Rotary Club of Mount Martha

Thank you Bentons Square, Lindens Fresh Mornington and our local community for your valued support on Saturday! 🙏🏻

Thank you once again to our marvellous Mount Martha Community for your support of our sausage sizzle and fundraiser at Bentons Square on Saturday. A big thank you also to Lindens Fresh Mornington for donating the sausages & Bentons Square for hosting us once again. You helped us raise $900 for Mick Simmons and his team at the Mental Health Safety Net.

When you’re doing your shopping at Bentons Square today buy a sausage to help us support the wonderful work of the Mental Health Safety Net in our community.

Don't forget Rotary Club of Mount Martha are hosting their Sausage Sizzle today at Bentons Square for Mental Health Safety Net.

Come along and buy a sausage and show your support for this very worthy cause!

Did you know that Rotary has a Basic Education and Literacy Action Group? It’s a network of Rotarians and others passionate across the world who have a special interest in acting upon the mission and goals of Rotary International related to alleviating illiteracy; enhancing literacy teaching and learning globally, and helping to provide materials and equipment for literacy education at different levels. Find out more at https://belrag.org

“More than 775 million people over the age of 15 are illiterate. That’s 17 percent of the world’s adult population. Our goal is to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender disparity in education, and increase adult literacy. We support education for all children and literacy for children and adults. We take action to empower educators to inspire learning at all ages.” Source: Rotary International. Image credit: Robert Jocson Rotary Club of San Francisco West
https://www.rotary.org/en/our-causes/supporting-education

Well deserved recognition for a wonderful local hero!

Congratulations to our CEO Ben Smith, the newly announced YMCA Victoria City of Melbourne Victorian Father of the Year 2024!

The award recognises an outstanding community leader making a profound and positive impact on the lives of young people.

A proud and devoted Dad to Pippa, we see Ben’s leadership in our community up close at MCSC, and as a Board member at youth homelessness organisation Fusion and also on the Board of Community Information and Support Victoria.

“I’ve learned that being there for my family, being actively involved in their lives, is incredibly important. In family we rely on each other, and I believe that community is no different. That’s the same approach I bring to my work at the Mornington Community Support Centre. To be involved and create spaces where people feel supported and valued. When we invest in each other, when we take the time to connect and build relationships, we all benefit,” Ben says.

Congratulations Ben - we’re super proud of you!

A photo of a room? You might ask “why?” This is the new Wellness Room at Fusion. As well as providing $3000 in funding for the renovation and furniture, some of our members have been involved in updating the room and giving it a new look. Mark Dobson has spent many hours painting, with his business MPMPM kindly donating the paint. Wayne Jenkins has coordinated the installation of the new carpet and blinds. A great team effort and another job well done!

Ingin Village is located in the remote southern highlands in Papua New Guinea. The population totals almost 3,500 people and there is no natural water source nearby. The Rotary Clubs of Mount Martha and Ocean Grove combined to provide water capture and storage to one of the existing buildings with water lines and taps to 3 points. The work was mainly carried out by the villagers with minor assistance from tradespeople. This project will supply drinking water for about 30 people.We are looking at possibilities to provide drinking water to more villagers and will be seeking assistance from other Rotary Clubs.

Mornington’s Michael Wunderly is a local hero who we were proud to award a Paul Harris Fellowship last week. In 1997 Mick joined the committee of the Mornington Football Club. He has served as President, Vice President and Sponsorship Coordinator which is a role he continues to fulfil very well for the club. Mick has raised over $3 million in this role. In 1998 Mick teamed up with the Salvation Army to implement the “Main Street Salvos” project to create a safe place in Main St for late night revellers over summer. In 2015/16 Mick had a vision for the Alexandra Park precinct where football, cricket & netball are played. The Alexandra Park Project was born & Mick has chaired a committee of like-minded people that set out to create an integrated inclusive & accessible community asset to be utilised by sporting clubs, disability support groups, private health organisations & the local community. Mick has worked closely with the Shire, brought together all levels of government, the Bays Hospital & local sporting groups to fund and create what will be a magnificent facility for our community. Mick has raised over $900,000 for the ground and the new building as well as liaising with many to obtain a $2.5 million grant from the federal government in conjunction with the Bays Hospital to fund the project which is now complete. THANK YOU MICK!

POSITIVE NEWS CONCERNING TEENAGERS!!!
On Tuesday, a badging ceremony was held for members of the new Interact Club at
Balcombe Grammar School which is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Mount Martha. Interact clubs bring together young people ages 12-18 to develop leadership skills while discovering the power of Service Above Self. This fabulous group of young people have decided that they are going to make a difference in the local and global community. You may have seen them running a sausage sizzle at the village shopping centre recently to raise funds for the Kookaburra Kids Foundation. The first of many initiatives! Congratulations to these Interactors! Note: some students were absent on the day but will receive their badges on their return.

Our guest speakers at this week's meeting were Snr Sgt Kirby T and Snr Cons Steph P from Victoria Police. Enlightening and reassuring information was given about many things including that crime is actually down in our area and that the vast majority of breaking and subsequent car thefts occur because people don't lock their homes and cars. We also heard how officers at Mornington Police Station initiated 2 programs that are now being implemented across the police force - the Liquor Accord and the register of CCTV cameras. Great work done by our local police members.

A big THANK YOU to the sausage lovers who supported our Bunnings sausage sizzle on Sunday. We took in excess of $2500 (ingredient costs to be deducted) plus donations of just under $80 for our support of the homeless. ALL profits go to supporting our community locally and globally. Thank you for helping us support our community.

Last night we had the pleasure of inducting Bernie Meehan into the Rotary Club of Mount Martha. Bernie was accompanied by his wife Lindy and we are delighted to welcome them both to the Rotary family.

Yesterday Rotarians from our club and the Rotary Club Of Dromana conducted mock interviews for Balcombe Grammar School's year 9 students. What an uplifting and positive experience it was for us!! Without exception the year 9 students we interviewed were polite and friendly despite their initial nervousness. We look forward to participating in this program again next year.

We've been profoundly moved by our community's response to Homelessness Week - selling out two cinemas for the premiere of The Ranch doco about the homelessness crisis on the Peninsula and tuning into to our podcast In Our Backyard, which have all featured the incredible work of our partner organisations Southern Peninsula Community Support Western Port Community Support and Mornington Community Support Centre.

To close out the week of awareness raising and advocacy for more affordable housing and funding for our work - we'll all be at Mornington Park tonight from 6pm, along with our friends from Fusion Mornington Peninsula and the The Salvation Army.

There'll be speakers and a Walk Without Home interactive experience - plus music from local bands, and food trucks galore: the Free Burma Cafe food truck, Rotary Club of Mount Martha sausage sizzle, The Salvos Food Van and the Homeground Coffee Van.

The event is hosted by our very own MC Tracee Hutchison.

Rug up and come down and hear from the people working at the frontline, and find out what you can do to help make a difference.

Thank you to the Mount Martha community for supporting our BBQ together with Balcombe Grammar School Interactors.

We raised almost $600 plus donations of $165, supporting Kookaburra Kids - for Mental Health support.

Our appreciation to the Community Bank Mount Martha for their valued support on the day too.

August is Membership & New Club Development month. If you’re not a Rotarian why not check us out this month to see what we do to create lasting change in the world and what we can do for YOU. Image credit: Pam Blankenzee

The Rotary Clubs of Mount Martha and Hervey Bay City in Queensland combined on a project to provide drinking water and toilet facilities for the primary school in the remote village of Ingin in PNG. The clubs provided funding while the villagers did the work. The only labour paid for was for the plumber. Tanks were delivered to Ingin by pushing them up and down steep terrain for many kilometres. Ingin Primary School now has 3 water tanks plumbed and connected to the roof at various locations on school premises, 4 taps installed & 2 boys' and girls' toilet blocks. An elder of Ingin Village said, "No government has ever done this. Only the Rotary Clubs are being uplifted throughout the Southern Highlands”.

Rotary is an INTERNATIONAL organisation where like-minded people work together to create lasting change all over the world. At Monday’s meeting one of our guests was Rajendra Rijal a past president of the Rotary Club of Pashupati-Ktm Nepal. Raj told us of the work that the Rotary Club of Melbourne did in sending 2 container loads of hospital equipment and he expressed interest in our Rotary Overseas Recycled Playgrounds project where we harvest used playgrounds here, refurbish them and send them to developing countries for children who wouldn’t otherwise have a playground. Just 2 examples of Rotarians from different countries working to make the world a better place.

Thank you to all who braved the weather on Saturday to visit Bunnings Mornington and bought one of our Rotary Club of Mount Martha sausages. There was rain, there was wind, there was sunshine and most importantly, there was YOU! Your generosity enabled us to raise over $2100 plus you donated $160 to help our efforts to support the homeless. THANK YOU once again to our wonderful community for your much appreciated support!!

THANK YOU to our local community members & Lindens for continuing to support our fundraising efforts. We couldn’t support our community groups without your help!

Did you know that VMR Mornington & Hastings - Volunteer Marine Rescue inc rescue people on land abutting Port Phillip & Westernport Bays such as cliff faces & mud flats as well as on the water and have been doing so since 1980? We didn’t until last week when Mark from VMR was our entertaining guest speaker. VMR volunteers are available 24/7 in all sorts of weather to assist those who need rescuing and the Rotary Club of Mount Martha is proud to support them. We donated $1000 which Mark said will be used to send several of their skippers on a technical training course so they can better serve our community.

We’re back at Bentons Square Shopping Centre tomorrow (Saturday) cooking up a storm and raising funds for Mornington Community Support Centre. Buy a sausage and find out more about the work the wonderful team at the Support Centre does as well as how we at the Rotary Club of Mount Martha support local community organisations.

Snag anyone? Rotary Club of Mount Martha are hosting their Sausage Sizzle on this Saturday the 6th July at Bentons Square to raise funds with Mornington Community Support Centre.

Come along and buy a sausage and show your support for this very worthy cause!