Last week's meeting was a joint club meeting between Werribee and Laverton Point Cook at the Waterstone Cafe in Sanctuary Lakes.

Our guest speaker was Jodie Willmer. Jodie was familiar with the workings of Rotary because she was an exchange student in 1991. She had a choice of going to Japan, South Africa or West Germany (as it was still called then). After much deliberation, she chose Germany. She described her German venture as one of the highlights of her life to date and she is very grateful to Rotary for selecting her to go.

She is now a consultant to the not-for-profit sector and various social enterprises and she still uses the experience that she gained as an exchange student in her work today. There are three key things that she learned during her 12 months away that have stayed with her ever since. The exchange program taught her:

1. Resilience - An example of this was that, during her early days in Germany she got homesick. Initially, she made a few calls to her parents in Melbourne but they were expensive trunk calls. Then she decided just to embrace her new surroundings and learn as much as possible about German history and their way of life. Not only did this remove her homesickness but it also made her independently stronger. 
2. Open-mindedness - She found that the Germans were very direct in what they had to say. There was no ifs, buts and maybes. If you say you're going to do something, then you do it. This has held her in good stead to this day as she works and consults with organisations.
3. Governance - In Germany, she was asked to speak at many Rotary clubs. It taught her to be prepared and organised, especially if people are relying on you. It also made her face up to challenges and, if people are not pulling their weight, she is capable of engaging in courageous and honest conversations. It also taught her to not only develop good strategic plans but also to successfully execute those plans. One of the keys to this is to break large activities or projects into smaller discrete tasks that are clearly-defined and achievable with a set beginning and end time.

Special thanks to Margaret Wade and Joe Cumbo for participating in the 3030 Beach Patrol cleanup last Sunday at Werribee South Beach. They were part of a community team that collected 250kg of rubbish including 300 bottles and cans, 3500 cigarette butts, 300 straws & 100 "slurpy" drink cups.

The next cleanup day is on Sunday 4th March at Baden Powell Reserve in Tarneit as part of the Australia Day Cleanup program. Elizabeth and Peter Ross will be there and they hope that you can join them.

Click here to see a flyer of the event.

The Rotary Club of Albert Park is marking the centenary of the Rotary Foundation by organising an evening of fun and celebration on the large ferris wheel, the Melbourne Star, at Docklands. ‘Star Carnivale’ will commence at 5.30 pm on 22 April and they are asking for your support for this unique event.
 
Seats on the Melbourne Star are $35 per person and, if a club buys a whole ‘pod’, $400 will be donated to the Foundation in our club’s name.  A pod holds 20 people.  Hampers are available should attendees wish to pre-order online. Drinks are at $6 per glass for wine, beer and cider and $3 for soft drinks on the night.  The ‘flight’ takes around 35 minutes. 
 
The Star will be lit up in Rotary colours for the evening. There will also be an international speaker, Astro Physicist Rachel Livermore, who will update us on the ‘Galaxy’. There will also be music and a few Star Wars characters for photo opportunities.
 
Click here to see a flyer of the event.

Click here to visit the Rotary Club of Albert Park's website.

The date for the Werribee Rotary Annual Golf Day is Friday 2nd March.

For the third year in a row, you have the chance to win a car from Ballan Holden in the hole-in-one competition on the 15th green. No-one has been successful in the past two years which means the chances of someone scoring an ace this year are improving.

• Hole-in-One observers
• Hole-in-One spruiker
• Drink cart drivers
• Helpers for the putting hole
• Someone to install sponsor signs at each hole

Women in Rotary is organising the annual the International Women's Day breakfast to be held on Wednesday 7th March at the Crown Palladium.

There will be a number of great presenters and panellists including newsreader Stephen Quartermain (MC) and Victorian Ombudsman Victoria Glass OBE.

Click here to view a flyer of the event.

Pictured above are the happy faces of Bronwyn, Pam and Isabel with a fistful of the pencils that were part of our Guess the Number of Pencils competition. The box of 1,828 pencils were delivered to Donations in Kind for distribution to school children in East Timor.

Our Community Committee Director, Jason Daddy, advised that we have a busy time ahead in providing our brilliant BBQ services. This includes:

• BBQ breakfast at Relay for Life on Sunday 25th March.
• BBQ sausage sizzle at the Werribee Mercy Health Easter Fair on Sunday 25th March between 11am and 3pm.
• Bunnings BBQ on Easter Saturday (31st March).
• Mid-week BBQs at Bunnings once a month. There will be 10 of these throughout the year and each of them will be on a Thursday. Here is a list of the dates:
  • February 22
  • April 12 (School Hols)
  • May 17
  • June 14
  • July 12 (School Hols)
  • August 23
  • September 20
  • October 25
  • November 15
  • December 20 (School Hols)

• Joe Cumbo is seeking assistance from 3 volunteers this Saturday morning (17th February 9am-1pm) to help at a working bee at WERN in Footscray. The work involves cleaning up the yard and the warehouse. Please call Joe if you can help.

• Congratulations to Tino Ballan for achieving the milestone of 60 years in Australia on 14th February (Valentines Day). I guess it just about entitles him to be called a dinky-di Aussie.

• Our wonderful website has a new identity. No longer can you use www.rotaryclubofwerribee.org.au to access it. It is now located at www.werribeerotary.org.au.

• Point Cook township is setting up a pop-up park between 26th February and 15th April. For more details, click here.