As members and friends of Rotary Hawthorn, you should be especially proud of what we have achieved thus far in the year of Rotary, Making a Difference.
Last Sunday we held our annual Boroondara Community Christmas Lunch, whereby the members and friends of the Rotary Hawthorn organised Christmas lunch and entertainment for 250 people in our community. The lunch was made possible by the collective effort & talents of a great number of people from a wide variety of groups in the community including members of RC of Hawthorn, RC of Glenferrie & RC of Balwyn as well Boroondara Cares & Vietnamese association, but it would not be possible without the extraordinary dedication & organisational skills of Noel Halford, Di Gillies, Susie White and head chef Rosaleen Falkiner.
However, events such as this would not be possible without the fundraising efforts of members through the year.
A big thanks to the 30 or so members and friends that participated in raising funds for club projects by parking cars for the Paris to Provence festival. A special thanks goes to Ngaire Cannon for the roster co-ordination.
Recently members have been busy selling Christmas products. All the net income from these sales goes to fund our projects. A special thanks to Phil Stewart and Richard Logan for co-ordinating this effort.
There has been the continued volunteer work at Donations in Kind, Kew Opportunity Shop and attendance at various community forums including a working bee at Romana house, planting shrubs with Rotary Club of Kew at Hays Paddock, Kew East, collecting product and funds for Maddie’s warm sock project and raising money for Rotary Health and “lift the lid” campaign funding research into mental illness.
We have also supported a student to attend Rotary RYLA camp and 4 year 10 students to attend Science Experience at Swinburne.
Then there was the inaugural Golf Day raising money for Chances Scholarships. This was the joint effort of Rotary clubs in Boroondara lead by Rotary Hawthorn’s Noel Halford.
Rotary Hawthorn's new concept, the 3rd Thursday evening of the month meeting (at Auburn Hotel) has progressed. It seeks to accommodate those that would like to contribute to the community & Rotary but find lunch meetings difficult. The special meeting (of the Thursday group) at Auburn Bowls club in November saw about 50 members and friends attend. It focused on raising money for our Filipino project. . (A special thanks to member Mark Christoffelsz from MCA Insurance brokers for covering the cost of the food which increased the amount raised for the project. Recall this project is the building of a toilet block in Sinangpad Elementary School on far north of the Philippines. The regular progress reports are very positive. Promoters Ian Macfarlane & Foundation Chair David Rush can be pleased.
Then there are the recent social events. The joint Christmas party with Glenferrie Rotary was a night to remember! Thanks to Richard Blakeman Glenferrie President for the idea and particulalrly to Lynette Spencer from Glenferrie for the organisation of the night. Over 90 Rotarians, partners and friends attended the evening and enjoyed the talents of piano virtuoso Alan Kogosowski and singer, actor, playwright Galit Klas.
The casual BBQ at Auburn bowls, was attended by nearly 40 members and family. Rain intervened but everyone seemed to have a good time, just socialising. Thanks to David Pisterman for looking after the BBQ and cooking the meat to perfection!
Wow, my short weekly note sounds a bit like a mid year report. Christmas made me think of all the things which Rotary is about and what our club has done. Thank you to all the members, partners and friends of the Club for all your support this year and to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy and fulfilling New Year.
Katrina
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