It's the end of June as I write this message. It's pretty much the end of our Rotary year.
Traditionally it's when we change over our Presidents and recognise that a Changeover function. For us we are doing it a little bit differently and we are having Joint Presidents. Sandra de Gruchy will join me for the next twelve months. We will sort out the role between us and hopefully it will all work smoothly. It gives me the opportunity to mentor Sandra in the first few months and she will gradually take on more. of the day to day running of the Club. I will have more time for other projects particularly our Homelessness project and other District duties. Sandra retains the Youth Director role. See story and pics below.
Also June turned out to be a big month for me as I did The Pushup Challenge for mental health. We did all the 3,139 pushups and raised over $4,000 for Lifeline. See story.
In May we had our District Assembly where Rotary Clubs get together to update their plans for the year. We followed this with our Club's Strategy Workshop where we set the resource and operational plan for our key projects.
We are confident that our Club activities, and working together with other Rotary Clubs, will lead to significant benefit to our local community. We have ambitious and challenging goals for 2022-23, including the Cookbook, Homelessness, mental health and other projects.
Please call/text me if you would like to know more about Rotary, our Club and our 2022 projects. Do you know you can be involved in some of our community projects in the Blue Mountains, working alongside some pretty interesting people. It's always rewarding to participate and have fun while you're doing it.
On 24th August Shirley Lewis and Lyn Bevington joined us on ZOOM for their presentation on the Uluru Statement from the Heart. The background to the development of this historic document was given.
In its simplest form, The Uluru Statement calls for the establishment of a First Nations Voice which will be added to the existing Constitution.
It is their proposition that the Aboriginal people or The First Nations are a multitude of diverse cultures, who live in an array of differing environments, and who speak hundreds of languages and dialects.
Their sovereignty pre-existed the establishment Australian Commonwealth. They believe that Aboriginal communities here should be in control of their own affairs. Right across Australia, First Nations took their fight to the government, the people and the international community. This resulted in The 1967 Referendum, where The First Nations forged a historic consensus on structural reform and constitutional change.
The Uluru Statement from the Heart is an invitation from First Nations to “walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future”. It was issued to the Australian people in May 2017 following almost two years of work and to commemorate the 50th anniversary of The 1967 Referendum,
As it is written on their website: In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.
Our thanks to Shirley and Bev for their advocacy on this most critical matter.
The meeting on Tuesday 31 was an opportunity for the new DG Lindsay May OAMand his wife, Tania, plus Michele, the new ADG to get to meet the Directors of the Club. President Bill Put together
a three ring show that even PT Barnum at his best couldn’t top.
Each Director was allowed three minutes to discuss their accomplishments of the past year and the objectives looking ahead for the next 12 months. It was clear that a collaborative effort has resulted in a very strong performance under past President Paul and promised even more success stories to come under the current President Bill.
In the order of Presentation:
President/Bill—Set the objective of maintaining the culture and fabric of the Club, while delivering creative, collaborative projects which are focused on the community;
Youth/Sandra—Working with the Youth Hub, continue to reach out to local youth particularly now during the COVID lockdown when mental states are more fragile;
Administration/Liz—She is focusing on booking relevant and interesting speakers for remainder of calendar year; her second primary project is working with members to purchase jumpers with the Club logo embroidered on the front;
Vocation/Jenny—The Cookbook is a collaborative team project under Jenny's leadership, covering both fundraising and publishing; running the POW awards and working with ourlocal business community
Membership/Bryan—His team is in the process of developing membership programs working in part with Les to develop collateral material; he is also leading a Welfare team to ensure we look after our current members
Foundation/Phill—Phill’s two primary projects are: 1) Continue to raise funds to support The Rotary Foundation; 2) Separately, Phill is in the process of setting up a three year framework to fund and build “Tiny Homes” for the areas’ homeless. He is working with other Mountain Clubs and local community outreach programs;
Community events/Andrew—Many of his Team’s programs have been put into a hiatus mode because of COVID. He is working diligently to develop replacement fund sourcing events which are COVID safe;
Governance/Ann—Ann covered the long list of her responsibilities from maintaining Club records to doing meeting agendas and meeting reports. Ann finished her three minutes by modeling an official NYPD hat which she wears while corralling Club Directors;
Piercarlo/International—Piercarlo filled the group in on his activities which included already one successful sister Club in Genoa and the possibility of several additional ones;
Public Image/Les—He reviewed the ongoing communication platforms he uses including FaceBook and the monthly newsletter. He reminded the DG of the 20th Anniversary Special Edition Commemorative Softcover Book that he and Michael Small put together. Finally, President Bill ran the music video that Les had put together to support membership which was very well received. Lindsay had indicated that he would consider airing it during the next regional meeting
Wrap-up/Lindsay—Lindsay shared his very emotional response that this was the best of the 27 Club meetings he had attended to date.
On behalf of the Club members, the Club Directors and President Bill, we thank you for your very strong support.
Our Club, as well as probably all of the other Clubs in NSW and Australia is in a hiatus mode as a result of the COVID virus. Therefore, we are unable to employ our usual successful fundraising programs. Yet, the need for money, since many in our community, have lost their jobs, has increased and not decreased. We were, and are still, suffering from lockdown blues and frustrated with our personal connections with each other now limited to online meetings.
We wanted to do something low-key that would benefit our local community particularly those suffering from isolation and loneliness. Bryan Bartlett is our Membership Director but also is the local Captain for the Salvation Army in Katoomba. He is at the coal-face in knowing the needs of our local community.
So we just got a big envelope and passed it around to all our members up and down the Mountains. A bit like the old Pass the Parcel game we played as kids.
There were only two rules. Firstly we asked for a modest donation, dollar notes only. Secondly it was the recipient’s responsibility to promptly get the parcel to the next person within the current lockdown regulations. As our members stretch from Winmalee in the East to the Upper Blue Mountains and all the way to Lithgow in the West, it was a challenge.
It took some ingenuity and meant members making unique arrangements with each other to pass the parcel at a mailbox, a front door, or public carpark. We complied with masks and social distancing. We had a couple of members who were essential workers and could travel outside their LGA and they were able to deliver the parcel. Within a few days, the envelope had gone up and down the mountains a few times and finally landed on Bryan’s desk.
To his great surprise (and ours), we were able to collect $815 to go the Salvos in Katoomba. Great result and it also highlights the importance of the human connection.
The photos illustrate Bryan counting, not once but thrice, just to be sure of the amount.
Look at the Future: As Tiny Homes Fight Homelessness
On Tuesday evening August 24th UBMS Club scheduled a special evening guest speaker, Kellie Parkin, Project Co-ordinator for the Tiny Homes Foundation (www.tinyhomesfoundation.org.au). Club members were joined by more than fifty involved other Rotarians from our cousin Blue Mountain clubs as well as from our sister club in Genoa Italy.
The UBMS Club has established an ongoing objective for the next three years of being a key driver of helping to address the homeless situation in the Blue Mountains. Over a three period we hope to raise at least $100,000 to fund our efforts. To date, we are more than a third of the way to reaching our goals.
Our efforts were initiated under past President Paul Campbell and driven initially by Secretary Ann’s vision and are being continued under the current President, Bill Pixton with long time member Phill Isaacs taking the leadership role.
Kellie told the group that the principal success story to date has been the project in Gosford NSW. After years of planning, a handful of miniature houses designed to help combat homelessness in the area are up and running and actually have been occupied by tenants for several years. The photos accompanying the article are reflective of that project.
The Tiny Homes Initiative is not only a first for the Central Coast, but the whole of Australia. It aims to offer low-cost rental accommodation for people experiencing homelessness, or who may be at risk of homelessness. Kellie revealed that they now had their sights set on a second site in Umina, which is under development.
The Gosford homes are tiny by any standard measuring 14.4 square meters yet are large enough to include a kitchenette, bathroom, bed nook and living area that opens onto a little veranda. All the homes have a built-in kitchenette.
As she says, “Little homes, big heart.”
When asked about the future of tiny housing, Ms. Parkin said that the economical form of building could be a game-changer for many. “There is a really strong Tiny House movement in Australia. There is a lot to love about a tiny home,” she said.
Phill concluded that he has been in contact with Blue Mountain Council who is supportive and they have identified two parcels of land which may be used for this purpose. Conversations are ongoing.
Kellie concluded by saying, “Home is not just a roof over your head. It is a springboard under your feet.”
Our face to face breakfast meetings are at The Robyn Yates Centre for Cancer Wellness Support. We will still have some ZOOM meetings. Check Calendar for details.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Due to COVID, we have reinstated ZOOM meetings as our default for July and August. As always it is dependent on current COVID rules.
Our normal home is the Robyn Yates Cancer Wellness Support Centre, 105 Railway Parade, Leura, NSW, 2780.
