The Applecross Advocate Vol. 53 No. 6 (Aug 05, 2023)

Tom ATKINSON

0433 117 568

Hello fellow Rotarians,

This Tuesday evening our board will meet to further discuss our club plan and strategy for year 2023/24.

With key legacy projects such as the Jacaranda Festival and Perth Makers Market our operations are fairly consistent, but as we've discussed publicly the community connection is sometimes lost while the job is done.

The first step to community connection is to become more inclusive. There isn't a positive club growth story in Rotary that hasn't started with a broadening of social acceptance and diversity. I ask our members to reflect on how they can be part of this shift.

Soon we will run a public community survey to get direct feedback from those we seek to serve, which will guide us in our community connection initiatives. I look forward to the next steps in this process.

I welcome feedback from members on our long-term plans to become more relevant to our community.

Yours in Rotary,

Tom Atkinson

President 2023/24

0433 117 568

GUEST SPEAKER - Russell Squire Lifeline WA

Posted by Ian FAIRNIE on Aug 05, 2023

PP Barry Mendelawitz with guest speaker Russell Squire from Lifeline WA

Most of us have heard of Lifeline and also what it does - talking to people who just want someone to listen to them.

Many of them are suicidal.

Lifeline is often the last safety net than can help persuade people who have suicidal thoughts to change their minds. Phone calls are still a major way Lifeline connects, but modern times means that online chats and texting are also being used.

WA has the highest suicide rate in Australia, with young men being the largest demographic. In fact 50% of the people that connect with Lifeline are younger than 25, and that number continues to grow at an alarming rate. It is very unlikely that any of our members won’t know of someone who has committed suicide, or a family that is still trying to deal with this tragedy.

Fortunately, Lifeline does get some government support with helps pay for counselling, a volunteer visit program, support for family members, and training volunteers. However Lifeline would welcome any support Applecross Rotary could give. Russell didn’t ask us for this, but then he didn’t need to!

DG Newsletter - August 2023

The season of club changeovers has now passed, and we are into the season of District Governor visits. So far, Geoff and I have been to Geraldton, Northam and Busselton and in each place, there were between 2-4 clubs. In each case, it was clear the members enjoyed getting together and for some of them it was the first time. These opportunities for collaboration and fellowship enrich the membership experience; if we haven’t seen you at your club’s DG visit, we look forward to seeing you soon!

It is so wonderful to see the Rotary Youth Exchange program running again. Last weekend, at the camp there was lots of ‘bounding’ with the inbounds, the outbounds and the rebounds all together. We have 25 inbound students from 16 countries now in WA and spread out all over the state. If you don’t have one in your club, then reach out and invite one of these impressive young people to visit your club. In doing so, you play a part in their experience with us and again, enrich your club’s members’ time in Rotary.

In Rotary we need to be resilient, adapt to change and be flexible … this was tested this week when we discovered that despite numerous alternatives being considered, we are not able to hold the Rotary Expo in Forrest Place on 13th April 2024.

The City of Perth will be carrying out construction or maintenance, or there is another booking, at all possible venues – Forrest Place, Perth Cultural Centre, Elizabeth Quay and Yagan Square. Whilst in some places it has been said the building may be finished by April, but in this current climate, the risk is too great for us to expend money and volunteer hours only to have it cancelled at the last minute. The event idea is a very good one and hopefully one day in the future, we can re-visit it.

However, on Saturday 13th April 2024, we will still hold the charity walk, which will be an Australian Rotary Health Lift the Lid Walk and we are keen for it to be the biggest of all, with people coming from everywhere. Our plan is to represent all clubs and projects, in person if possible and provide a spectacle that will give us images to share far and wide. More information will be coming for this event.

Whilst we are not holding a formal District Conference in 2024, we do know that you enjoy meeting up together and being inspired. So, keep Saturday 13th April 2024 free, as we are also planning something for the evening, so watch this space!

The District website is now up and running, with the link further down in this newsletter. Thank you to Dave Taylor, David Honeychurch, Simone Collins, Darren Perera and Judy Dinnison for all your work here. It has been a mammoth task taking many hours.

Our District Technology Officer, Darren Perera, is someone to whom we all need to give a vote of thanks. He is that person we can go to with any silly question about technology and he patiently responds. We thank you and salute you Darren, we would be lost without your expertise. As we get further into the year hopefully those questions will be less frequent!

The 4 Way Speaking Contest heats have started, for both Year 6 and Year 10 students. Our future is in good hands, when we hear from these inspiring young people. This program is making such a difference to people’s lives, not just the students but their families, classmates and schools. They are introduced to the 4 Way Test, what an awesome way to share our strong principles with the next generation. Congratulations to all the clubs involved this year. Further in our newsletter you will see fliers for when the finals are held; I strongly recommend attending, you will certainly be impressed.

Our team of club developers (Assistant Governors) met in Rockingham for a weekend of networking, collaboration and learning about how we can best support our clubs to strengthen and grow. It was a rewarding experience with the collective wisdom in the room and we all came away inspired. Thank you to this team of people who are giving much of their time, energy and expertise to help us all increase our impact in communities near and far.

On behalf of Geoff and myself, thank you for making us welcome in your clubs and we look forward to more DG visits this coming month.

See you soon,
DG Ineke