IMAGINE your PASSION May 2023

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IMAGINEyourPASSIONDISTRICT9810 is the official monthly publication of Rotary International District 9810 Inc.

Publisher : Editor: Greg Adams, Art Director: Greg Adams. Advertising: Greg Adams Chief Cook and bottle washer : Greg as well

Contributions are always welcome: Please contact the Editor to discuss your ideas. district9810newsletter@gmail.com or 0419355842.

All photos/images submitted for publication must include detailed captions : IE names of people, event locations etc. It is presumed that the supplier of all photography/images owns or has approval from the owner of said copywrite to reproduce the photograph/image

Ken’s Canter

I have attended the RC Springvale City’s Polio fund raiser and the multi Distract Shine on Awards, both outstanding projects and events.

Welcome to my penultimate DG’s newsletter:

One of my favourite PDG’s informed me that after the District Conference things slow down . Not true with so many Clubs remaining busy through to the end of the Rotary year and thengearing up to do it all again plus more in DGE Ian Ballantine’s term. Check out the Rotarymarkets via the District website and also have a look at Michael Ellinger’s Highlights publication to see what’s going on in the District. It’s at the bottom of the Homepage under events. The list also appears on the P>I> AND communications page.

Looking forward to attending the opening of the Peace Bells in Rotary Melbourne Peace Park in the BotanicalGardens on May 24th and then we have theRAM conference leading up to our R.I. Melbourne Convention.

We also have the last Presidents meeting this Rotary year on May 19th where both current and incoming Presidents will gather. Congratulations to both groups and especially those that are staying on for another year.

All Rotarians received an email asking for applications for those interested in being our District information source as the Regionalisation Representative. Applications close Friday May 27th .

All Presidents and Club Board members and Chairs are reminded that it’s time to advise District Secretary Judith Eadon about your Clubs District and Rotary International citations. These will be presented at the District Changeover on July 1st. As this will be my last task as District Governor I look forward to presenting these to as many Clubs as possible.

Please enjoy this edition and many thanks to Editor Greg Adams for his outstanding work to put your Newsletter together.

Best regards

KenMiller DistrictGovernor2022-23D9810

24 October

Applications are now open for our 2023 RYLA(Rotary Youth Leadership Seminar).

Our 2023 6 day live inLeadership camp will be held from 26th June to 1st July with inspiring speakers and an amazing program.

The program is designed to help participants develop leadershipskills, build lasting friendships, and gain new insights and experiences.

They will engage in a range of activities, including workshops, group discussions, teambuilding exercises, and outdoor activities.

They will have the opportunity to learn from and connect with inspiring guestspeakers, successful business leaders, and community leaders.

Applicants must be available for the entireprogram and be aged between 18 to 30 atthe time of the seminar

https://www.9810rotary.org.au/Page/ryla

Editor’s Notes

It never ceases to amaze me just whatRotary does.

Being the Editor of theDG’s newsletter I geta unique glimpse of what many Rotariansand Clubs do to help others and the world. Such a diverse group of like minded peoplemake it happen.

The Clubs and their fundraising for a wide range of needs. The induvial members with the drive and passion that makes it happen. Their mentoring, guidance and their friendship is amazing.

IMAGINE your PASSION

Take a look at our articles this month and see the amazing spectrum of activities.

I find it very humbling.

GregAdams

RotaryClubofEmerald&District. Editor:IMAGINEyourPASSION

The Rotary Action Group Against Slavery is committed to connect, empower and equip Rotarians to engage their communities to eradicate all forms of Modern Slavery/Human Trafficking locally and around the globe.

Free The World, End Modern Slavery

Contact :Tony Stokes

Southern Region Coordinator Rotary Action Group Against Slavery

Rotary Club of Box Hill Burwood’s COMMUNITY SAFETY AWARD

Agood Samaritan has been acknowledged for her heroic efforts after saving a youngboy from being abducted from a tram last year.

Chelsea Spencer boarded a Box Hill-bound tram lastAugust when she was confronted by the distressing situation. Whilst seated in the tram she noticed a male approach a young school boy and attempt to drag him off the tram. Chelseaquickly intervened –pulling the boy back on the tram and even managed to take a photo of the offender before he fled.

Chelsea waited with the boy, named Sepehr, until his father arrived. She then posted vision of the offender on social network and reported the incident to Box Hill Police.

As a result of Chelsea’s quick action, the male was apprehended by police in BoxHill the following day after police were alerted to someone fitting the description of the male in the Box Hill area.

On 8 December 2022 the offender was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment

Following Chelsea’s heroic actions, Rotary Club of BoxHill Burwood (RCBHB) were informed of the incident and decided to recognise Chelsea’s excellent efforts in assisting the young schoolboyvia their inaugural RCBHB Community Safety Award.

On Tuesday 18th April, Chelsea Spencer was presented with Rotary Club of Box Hill Burwood’s Community Safety Award by Whitehorse Mayor, Cr Mark Lane at Box Hill RSL. In addition to this award, Chelsea also received a gift from Management of Bunnings Store in BoxHill and a bunch of flowers from the young boy, Sepehr and his family

Transit Detective InspectorRayMcLeodDrydenthanked Chelsea and said her actions not only saved the boy from potential harm, but were critical in helping identify the person responsible.

Transit Detective InspectorRayMcLeodDrydenjoinedBoxHillRotary Club President Charlie XU,Chelsea,Sepehr and his family at the award ceremony.

Rotary Club of Noble Park-Dingley

More than 600 students filled the Dingley Village Memorial for a children’s ANZAC Service on 26th April. The annual service is organised by the Rotary Club of Noble Park-Dingley and is held at a striking memorial which the club fundraised to build in 2011, and which was designed by local artist Ben Fasham. The service was mainly carried out by students from five primary schools who paraded, sang and recited poems of dedication to our fallen service people. Students respectfully started the service with a parade with banners depicting the various theatres of war Australia has been involved in

A combined choir from two of the schools delivered the Australian and New Zealand national anthems and an ANZAC version of I am Australian. Dignitaries attending included the State Member, Local Councillor and sponsoring branch RSL President. ANZAC Day has been embraced by the local schools, and the message to all students was one of mateship and that those servicemen and servicewomen who gave their lives for our country, did so in order that the students no matter where they were born can have a future in Australia experiencing peace.

670 students from Dingley, St Marks, Kingswood, Keysborough Gardens and Wallarano Primary schools attended as well as Mentone Grammar Cadets in army fatigues and Haileybury College Pipes and Drums.

On ANZAC Day, the day before, up to 1500 paid their respects at a Dawn Service which was also conducted by the Rotary Club of Noble Park-Dingley.

Message from the Chair

Things are really moving again on the ROMAC front. We are currently treating 7 children in New Zealand and Australia and we have at least another 20 under consideration. We are updating our systems and processes. We have recently completely revised our By Laws which, in line with Rotary practice, now clearly limits the time our office bearers can hold a particular position to 4 years.

In this regard, two of our long-serving Regional Chairs, Jill Oliver (Southern) and Wayne Litherland (Northern) have recently been replaced by Minh Nguyen and Adele Hughes respectively. Our sincere thanks go to Jill and Wayne for their outstanding contributions to ROMAC over the lastfive years and we welcome Minh and Adele. We also thank Jim Prokhovnik, who after five years, is standing down as our Meeting Secretary.

We have recently been advertising another 6 Zone 8 positions, some new roles and some filling casual vacancies. It is very pleasing to see the level of interest in these roles, and to announce the following appointments:

• Medical Director - Dr Nigel Stewart (South Australian Paediatrician and former Central Region Medical Adviser)

• HR, Recruitment & Training Coordinator (new position) -Jim Prokhovnik (former Meeting Secretary)

• Australian Operations Manager (new position) -Jill Oliver (former Southern Region Chair)

We thank and congratulate these 4 people and welcome them in their new roles. We are currently working though the selection processes for the remaining 2 vacancies.

I want to point out that most Regional Committees are still looking for volunteers with a variety of skills in areas like fundraising, communications andmedia, hospital liaison, club involvement, patient care and hosting, and any other roles like Secretary and Treasurer. Please contact your Regional Chair if you would like to volunteer and help ROMAC continue to provide life saving and/or dignity restoring surgery to children from our Oceania neighbours.

As we get even closer to the end of this Rotary year, I make one last plea for donations to ROMAC if any Rotary club has any surplus funds. They will be well used to help mothers and children in need.

Yours in Rotary

• Meeting Secretary -

Ian D'Arcy Walsh

Brendan Kenny (former Central Region Secretary)

is an entirely volunteer organisation facilitating medical aid for children in Oceania. It relies on good information technology (IT) systems and communication between all involved to make it work. Making this happen is a bespoke IT system, known as Connect, which provides a secure gateway to all the tools needed to ensure the children can be appropriatelymanaged. The Board recently approved a project to upgrade Connect to a new platform, which will allow further enhancement and ensure that our IT needs are satisfied well into the future.

The website provides a lot of information on our organisation. It also has an Online Referral link in the top right corner of the home page that allowsmedical practitioners and others in our source countries to refer children and to provide all the patient information needed to assess the merits of each child's medical case. Referral information from the website link feeds into the secure patient database

Kim from Vietnam

eHR, which then allows the medical and logistic aspects of the case to bemanaged.

Many team members are required to bring a case to fruition. The Medical Director assesses the merits of the case, and identifies treatment opportunities. The Operations Director manages the logistic aspects of the case – passports, visas and travel. In-country Rotary Clubs liaise with local medical staff and the families of patients. Regional and District volunteers coordinate with Australian and New Zealand hospitals, doctors and carers.

Finally, Google Mail and Meet are built into the Connect system, allowing the communication andonline meetings that are essential when the team is geographically spread, not only over Australia and New Zealand, but also over the many countries that we support.

Born in Vietnam witha Tessier Cleft in 1995, Kim was a patient of Plastic Surgeon Prof. Tony Holmes at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne in 2001. Prof. Holmes reconstructed her face, reducing her brain deformity, rebuilding her forehead and moving her eye sockets together over several operations.

In December 2021, Kim graduated from college with a major in Tourism and Travel Management, aged 25. She has a job at the College, recruiting students to the school. She says she really enjoys the job and has a good life with the love of friends and family.

Photos: Kim age 6. Kim at her graduation ceremony in 2022 age 25.

Shine On Recognition Presentation Ceremony

Since 1997/1998 Rotary Shine On ceremonies have been held in Victoria. We recognize the outstanding community service by people with disabilities, who, by their actions and achievements, serve as ‘Shining Examples’ in our community. These ceremonies focus on the abilities of nominees, not their disabilities.

On Saturday May 13, we held our 2023 ceremony atTemplestowe Baptist Church attended by about 80 people. On behalf of the RI Shine on Recognition committee, we extend our sincere thanks to the MC, Past DG 9820, Janet McCahon, Councillor Deidre Diamante, Mayor of Manningham City Council and the Federal member for Menzies, Rt. Hon. Keith Wolahan for their contributions to the day. We also acknowledge, with sincere thanks, the ongoing (over 10 years) Shine On sponsorship by the Ringwood Boronia and Bayswater branches of the Bendigo Bank, represented by the Regional Manager, Natalie Goold and other team members, Brian McPhail, and Wayne Leslie.

An enjoyable musicalinterlude included the Laughing All Abilities Really Friendly Singers and a classic piece played by Jim Provan, a flautist.

Recognition of the nominees then proceeded with 10 nominations, of which eight came from District 9810, one from District 9790 (Finley NSW) and one from District 9820 (Morwell). Of the 10 nominees, three are Youth and seven Adult.

Trophies and Awardsdeterminedby our expert panel, Jeanette Robertson, Angela Walland Dr. David Price (thanks very much!) were presented to the following nominees:

Adult Higher Recognition Trophy – Jonathan Zygorodimos (Jono)

Dawn and Jack Watson Youth Trophy -Brenton Ponza and Inaugural Graham Thomson Encouragement Award – Perri Bastian

AgroupphotowithDG9810Ken Miller,DeidreDiamante,DG9820 PaulMee,KenWolahanand daughter,ShineOnChairBarry Halpern,NatalieGooldand attendingnominees

JonoandDeniseZygorodimos

Call for Expressions of Interest

VACANCY: DISTRICT 9810 RAM SUPERVISOR

The Rotarians Against Malaria (RAM) District Supervisor is amember of his/her RAWCS District Committee.

The appointment is made in accordance with the procedures and requirements of that Committee. A RAM District Supervisor represents RAM on their District RAWCS Committee as well as to the Rotary Clubs and Rotarians within their Districts.

The position of the D9810 District Supervisor is becoming vacant in the next Rotary Year and Southern Region is seeking a suitable candidate to email an ‘Expressions of Interest’ for this position to the Southern Region Supervisor Gloria Hargreaves. Orientation and mentoring will be provided.

Due to the amalgamation of D9810 and D9820 in the 2024-25 Rotary Year the positionwill be for the duration of twelve months

TheroleofaRAMDistrictSupervisorinvolves:

Forming a committee to assist with and support his/her work within the District. This willallow for visits to clubs andthe representation ofRAM at District functions to be shared and will also provide for succession planning

Raising and promoting awareness within Rotary, Rotaract and the general public of what RAMis and does.

Keeping in regular contact with each club in his/her District

Visiting Rotary and Rotaract clubs as guestspeaker giving presentations on RAM

Raising funds and support for RAM’s National Programs

Mounting RAM displays at District functions (eg Conference, PETS, District Assemblies etc)

Ensuring that he/shehas a ready supply of resources (RAM Brochures, MAD Leaflets, RAM pins, colouring books, a banner etc)

Contributing to District e-News and the DG’s Newsletter

Promoting Malaria Awareness Day (MAD) topublicise RAM’s work to Rotarians and members of the general public

Contact:

Southern Region RAMSupervisor Gloria Hargreaves. (ram.southern@rawcs.org.au) or egharg@netspace.net.au for the Role Description and Nomination Form.

Thank you.

SouthernRegionRAMSupervisorGloriaHargreaves

Charity boost for school libraries

Reprinted:StarJournal 07/04/2023

dandenong.starcommunity.com.au/news/2023-04-07/charity-boost-forschool-libraries/

donated bounty of books has given a welcome boost to four primary schools’ libraries.

Rotary Clubs of Noble Park-Dingley and Springvale City staged a fundraising dinner at Sandown Greyhounds in AFL Grand Final Week last year, raising $5000 for the cause. This was matched dollar-for-dollar by Dymocks Children’s Charities – making a grand total of $10,000.

The recipients were Springvale Rise, Heatherhill, Keysborough Gardens and St Mark’s Dingley primary schools.

On 31 March, Dymocks head of company operations group retail Frank Pangalidis presented the books to a Keysborough Gardens Primary School assembly.

The library donation will help the rapidlygrowing campus cater for up to 800 students in the future.

DCC general manager Melanie Smith said the charity was proud topartner with Rotary in the project.

“DCC’s mission is to promote a love of reading and improve literacy skills for disadvantaged children across Australia.

“This program provides the tools for schools to promote a love of reading with brand-new, relevant and essentially the books kids want to read.”

Also at the assemblywas a presentation by AFL Auskick and Keysborough Football Club, students of the weekawards and the Premiers Reading Challenge.

Noble Park Dingley Rotarian Keith Maxwell said the assembly was “an example of an active school growing and encouraging active students”.

He said the book initiative was about “striving for excellence in learning and life”.

DymocksretailheadFrank Pangalidis,schoolcaptains

AriyanNarayanandTasneem Ramzan,principalSherrienkins andNobleParkDingley

RotarianRexCarteratthe KeysboroughGardensPrimary Schoolpresentation.

held a End Polio Fundraising event.

They would like to thank guests

Cr Eden Foster Mayor of Greater Dandenong, Cr. Richard Lim

OAM, Meng Heang Tak State

Member for Clarinda,Rotary 9810 District Governor Ken Miller, Rotary 9810 District Governor

Elect Ian Ballantine, Past District Governor Neil Harrison of Knox, Assistant District Governor Les Marton together with the Springvale Indo-Chinese Mutual Association, members of the Rotary Club of Clayton Oakleigh Huntingdale, Rotary Club of Waverley, Rotary Club of Box Hill Burwood, Nunawading, family and friends for all their support.

Finally THANK YOU to all the members of the Rotary Club of Springvale City for their time and effort in organising this event and their many otherhumanitarianprojects throughout the year.

Thank you to our Sponsors.

Without their generous support we would not be able to run this Conference. Please support them.