This was the topic of discussion at our last meeting .. Our presenting members reminded us what projects the Club hopes to achieve in the coming year Hand Brake Turn
Gavin Toms Who is on our organizing committee .reminded us that Hand Brake Turn Creates Opportunities for life for specific people Our Rotary Club of Keilor is a proud supporter of this Hand Brake Turn an organisation helping to turn around the lives of disadvantaged young people. It provides hand’s on training in automotive skills for young people aged 15 to 19 who have difficulty within the mainstream education system.

 

Medical Equipment Reissue Project

David Dippie is involved in this project. The Rotary Club of Keilor, together with a number of other Rotary Clubs in Melbourne’s west, have established a program to facilitate the placement of donated second hand mobility & lifestyle aids into the community where such placement is endorsed and requested by a health, allied health, aged care, disability service provider etc as meeting a need that cannot otherwise be met in a reasonable timeframe because of its urgency, lack of access to funding etc. The types of equipment include walkers, commodes, shower chairs, mechanical slings, non-motorised wheelchairs, adjustable beds etc which have been sourced from organizations and individuals who no longer need it. Available equipment will have been checked and appropriately cleaned, and will be provided on the understanding that it is second hand and that full responsibility for its use rests entirely with the user.

 

Christmas Bags for the Elderly Citizens:

Norm Draper reminded us how in the Year 2019, our Rotaty Club of Keilor provided Christmas Bags to the elderly in our local community. We had the support of the following suppliers Bendigo Bank East Keilor, Sukin Organics, Fergunson Plarre Bakehouse, The Reject Shop, Jason Atkins Pharmacy, Pharmacy Alliance, Sigma Co Limited We hope once again to distribute these Christmas Bags with the assistance of the Bolton Clarke Nurses

 

YEAR 11 TO YEAR 12 SCHOLARSHIPS –
With the leadership of Ted Haydon we aim to obtain another District Grant for the Keilor Downs Secondary College student who will commence Year 11 in 2020 and complete Year 12 in 2021 and who’s family is financially challenged. We hope to receive $500 from District and $500 from us will assist student at this school.

 

Glenda Bryson talked about ROCAN
A project whose aim is to raise public awareness of ovarian cancer and to fund the development of an early screening test for the disease. Since its inception, ROCAN has raised approximately one million dollars. Over the years, it funded research at the Royal Women’s Hospital and the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research. Some of the research was funded with matching grants from Australian Rotary Health.

 

Harold Simpson spoke about Camp Getaway Mini-golf Course

Wich is urgently in need of maintenance This made us recall the Grand Opening of Golf course in December 2011. The following is the report in our District Bulletin “A large crowd gathered to see the fruits of the labours of the Rotary Club of Keilor, as PDG Colin Gibbons officially opened the nine hole mini-golf course. Brainchild of PP Russell Atkins and PP David Dippie, the course was designed with input from students at the Keilor Primary School.
Alluding to the three and a half year construction phase, PP Russell quipped that he thought he ought to set an opening date for the project before the primary school students started university! The date certainly galvanized the completion phase of the project, with tireless input from the Rotary Club of Keilor, assisted with civil works from
members of the Rotary Club of Bendigo Sandhurst, and landscaping works from the Rotary Club of Keilor East; plus numerous other club and community contributions.

A feature of the nine hole mini-golf course is its ready access for camp users who are in wheelchairs, or. who have some mobility disability All features of Camp Getaway
(Rotary D9800), are focused on access by people of all abilities to mark the opening, Master of ceremonies, PP Russell, assisted by PDG Colin presented a ceremonial
putter to Chair of the Camp Getaway (Rotary D9800) District Committee, PP Paul Kirkpatrick. The nine hole mini-golf course is certainly an asset that the Rotary Club of Keilor and Camp Getaway can be very proud of “

 

Glenda reported that the ABC had done an article about Rotary Youth Exchange students 'stuck' because of COVID-19.
One of the students that they have interviewed was Yoqub Davlotov, from Tajikistan. Glenda recalls receiving a phone call from Tasmanian Rotarian Felicity Gifford, asking if our club could meet Yoqub at Melbourne Airport and guide him to his flight to Tasmania, as the person who was to do this had a family emergency.
Yoqub was due to fly home to Tajikistan on the 25th of July 2020 - it was in Glenda’s calendar! He may still be in Tasmania due to COVID-19 and low international travel options.
The coronavirus pandemic is testing the resilience of young people on student exchange in Australia and abroad. Rotary's Youth Exchange Program (YEP) sends, on average, 150 teenagers overseas each year and hosts a similar number of foreign students.
The global health crisis has seen 80 of the current contingent return home to Australia or overseas. Some say they are glad to be home, while others are resisting a premature end to their exchange. 'I feel like a Tasmanian' Yoqub Davlatov's student exchange to Australia was his first overseas trip.(Supplied) Tajikistan is home for Yoqub Davlatov, who had been soaking up the Tasmanian way of life for the past 11 months. Unlike other Rotary exchanges, the plan to have the 17-year-old visit Australia was hatched between Rotarian Felicity Gifford and Yoqub's family a few years ago when Ms Gifford volunteered in the Central Asian nation. Yoqub said the support of Ms Gifford and her family, as well as his Tasmanian friends, helped him enjoy his first trip overseas. "It felt very strange but I got used to it, and now I feel like I'm one of these people. They treat me like I'm living there," he said. "It's really good to feel like a Tasmanian person. "Yoqub Davlatov has developed a love of bushwalking since arriving in Australia.(Supplied)
The biggest challenge for Yoqub and Ms Gifford was finding a way for him to return home, with few routes available to Tajikistan. "[The exchange has been] worthwhile because the opportunities he's had have changed his life," she said.

 

'I'm safer here' Fifteen-year-old Sofia Seneme is on a year's exchange in Wagga Wagga in south-western New South Wales. She said it had been difficult to watch her country of Brazil become one of the world's coronavirus hotspots. Sofia Seneme says she feels safer living in Australia than back in Brazil at the moment.(ABC Riverina: Mollie Gorman)
"I worry about my family. My city is the worst city [with coronavirus] in the region.
"My family were happy for me to stay. They feel I am safer here."
Sofia's choice to remain in Wagga Wagga was mostly because of her love for the region's natural beauty and the friendships she had forged.