Stories

Lynda Smith from Kyeema joined us on the 11th.  She filled us in about the special residential care homes that are going to be built in Palmer Street.  These will help to provide some independence for people living with disabilities.  The online craft auction successfully raised $10,000.  Find out more here: http://www.kyeema.com.au/?page_id=650

 

Layla Cook returned from her Rotary Exchange year at the start of October.  She joined us on Zoom and shared with us some of her experiences during this very different exchange. 

 

Nicole Carr, from United Way Glenelg came along to fill us in on what has been happening at United Way during this year.  Full report here: stories/guest-speaker-nicole-carr-on-25-nov-2020

 

Jody told us about his best Rotary experience so far.  stories/25-nov-jody-duckworth-3min-speaker

I remember how proud I was when I became a member and then to what was my year as Youth Director, I had the pleasure of putting together a plan of action and a fundraising budget to try and achieve to my plan and then move into what was a very busy and rewarding year. 

 

Sending and supporting young people to experience RYLA and RYPEN. Finding 3 applicants for outbound Youth exchange and with the help of the Rotary Club of Portland being able to see all 3 become successful outbound students. We had the wonderful Maddie as our inbound exchange student. It was a busy and rewarding year for myself and I believe the Club.  I think we all miss Maddy's happy energy. 

 

I also love challengers and I think Event Management was my thing that year. Again, I want to thank the members for the support I received that year with two major events. 

 

There was the night we relived Dirty Dancing in the park and somehow got almost 200 community members to come watch the movie with us. This night I witnesses what a great club we can be working together in what was a big challenge I threw your way. Not only a movie in the park but we ran a bar, BBQ, lolly shop and of course our favourite coffee shop. I remember Anita trying to talk me/us into running a jazz night in the park. Still not off the table Anita if you're here. 

 

But that wasn't the biggest event, we also had the district youth exchange conference and dinner.  It was a whole weekend dedicated to youth exchange, inbound and outbound students and supports coming together across our district.  Not only was it a great event but we got the chance to show off Portland and how amazing this community is. I remember driving around the 3 kids that stayed with me overnight and they were loving our harbour and natural beauty. Their favourite moment was out near SeaWind's nursery where a Koala seemed to pose perfectly for a picture right outside the car window. I think they took 500 pics of that koala, including the kid from our district. There were Kids, councillor's, parents, Rotarians everywhere and smiles all round. I remember I was so grateful for all the assistance I received to make this the best experience for our visitors. We did our club proud. We did Portland Proud.

 

This was my most rewarding experience so far. Not because I clearly enjoy event management and not just because we were able to reach out and support youth in the many exceptional Rotarian youth programs we have, it was my most rewarding year as I was able to witness how amazing our club is when we come together to support our community.

Nicole Carr.  United Way Glenelg, Chief Executive Officer.

 

Covid has been a catalyst for innovation; collaboration with community and in particular with Rotary.

 

Raising community spirit as well as support for the community.

 

UWG is part of worldwide network and we have utilised the power of that network more than before.

Shark pitch – thanks for contribution of $1000 across the 3 projects. Monumental achievement $53,784 raised in total. Building community spirit through a chat box. $16039 indigenous war memorial in Heywood completion in March 2021. $17,220 Beats Cycle for Hope project. Many people have put off attending their doctor during Covid and there has been an increase in cancer diagnosis because of this. The money will be very welcome. $20,475 Kyeema “My Place” project – have a long way to go to raise the total needed to build two houses. 188 registrations but we feel many more were there as often more than one person behind the screen.

We will be showcasing our core activities locally in the Portland Area, along with the bigger picture of what Rotary is all about both nationally and internationally.  After this we will be breaking out into smaller rooms where you can ask Rotarians questions directly and hear about their Rotary Experience (it's different for everyone!).  

 

The night is free. No commitment required.  It really is just a bit of a show and tell, so you can see if it is something that you might want to have a go at.    Rotary offers so much, that you can tailor your own experience to meet your own passions to make a bit of a difference in the world.

Rotarian Karen Malseed organised our roster to ensure drivers were available to do home deliveries, assisting our local supermarket with the surge in demand.

 

We assisted with IGA deliveries.  We feel proud of our efforts together while we joined with the Lions Club of Portland.  Over 94 volunteer hours were recorded by Rotarians making 75 deliveries to many grateful community members.

 

A donation of $1800 from IGA has been received as a gesture of their grateful thanks during difficult times.

On Tuesday May 12^th 2020 we sang “21 today, 21 today, we’ve got the key to the door (well we had a key but it didn’t fit the door!!!), never been 21 before….. That part was true!

 

With the #stayhome restrictions in place due to Covid-19 we had to get creative to find a way to celebrate our milestone. And celebrate we did.

 

Our resident cook baked cupcakes (thanks Brian), Helen helped I’m sure. Helen, Lynne and Bev delivered them to

members on the day of our party (thanks ladies).

 

Claire set up a Zoom meeting #party (she is a whizz…thanks Claire). Paul helped to put together a clip of birthday wishes sent to the club (very clever – thanks Paul).