Chairman Hans Calborg lead the way with an introduction to Peter Allen current Executive Director of the Boroondara Cares Foundation.
Hans outlined Peter’s CV . It told of past management and ownership of large firms in the advertising industry, subsequent board roles on various philanthropic organisations, academic institutes , and director bodies often with specialty application on Audit Committees. Other roles ( where does he get the energy?) covered business development features , e.g. as adjunct Professor in Business Development at Latrobe. Notably to us locally he is a continuing Rotarian at Camberwell (being a PP) and was the local 2008 Citizen of the Year, and most relevant a major figure in the setup and ongoing evolution of the Boroondara Cares Foundation (formerly Foundation Boroondara).
The actual nature and structure of “Boroondara Cares” is sometimes vague to many of us. Peter explained.
It came out of a drought relief initiative in 2008 by local Rotary clubs in the Boroondara region when a nexus was established with Moira Shire in northern Victoria for the provision of support to residents of that drought stricken shire. It was an informal aggregation for that purpose, which has now sustained itself to the broad and continuing aim “to change lives by supporting community based programs in our region”.
It fits somewhere albeit informally between District and individual Rotary clubs in a given close geography where a common objective exists. Its funding is sourced from those Rotary clubs (50% from Glenferrie RC’s farmer market) and other external avenues, but also enjoys great contributions of in kind effort e.g. from Swinburne University and other friends (Council). Directors are local Rotarians.
Five captions cover its charter; Homelessness, Family Violence, Drug Abuse, Social Isolation and Educational Disadvantage. Superficially one does not imagine that such issues are big in the Boroondara suburbs but Peter outlined statistics to the contrary; two stand out:- 400+ homeless and 645 past year reported incidents of family violence.
Programs aimed at alleviating all of the above are active or in development. The scale can be large, for instance a planned accommodation unit for the homeless may provide lower rent options for up to 40. Exploration of sophisticated financing options with banks are realistic and underway.
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