Some of you may have received a duplicate newsletter last week. I was sending it from Beacon where I'd been enjoying the long weekend, climbing big rocks and admiring wildflowers with my family, and had some internet issues. Did you enjoy reading it twice?
Good news! our Thermomix raffle to raise funds for the My Home project is now up and running. Find the flyer below in the newsletter and scan the QR code and buy up big. It will be promoted on our Facebook page and the district newsletter. and provided Floreat Forum are happy for us to sell tickets, at our Foodbank Drive on 22 November. The homes in Albany, 12 homes, 6 one-bedroom and 2-bedroom units, are close to completion so any finds we raise will be well received. If you want to make a personal donation, click here. Rotary has undertaken to fit out the homes. If you want to know more about the My Home project, click here.
For our new bulletin readers, if you are interested in knowing more about anything you see in the bulletin or would like to help out, please contact us at secretary@westernendeavour.org.au.
No meeting this week as we are sorting fruit and vegetables at Foodbank.
Enjoy this week's newsletter.
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A warm welcome to Jin!
Our Rotary Youth Exchange student from Taiwan, Jin, arrived on Wednesday 17 September and joined us for her very first club meeting on Tuesday at our coffee meeting at Little Pantry.
Jin celebrated her 17th birthday on 1 October – her first one away from home and family. To mark the occasion, members gifted her a Myer voucher and a goodie bag full of Aussie “snack cuisine” to help brighten her special day.
We’re excited to have Jin with us and look forward to sharing many more experiences together during her exchange!
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Report from SWS Miyawaki Forest/Bush classroom meeting
Click on the Bush Classrooms sign above to see the forest planting and after the Bush Classrooms sign appears in the video, the control plants. You can see the difference in the growth by using the Miyawaki Forest method - remediate the soil, do a plant survey of the original plants and then close planting - 3 to 5 plants per square metre.
On Thursday 2 October, David, Peter and Lindley, Mary and Laurie and Judy met with other members of our Swan to Surf community group interested in establishing Miyawaki Forests/Bush classrooms around the state.
Here's the notes compiled after the meeting by our joint community group leader, Cat Ferrie.
"Fabulous meeting with Gray, Ian and the people from Statewide Services in Padbury. We had a round circle learning how the preparation, planting and caring can be so beneficial for children. There is curriculum already developed which can be duplicated in any school environment. Grey's comment was it is easier and quicker for a school principal to approve a mini forest than a city council. We shared how Rotary across the state could be a way to accelerate this program and Rotarians are people of action. We walked through the mini forest with over 15 varieties of plants. In 3 years, the forest is tall and dense and when compared to the control plants which were planted nearby the growth is impressive.
Next steps
1. Send out Ian's dates for meetings everyone can attend which will be held at Floreat Athena. These meetings are informative and run by the community group Transition Town of Vincent.
2. Arrange a date for the viewing of the film Grey as the rights to show - Making a Mini Forest - I can highly recommend this film as it captured my imagination and sparked this action group. Grey has asked for a Monday evening viewing and Ian has said we can use the Floreat Athena facilities which would be ideal. We would open this to all clubs in S2S and the community. Date to be advised - possibly November.
3. John will continue to speak with SCGH and see if we can use the grounds near the cocky troughs already installed. Thank you, John.
4. Set up a nucleus committee group and arrange a workshop/ discussion/planning meeting with agenda including short term and long term objectives. It seems Thursday evenings are good at the moment so I will propose we meet on 16th October at 4pm. Venue TBA. Thumbs up please for date.
5. Once we have a nucleus, we will either start another WhatsApp group or add to this group.
6. I would like to encourage everyone to enthuse other members and clubs and let's bring as many people on at ground level literally in a respect of this project. I am so excited at all the possibilities of where this will take us in building strong links to community, schools, our environment and this can mean whatever and wherever we want to take and shape this.
Thank you everyone. I can't wait to see our first forest in reality and eventually lots of Rotary signs everywhere as well as satellite clubs developing with passionate community members we engage along the way."
🌲🌳🍃🌿🌱🪳🕷🦟🐛🦋🐝
This sounds like a life-changing project for our club to be involved in and we'll be talking more to club members to encourage our on-going commitment.
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Report from Anne in Kenya
Anne and Emmanuel
Our club is sponsoring Anne Nchoe to complete her Masters of Arts in Counselling Psychology at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. Anne and her husband Emmanuel have been very supportive of our Rotary club's education programs in Kenya which have seen excellent results in educating both secondary and tertiary students.
Anne sent a short email to the club advising of her results so far:
I hope you have all been well. I am doing quite great in my studies. The semester started very well and my classes are going on without any challenges.
It is a very busy semester as it is a new intake for the University hence enrollment of huge number of students as well as an upcoming graduation in October. This semester I am taking 5-unit courses one which is Micro-practicum where I am required to be in the field for practice one day a week as I gear up for the main practicum in January.
Finally, my results are out and I am excited to report that I did well and I am happy about my results. I have attached for your perusal together with the school receipt.
You can make a tax-deductible donation to our Maasai Sustainable Development Project, Kenyahere.
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As our first event for the Surf to Swan Community Group, please join us
"Surf to Swan Rotary Community Group"
warmly invites all Rotarians to join us for dinner Friday 24 October at the
Royal Perth Golf Club.
Why not "Make a Day of It..." Ride the Trains during the day and then come out to dinner to celebrate and exchange train stories.
Renee Kennedy, an acclaimed film and television producer is our Guest Speaker. Renee is currently producing a feature film adaptation of the celebrated novel "The Golden Age", by Joan London. The Golden Age is set in a 1950s Perth children's convalescent home during the polio epidemic. Her talk will connect the poignant story of this compelling post-war narrative to Rotary's ongoing mission.
Rotarians are able to make an on-line donation towards the End Polio Now Campaign at the time of booking or purchase a raffle ticket on the night. All funds raised will be linked back to your club when forwarded to Rotary International.
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