Community
Our community efforts continue to focus on funding worthwhile charitable organisations that provide direct support for those in need. Two current projects headline our endeavours.
We aim to fund the provision of 160 Christmas Hampers plus kitchen equipment for Matt’s Place, who provide a weekly meal service for those doing it tough, from St Matthew’s church, Cheltenham. Beaumaris Rotary will provide funding ($7,500), and hands on help to purchase, package and distribute the hampers.
In a joint project with Sandringham Rotary we will provide money and labour for 20 Domestic Set Up Packs, costing $400 each, to Impact for Women – an organisation that supports women and families escaping domestic violence.
Other Projects that have been completed or planned for 2022/23 include:
- A $10,000 donation to Sandringham Hospital
- The provision of a community book exchange at the Mantecado café, Black Rock
- Tree planting on the Black Rock foreshore
- Manpower support for Cheltenham Community Centre’s Children’s Festival
- Running a SafeTALK suicide prevention workshop for the Rotary community and other interested local organisations.
- Providing manpower to support the Concourse Car Show
- Investigating an environmental project related to bees.
Youth
The most significant program currently supported by the Rotary Club of Beaumaris is the Zero School Dropouts program at the Beaumaris Secondary College, through the CHOICES program. The program has allowed some of their highly disengaged students in Year 9 and Year 10 to find meaning in their school attendance and a sense of hope for their future. It has allowed them to have a safe space where they could share their feelings and their stories of significant past events that have impacted on their lives. This helps them feel heard and acknowledged. It is our hope that we can grow this project in the future and extend it to other schools.
Other programs supported by the club include:
Mock Job Interviews – several Year 10 students are interviewed by Beaumaris Rotarians to help them gain skills to prepare for future employment.
Interact (Beaumaris Secondary College) – A program to foster the development of leadership skills and responsible citizenship for secondary school students. It also aims to promote world understanding and peace through the international organisation of service and social clubs. Interact clubs are usually sponsored and mentored by Rotary Clubs but are self-governing and self-supporting.
International
International Service is one of Rotary’s Avenues of Service, which form the foundation of Club activity. Issues such as literacy, hunger, malaria, disease and access to clean water affect us all. Through International Service, Rotarians lead the way in needy communities to find solutions to these global concerns.
For many years the Rotary Club of Beaumaris has supported these areas of international focus with activities on the Indonesian island of Sabu (see Sabu Island Story). This year we will complete furnishing of three student hostels and will fund the replacement of a water tank destroyed in last year’s Cyclone Seroja.
Among other activities, we will also contribute to the rebuilding of a school on Qamea Island in Fiji which was destroyed by a cyclone in 2016. The project is being led by the Rotary Club of neighbouring Taveuni Island.
We will contribute both aid and donations in kind to the Highlands Foundation, which provides basic healthcare to mothers and infants in the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea.