Meeting 4 August 2020

 
With Captain Colin at the helm of the good ship Zoom, the Meeting got off to a good start, with 26 Members present and apologies from John A, Val and Anthony. We were also graced by the presence of Steve O’Reilly from Phillip Island San Remo.
 
 
Phil, with his District Insurance Officer hat on, immediately began his thorough presentation on how Rotary Insurance works, illustrating his talk with Power Point slides. The main points were:
  • Unless Club projects are formally approved by the Board, we are not covered by insurance and are at risk. (That is why we have introduced formal Project Approval Forms, a documented planning process and a formal budget. Ed.)
  • Rotary National Insurance Program (RIPN) is the title of the program.
  • $26 per Rotarian goes towards the District premiums.
  • AON is the insurance broker.
  • All claims are to go to Phil.
  • A variety of covers is involved to cover different types of risk.
  • Covered are Clubs, Rotarians, Partners and other participants.
  • Activities have to be formally sanctioned by the Club.
  • Loss of rental is now covered after discussions with AON.
  • 48 clubs have to supply details to Phil (This is a big job folks! Ed.)
  • Any incident must be reported promptly and comprehensively on forms available on the District website.
  • Indemnities are important to limit liability.
  • Youth Volunteer Declaration form being updated. Required by everyone involved with youth projects.
Phil certainly knows his stuff and we now have a better appreciation of some of the changes we have introduced in 2020-2021 and why. Very informative!
 
 
Pres Kam then introduced the Behind the Badge segment, starring Cherie.
 
Cherie has been a Rotarian for seven years. She grew up in The Basin, the fourth of five children and the only girl. She naturally developed into an outdoor girl, enjoying family camping at places such as Lake Eildon, Lake Eppalock and Lakes Entrance.
She attended the good old Boronia Tech, where her mum worked the canteen, before going to Victoria (as it is now known) Uni, where she studied Events Management, majoring in Hotel and Catering Management. After a false start, she did work placement at the Southern Cross Hotel before deciding not to pursue that career.
Cherie’s Partner migrated to Australia because, as a non-Muslim, he was not safe in his homeland of Iran. On her thirtieth birthday, Cherie bought a house in Rowville, with the intention of renovating it and turning it over. She is still there!
Cherie then moved into Human Resources with Officeworks, where she did store visits, checking on compliance with procedures, then coaching and training, which she loved. After the Wesfarmers takeover, she was moved into administration and took up a role as Audit Officer, spending twenty six weeks of the year on the road.
Two years later, Cherie became a Manager in the Finance area, where she “inherited a mess”. She streamlined and automated procedures and trained teams.
On turning forty, Cherie wanted a change of direction into something “more meaningful”. She Joined Rotary and became a primary school teacher, completing a Masters in 2017, while still working part time at Officeworks. She then joined Disaster Aid as a volunteer before becoming a permanent staff member, responsible for donations, and “loving it”!
Regarding her role as Club Administration, Cherie is “having a think”, some of those thoughts involving vocational tours and a social before Christmas.
Cherie has certainly had an interesting life and brings a lot of skills to the Board.
 
 
 
John P on Membership mentioned a potential from the Mens Shed, via Hans VD and Pres Kam mentioned another prospect from the District website.
Con on Foundation gave a potted summary of Rotary Foundation, some of the points being:
  • Total assets of $US 1.15bn
  • Annual revenues of $US 360m
  • Four star rating
  • Source of funds for Global and District Grants, entitlement to which is dependent on club contributions
  • Aiming to get $100 per Member per year in donations, resurrecting the Centurions Club, with the intention of contributing $ 5,000 to the Fund over the year.
Treas. Jo read out he bank balances, totalling around $300,000.
Pres Kim reporting briefly on the recent Board Meeting, said that nine Projects had been formally approved, an overall Plan and Budget had been presented for consideration and several other matters.
Colin put forward a recommendation that we use the MS Teams app, consolidating all current sites into one and terminating the others. He reported that we would be adopting the EH Facebook account, as it was the better site and urged everyone to visit and press “Like”.
 
 
 
Pres Kam then returned to the fray, reporting that he had discussed sponsorship with David L, who recommended “thinking big” and will advise the Board of his ideas in the near future. Kam spoke of a five year Strategic Plan, but said it was not a good idea to do it on Zoom and would defer it until after Covid 19 is over. He also proposed chasing a Presidential Citation, mentioned some of the criteria and the need to measure outcomes.
Honorary Members were being considered and he noted the limitation to 10% of Active Members.
Colin called for contributions to a Contacts List, consisting of everyone Members have been involved with who might prove a valuable resource for the Club. This would include potential Guest Speakers and Members.
Kam thanked Terry and Neil for the terrific work they have done so far on Cornerstone and on the application for a Council Grant of $10,000 for a tank and fencing.