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Lynette Dawson and Mr Wazih Razib will present next week on the Learning for Employment Adult Migrant Education Program.
They provide English language classes for newly arrived migrants and refugees through the Wyndham Community and Education Centre in Werribee.
They also run a program where members of the community spend an hour a week with newly arrived migrants or refugees, helping them with their English and assisting them to connect with their local community.
While flying is not Rex Booth's profession, he confesses to being an aviation tragic. Rex has his own single-engine plane housed near his home at Riddell's Creek. Not only does he use it to take family and friends on joy rides, he also volunteers his services through Angel Flight Australia (AFA) to fly people from remote and long-distance locations to the city, mainly for them to attend important medical appointments.
AFA was established in Queensland in 2003 and is based on a similar service in the US. They saw a need for this type of service because people in the outback have little or no access to specialists nearby. Unlike Air Ambulance or the Royal Flying Doctor Service, AFA mainly carries passengers who have a medical problem but who don't require special medical attention while in transit.
Rex is one of 3000 pilots in Australia who volunteer their time and their aircraft to ferry people from their home town to the main cities and back. One key benefit of this form of transport is the reduced travel time. Rex transports patients from Mildura to Melbourne in 1 1/2 hours. A road trip takes about 7-8 hours. Flying also results in less anxiety for the person and their driver if they were required to travel by car. All flights are free. Funds are raised through generous donations from the public. 85% of the funds are used to cover fuel costs and the other 15% pays for the wages of 7 full-time staff.
Rex is passionate about this service because he can see the expressions of joy and relief on the faces of his travellers.
In addition to the flying service, Rex explained that their are 3000 volunteer car drivers who taxi people from one point to another at no charge. This is usually for shorter trips.
Click here to get a feel-good understanding of the great service that Angle Flight provides.
At last Tuesday's meeting, President Graham presented a cheque for $2000 to Roger from Dreambuilders Church to support their Transformations program which is designed to help men who are suffering from drug and alcohol dependency, depression, eating disorders and other life-altering conditions.
In thanking the club, Roger not only expressed his appreciation for the donation but also for the support our club is providing his organisation and the wider community. He said the money will be put to good use to ensure that they can continue the rehabilitation program.
Chief organiser of the Breakfast Club, Elizabeth Ross, is seeking more volunteers to serve breakfast to students at Wyndham Park Primary School.
She is asking for assistance on either a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday morning each school week from 7:30 am to 9:00 am. She already has a loyal band of "Toastmakers" but, if more people were available, it means that the roster can be more flexible.
Anyone is welcome to share in the workload including members, partners, and friends. You can even work with your spouse or partner!
Brian Ahmed advised that Chris Ochaya has commenced construction of a chicken shed on the Tamarind community farm in Uganda. This is part of an ongoing plan to create a sustainable farm to support the local population.
With funding from our club and the equivalent in matching grants, Chris has already overseen the construction of a water pump and tanks to support the growing of crops and vegetables and to provide fresh water for the animals. In addition, a goat shed has been built to protect the goat herd. In this latest development, our club has donated another $2000 to enable materials to be purchased to complete the build of the chicken shed. When completed, the shed will look something like the one shown below. It will provide a valuable source of food for the locals.
This is another reminder for you to lock in Friday 1st March for the Werribee Rotary Golf Day.
The venue, as usual, is the Werribee Park Golf Club. The organisers, ably led by Ross Conley, have been working hard to prepare for another successful day. The majority of the proceeds will go towards the upgrade of the dementia unit at Manor Court Aged Care.
Once again, we will be conducting the Hole-in-One competition on the 15th tee. You have a chance to win a brand new car thanks to Ballan Holden.
There will also be the traditional raffle with some fabulous prizes. Ticket books will be distributed next week and we will be asking members to sell their allocated books.
Apart from players and sponsors, we are also looking for volunteers who would be prepared to help out on the day. Please contact Ross if you can assist.
David Carruthers from the Rotary Club of Melbourne attended our meeting to promote the upcoming 8th annual International Women's Day breakfast. The event is being held at the Palladium at Crown on Thursday 7th March.
The moderator will be Catherine Fox and the expert panel will consist of Fiona Patten, Rob Hulls, Kristen Hilton, Josh Bernstein and Dr Emma Burrows.
Single tickets can be purchased for $70 (early bird rate) and a table of 10 will cost $685.
David said that our club could even sponsor a number of senior school students to attend if we wanted to. The cost for each student is $55.
Click here to register or to find out more details.
With Australia Day upon us, Judy Berends of Carrum Downs, who obviously has some knowledge of Rotary and Bunnings BBQ's and sausages, has gone to the effort of composing this appropriate poem:
President Graham made the following announcements:
In the short time that we have held the Bingo licence, we have raised a net profit of $7,000. This is a very good outcome and we are now considering how we might disburse the proceeds to local organisations. Graham encouraged us to attend at least one Monday night session to observe or even to participate.
He is attending the Wyndham Rotary Club's meeting to present a cheque for $1000, on behalf of our club, to the Lance Porter Bike Ride for Cancer Research.
The Board has decided to donate $2000 to the Apprenticeship Awards. The same amount was donated last year.
Graham will be attending the District Conference where he will hand over a cheque for $4000 for our annual contribution to the Rotary Foundation.
Even though we have only a few members and partners attending the District Conference on 16-17 February, Brian Ahmed is trying to organise for a group to go to the city on Friday 15th for a club dinner. He will be seeking numbers over the next few weeks.
Kathryn Williams advised that the first Beach Patrol working bee will be held on Sunday 10th February. She is asking for volunteers to help for a couple of hours on that day. Details of the location to be cleaned up will be announced shortly.
The Board meeting was held at Brian Ahmed's place last Monday. Here is a picture of our newest Board member, Benji Ahmed, waiting for a tiny morsel or two from the table. He wasn't having much luck.
Great to see a prospective new member at our meeting. His name is Derek Scott who was accompanied by his wife, Valeria and their chaperones Peter and Elizabeth Ross. Here is a photo of Derek with Liz and Peter.
DAD: I was just listening to the radio on my way in to town, apparently an actress just killed herself.
MOM: Oh my! Who!?
DAD: Uh, I can't remember... I think her name was Reese something?
MOM: WITHERSPOON!!!!!???????
DAD: No, it was with a knife...
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