered the transportation costs of three containers loaded with donated materials and equipment. We are pleased to report that the first container reached its destination of Berbera Port in November 2023, and two more containers were sent shortly after and also successfully reached their destination of Berbera Port in March 2024.
Two containers were loaded with medical equipment and distributed equally between Jig-jiga University Sheik Hassen Yabare Referral Hospital and Harar Regional State Health Bureau Jugel General Hospital in Ethiopia. The third container was loaded with food and clothing, and was distributed between multiple sites within Somaliland, including Erigabo Boarding School, Xaaxi Boarding School, Burcao City, an orphanage in Hargeisa and Borame, among other places.
While we have enjoyed enormous support from far and wide, we would like to give special thanks to some contributors. First and foremost, we would like to highlight the incredible work of the DIK management and volunteers, without whom this project would not have achieved the success that it has had so far, and the Rotary Club of Footscray, including the past president Maria Silber and current president Dr Bob Newman, who have provided essential support throughout the lifecycle of this project.
Western Health, which has generously donated an abundance of vital equipment such as I.C.U beds, Transfer trolleys, ECG Machines, Ultrasounds, Defibrillators, Radiography, Patient monitors, Ventilators, I.V Holders, Monitor screens and Tower Endoscopies. Austin Health, which has generously donated dialysis equipment which is much needed in the smaller communities of the Horn of Africa region. Baker Heart & Diabetes Institute, which has generously donated numerous mini health monitors, with more hopefully to come.
Doug Hawley and Tony Laycock of the Rotary Club of Canterbury, which through their spectacular FORaMeal initiative have generously donated around 100,000 meal packs. Nick Dallas and McGraw Hill, which have generously donated multiple stacks of medical textbooks, which will no doubt provide inspiration to the multitude of students in the Horn of Africa region.
Finally, to an anonymous contributor who has very generously donated a dental X-Ray machine. It is through the invaluable support of those who have donated their materials, resources, and time that we have been able to make such large strides to achieving our lofty goals.
It is extremely important that we also mention those generous individuals and groups who selflessly donated their time and efforts to fairly distribute the goods once they reached their destination. We would like to mention in particular, Ugaas Muxiyadin Sh Ismacil (Somaliland Clan Leader), Maxamed Axmed Aw Aadan (Director of Zamzam Foundation in Somaliland), Dr Aydarus Rabi Tahir (Jig-jiga University Sheik Hassen Yabare Referral Hospital Director of Dialysis Unit) and Dr Abrahim Salih Sufian (CEO of Harar Regional State Health Bureau Jugel General Hospital). Without them, these goods would not have reached the places that it needed to go, and it is through their effort that we can say that this project has been an astounding success.
This initiative has generated very good media coverage in Ethiopia, with reporting conducted in multiple languages, including Somali, Harari, Amharic and Oromo. A news conference was held to celebrate the enormous achievement of the Horn of Africa project, which was attended by many notable individuals in the region, including Mohamad Ayaanle Hassan (Vice Minister of Somali Regional State of Ethiopia Health Bureau), Yasin Abdulahi (Harari Regional Health Bureau Head) and Sultan Mahamed Buzayri Niman(Somali Clan Leader), who spoke extremely positively about the project and the amazing impact that it was making to their communities.
To conclude, this has been a period of great success, and we should all feel proud that we have made a positive difference for those who were in sore need of our assistance. It is truly remarkable to see how much we have achieved through our determined and warm-hearted efforts, and it is important to reflect on this success and understand that we are capable of great things. We hope that we will be able to continue this success going forward.
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