Dear Rotarians,  

I am writing this message on behalf of our Interim President John Peck and all Board Members,

As you will be aware, Martin Pater has sadly resigned from the Club, however the good news is that Marty is a very valued 'Friend of Rotary', therefore we will be seeing him from time to time at events and projects which is wonderful. 

On Tuesday night we had the pleasure of hosting Rotarian Chaminda, who gave us an insight into his Club and presented John Peck with a flag from the Rotary Club of Kandy.

The Rotary Club of Kandy contribute financially to global grants and use their own funds to respond to requests from local communities and organizations and also from partners overseas.

Their carefully nurtured global networks have permitted them to contribute substantially to the economic and social well-being of the citizens of the World Heritage City of Kandy and to the development of communities not only in the Central Province but also elsewhere in the island.  Close links with local governments and individual communities have ensured that their projects are relevant, serve a wide spectrum of local needs and help to improve the lives of the urban and rural poor.

Chaminda is in Melbourne until mid-October and brought along his brother-in-law Kashir who lives in Dandenong and is very keen to learn more about Rotary.  We hope to see more of Kashir in the near future.

Howard gave us an update on our Peter Weerasekera Orphanage project, the plumbing, main water supply lines and commodes are complete, the ground has been repaired and concreted.

Unfortunately, due to increased labour costs, the funds our Club provided fell short for the wall and floor tiling to be completed.

The Orphanage is currently using their own funds to complete the works and are hopeful that we may be able to make a further financial contribution to help cover these costs.

Hans then updated us on the Rotary Overseas Recycled Playgrounds and invited members to go along to help out or observe the Playground harvest in Dandenong on Thursday 28th September.

There will NOT be a meeting this Tuesday due to the Cluster event run by Rotary Club of Casey, 'Rags to Riches'. Please note the change of venue to The Hill Restaurant in Berwick.  Thank you to all our members who will be attending the event, which promises to be very informative and inspiring.

Our next Club meeting will be on TUESDAY 3rd OCTOBER at the Dandenong Club, our Guest Speakers are Tanya Faulkner (Star News) and Michelle Lewis (Lyndale Secondary College) who will be talking about their Rotary Exchange Student Experiences.  

Kind regards,

Secretary Leanne