The Club must now face into the strong head wind of reality and address membership with a sense of urgency our club will face extinction. In five years time there will be only three of our present members still working.
- $500 district grant to be used for printing new flyers
- Joe has investigated cost of reply paid envelopes however flyer drop to date has not been successful.
- our greatest opportunity to grow our numbers is through our existing membership with each member to bring one guest over the year with a view to onboard
- corporate membership to be investigated further with view of boarding one new business each quarter
- local schools we have supported along with Kardinia College to be approached to publish promotional article and seeking new members appeal.
- regular supporters of our dinner auction through donations also to be approached 're interest in membership
- membership must be given priority moving forward.
Rotary Foundation Pam Hook.
2014 -15:
Club members continued to give generously to Rotary Foundation through The Centurion Program, each member contributing $100 via weekly meetings. Further funds have also been raised at regular Aldi BBQ's throughout the year from donations from passing public and customers.
Additional contributions have been made by individual Club members and some fines sessions designated specifically for Foundation.
The major project for the past year was the introduction of a 'Gifting Program', with work being done to identify and address the various components of the scheme in order to formulate it for public presentation.
This program works by individuals making a donation to Rotary Foundation on behalf of another person instead of giving a traditional gift. The recipient then receives a card from the Club indicating this donation has been made in place of the usual 'concrete' gift. Although obviously used for Christmas gifts, it is envisaged that its use will extend to gifts for weddings, anniversaries, birthdays or as remembrances of people who have died, instead of flowers. The system has been used on a trial basis within our club throughout the year, with individual members and the Club making such donations on behalf of those who have been married and to the families of those who have died from amongst us, in addition to some use of the program between members last Christmas.
The Board has allocated funds for the design and printing of leaflets so that the Gifting Program can be advertised in the community shortly, and in time to take advantage of the coming Christmas gift giving season for its implementation. Consultations with the printer are in progress at present.
2015 - 16:
The Gifting Program will initially operate from our Club but efforts will be made to encourage other Clubs to adopt the program, as we see potential for success at District level.
Later in the year it is intended to investigate the possibility of initiating a
Workplace Giving Scheme, seeking to encourage regular donations to Rotary Foundation from employees at some of Geelong's many businesses, through employee payrolls. This is seen as a possible source of reliable and continuous donations to Rotary Foundation as well as helping to raise Rotary's profile in the community and awareness of the organization's operation.
International- Jan Gillett.
INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE: ANNUAL REPORT 2014-15 and GOALS FOR 2015-16
The overall expenditure of the International Committee on projects, donations and purchases was $10,620 in the 2014-15 year. The committee aimed to support a variety of charities and projects.
The main project for the year was to provide a permanent water supply at the Shree Janasewa Sanskrit Higher Secondary School in Huwas village Nepal. To achieve this we partnered with the Rotary clubs of Pokhara Fishtail (Nepal) and Highton and were successful in obtaining a Global Grant. Our contribution to this was $4,400. The project is currently on track to be completed after the current wet season. A small number of our club are planning to visit the school after the completion of the project. They will be hosted by the members of the Rotary club of Pokhara Fishtail. Our visit has been postponed due to the devastating effects of the recent earthquake.
As a result of our close association with the Rotary Club of Pokhara Fishtail, we donated $2,000 to assist with the repairing the earthquake damage of the Shree Janasewa Sanskrit HSC. The money was also used to provide clothing and school equipment for the students affected by the earthquake.
The Days for Girls program supported by the Torquay Salvation Army, was given $1,000 to purchase much needed sewing machines to increase their output of reusable sanitary packs. These are distributed in Fiji, Cambodia, Vietnam and Nepal.
The club donated $1,200 to purchase a Shelterbox. We have supported this project on a regular basis.
We donated the cost of an Aquabox 30, which is $750.
The club gave the sum of $700 to support the work of RAWCS.
In total, the club supported these international projects to the sum of $10,620.
International Committee Goals for 2015-16
Our first priority is to make sure that our Water Project in Nepal stays on track and is completed in the required time. It is proceeding as scheduled despite some issues related to the recent earthquake.
We are considering a variety of worthy projects that we could support, but will be doing further research into some of these and considering the budget that may soon be allocated to all areas of service.
The possible areas that we may support are:A Micro-Loan Scheme run by the Rotary club of Pokhara Fishtail Nepal. This scheme extends financial services to the poor and disadvantaged not reached by the formal financial sector. These are small interest free loans.
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Another project proposed by Binod Koirala (from the Rotary Club of Pokhara Fishtail) for assistance in Nepal.
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Hearts to Harmony Foundation in Siem Reap Cambodia, run by two girls from Geelong.
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Quick response to an overseas disaster that may occur.
