At last the last ridge capping is going on the Pentecost Island building and all external work will now be complete.
A reminder: Grace from Bunnings Southport has offered the Project Shed a stand inside Bunnings, this Thursday, from 6pm - 8pm. We are organising a stand with some raffles for bikes as well as gifting a number umber of kids bikes as a giveaway. Please show your support and come along to the evening.
Remember the Project Shed Christmas party on Saturday – all welcome.
Good news from Honiara, Solomon Islands: via Col Laurenson, we have received confirmation that the recent violent civil unrest there did not result in any loss of the goods we recently sent over there.
Frankston Sunrise has confirmed the transfer of membership of frequent visitor Ross Augustine to our club. We are awaiting final paperwork and we will then formally welcome him to the club.
Our Annual General Meeting, including the election of club officers for the 2022-23 Rotary year. Before the AGM, our National Youth Science Forum awardee, Sophia Seumanhu (photo), will introduce herself. She is sponsored by our club; the NYSF will start in January 2022.
This year's Christmas Breakfast will again be at the Edgewater Restaurant (where we had it last year).
Shop 3 G7, Capri on Via Roma,
Surfers Paradise QLD 4217
Starting at 07:00 am for 07:30 start. Ian Mayberry will again collect Christmas presents for St John's Crisis Centre. Please DO NOT WRAP. Value $10 - $20.
A Trybooking site has been set up - please book and pre-pay, thank you (we need to advise final numbers by Sunday 12th December 2021).
When we think of Rotary + Disease Prevention, our first thought goes to that humongous international project, Polio Plus, the eradication of Polio. It was started just a bit over a year before our club was chartered in February 1987, with a budget of – then – eyewatering $US 120 Million. At the time, there were an estimated 350,000 cases of Polio in 125 countries. Since then, 2.5 Billion children have been immunised. Today, Polio cases have been reduced by 99.99%, with only very few cases remaining in regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, almost impossible to access.
But let’s look closer to home:
In our club, Surfers Sunrise, we have the almost completed X-Ray Unit for Vanuatu, and of course our ‘Rough Terrain’ wheelchairs our volunteers manufacture by repurposing unwanted bicycles. For the latter, one might argue that it cannot be classified into ‘preventing disease’. Think again.
At District Level, there is the huge Malaria Vaccine Appeal. So far, our district has raised some $1.1 Million towards project. It is conducted by Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, in 2020 reached human trial stage. Click here for more details. On a broader scale is the long running Rotary Against Malaria (RAM). The aim of this is not just elimination, but, meanwhile, prevention via reducing mosquito population and plain vanilla, but effective measures such as mosquito nets.
Nationally, in Australia and New Zealand we have Australian Rotary Health (formerly called the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund). This fund awards around $1 Million every year in grants to researchers in various disciplines, but primarily relating to mental health, as well as scholarships for training of indigenous nurses.
Another important District Project: the Human Brain Research Project. The program funds a 3 year program for a PHD student doing research into Parkinson’s Disease.
There are various other both local as well as international projects at both individual club as well as at our District level aimed at Disease Prevention and Treatment. Check out our District Website.
We have of course our volunteers regularly rolling up at the Project Shed to help with the wheelchairs and/or the Vanuatu project. But it is also worth mentioning that our Rotaractors as well as many of our members are out there frequently. Last Saturday, for example, we saw the Rotaractors Catherine Kopp and Dan Snart (both all the way from NSW!), Kristen 'KJ' Jewson and Matt Hayward, as well as Wheelchair Trust Chairman Larry Murray, Mario Fairlie, Al Sirovs, Geoff Croad and Paul O'Neill (pictured). Paul has "secured" himself the job of sanding and painting the plywood components.
Duty Roster - note: subject to change - please check every week. Note: Fellowship duty also is expected to be at the Project Shed on the Saturday following the meeting
Gentlemen: Don't say you haven't been warned! Ed. ☺
Marriage Tip: No husband has ever been shot whilst vacuuming.
Past indiscretions, if not adequately obscured, return more monstrous and grotesque, so that they appear as great crimes. A letter that when written might have caused the raising of an eyebrow, in the chaos risks the losing of a head. ‘The Memoirs of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand’ [or as per the French saying: plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose...]
This year's Christmas Breakfast will again be at the Edgewater Restaurant (where we had it last year).
At District Level, there is the huge 
We have of course our volunteers regularly rolling up at the Project Shed to help with the wheelchairs and/or the Vanuatu project. But it is also worth mentioning that our Rotaractors as well as many of our members are out there frequently. Last Saturday, for example, we saw the Rotaractors Catherine Kopp and Dan Snart (both all the way from NSW!), Kristen 'KJ' Jewson and Matt Hayward, as well as Wheelchair Trust Chairman Larry Murray, Mario Fairlie, Al Sirovs, Geoff Croad and Paul O'Neill (pictured). Paul has "secured" himself the job of sanding and painting the plywood components. 
