The Rotary Club of Geelong East Inc.

 
RI President-elect Ron Burton will ask Rotarians to Engage Rotary, Change Lives in 2013-14.

He unveiled the RI theme during the opening plenary session of the 2013 International Assembly in San Diego, California, USA, the annual training event for incoming district governors.

“If we really want to take Rotary service forward, then we must make sure that every single Rotarian has the same feeling about Rotary that each one of us here has today,” Burton said. “We need to make sure that every Rotarian has a meaningful role to play, that they’re all making a contribution, and that their contribution is valued.”

Burton said the July launch of The Rotary Foundation’s new grant model, Future Vision, makes it an exciting time to be a Rotarian. He said the new grant model, which has been used by about 100 pilot districts since 2010, represents a new era for the Foundation, and will help Rotarians get excited about Rotary’s ability to change lives.

FlameFest, a festival to celebrate the diversity of Whittington was held on Friday 26^th October 2012.  An annual event, FlameFest is one of a series of activities designed to build pride and participation in Whittington by its residents.  The FlameFest event combines food, music, information booths, fun and entertainment activities for young people and families alike.

The Rotary Club of Geelong East through their Community Service Committee sponsored the ‘Whittington’s Got Talent’ event on the evening.  Through a series of heats, six finalists performed toward the end of the evening on an outside stage in front of a most appreciative audience. .  Winners were Rahael Brennan & Andrew Sila (first place), Chloe Pilven (second place), Kiahana Lewis (third place) and Lili and Inez Vincent together with Vanessa Grigsby in fourth place.

The prize money provided by Rotary went to specific products and services for the winners and runners up.  Included in the winner’s prize was a series of singing lessons that could see local talent going onto bigger and better things.

Franklin Gaudens Mosha is 17 years old this year. 

Franklin joined St Jude’s in Standard 2 in 2006. In 2012, he is now studying Form 2 at the Smith Secondary Campus. The school ten years ago in 2002 with only three children and there are now over 1,500 students spread across three amazing schools, two boarding campuses and the school employs over 400 local staff!

Barwon Water Community Nursery apprentice Jessica Godycki has been recognised as The Gordon's best first year horticulture apprentice. She received the 2011 Apprentice of the Year (first year) Award for Certificate III in Horticulture at an awards ceremony last month. The awards recognise excellence and commitment among The Gordon's students.

The award from The Gordon comes not long after a nomination for the 2011 Rotary Youth Leadership Award. Jessica was sponsored by the Geelong East Rotary Club, with help from Water Reclamation's Graham Thomson. Part of the program included a week-long camp, attended by about 20 other people aged between 17 and 24. The camp teaches young people about personal development, including goal setting and overcoming barriers, as well as leadership skills. Jessica said the camp was an opportunity to not only make a lot of new friends, but learn a great deal about herself.

Bruce King as the chair of Community Service Committee reminded members and guests of the principles of the RJ Vague award which was named in honour of our charter member R.J. (Bob) Vague who gave a lifetime of community service.

The recipient of the award this year was Judy McMahon who has contributed to the local community over many years through the St. Mary's Youth Group, Shannon Park, Corpus Christi Home, the New Guinea Missions Service and the Barwon Prison chaplaincy.

Judy is renowned for her tireless and dedicated work and we were delighted to make the award to Judy and we salute her service above self.

Play@Whittington recently received a $1,300 grant from the Rotary Club of Geelong East to purchase equipment for the playgroup.  The playgroup operates at Whittington Primary School in the Early Years Literacy room on Thursday afternoons throughout the school term and is open to all families with pre-school children.  This supported playgroup is run in partnership with City of Greater Geelong Supported Playgroup Project and Glastonbury Early Years program. 

Gigi who doing a PhDat Deakin University has been working with nano particles to create aself-healing polymer.  He has a number of patents registered and has beenpublished and peer reviewed in a number of international journals. The awardwas in recognition of the work Gigi has put into all of his studies and inparticular the work with nano particles.

The Rotary Club ofGeelong East presents the Pride in Workmanship Award annually.

The Rotary International Assembly (training for incomingDistrict Governors)  is taking place in San Diego.  A key event at each International Assembly isthe announcement of the RI Theme.  In the following pages is a story taken from the Rotary International website on thatannouncement.  

RI President-elect Sakuji Tanaka will ask Rotarians to build PeaceThrough Service in 2012-13.  Tanaka unveiled the RI theme during the opening plenary session of the 2012International Assembly, a training event for incoming Rotary districtgovernors.  

On Wednesday 30 November 2011, Rotary Club of Geelong East members Bruce King (Community Chair) and David Sykes (Director of Fundraising) visitedthe Royal Geelong Yacht Club with a cheque for $3,000 for replacement sails to help with theSailability Program. Commodore Andrew Neilson, Sailabilty Organiser Murray Mitchelhill and General Manager Phil Clohesy accepted the cheque with pleasureon behalf of everyone involved in this wonderful program.

Sailability is a "not for profit", volunteer based organisation which, through the activity of sailing, enriches the lives of people  with any type of disability, the elderly, the financially and socially disadvantaged.