A very successful Cluster meeting with representatives from the four Rotary clubs (Attadale, Applecross, Booragoon and Melville) in Assistant Governor Lesley Combes group,was held on Wednesday at the John McGrath Hall in South Perth. Unfortunately Lesley due to a hospital appointment was unable to attend, however she had everything organised prior to the event. The night was managed by Lorri and Liz with Chris Whelan facilitating the meeting. DG Wayne Milnes attended in an unofficial capacity. His input and keeness to hear what the clubs were involved in was very much appreciated.
There were thirty five attendees who enjoyed a delicious two course dinner. Chris made sure that the tables were made up with people from eash of the clubs and there was an excellent opportunity through the club presentations and table discussions to encourage support for each others events as well as projects that we can work on as a group.
One such opportunity is the funding partership with Greenbatch Foundation's proposed Plastics and Recycling Centre in Mt Claremont. The urgency is NOW, as we need to raise $150k by 30 November otherwise Greenbatch will have to look for another community service organisation to partner with . We were very fortunate to have David Wee from the Perth Rotary Club, who is the Convenor for the interim coordination team, give a presentation and answer questions about the opportunity. Also DG Wayne, who has recently signed off with the DG for 9455 on the joint communique to clubs, explained that he saw this as an excellent opportunity to promote Rotary through mass public engagement in recycling especially of plastics, plus its impact on our environment, plus long term suatainability. There is also a fantastic future income stream available for clubs who want to participate in the Container Deposit Scheme (CDS). If we get involved early we can sign up high volume collection points in local businesses and community locations prior to the start of the CDS on the 2nd June 2020. Greenbatch is signing up schools which will increase our school connections so that our youth and other programs can grow and become more sustainable.
Chris Whelan has followed up with a call to action email to the Cluster Club Presidents. He has suggested the next steps are to consider if their club wants to commit to a donation to the Greenbatch Foundation and for our cluster clubs to enter into a new degree of cooperation to maximise the social partnership benefits and revenue opportunities of the potential Greenbatch - Rotary WA partnership. Chris has tabled a motion for our next board meeting for consideration.