Andrew’s Thoughts
Exciting news! The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia has formally approved our new Support Group. Now the hard work begins! Last week Julie, Mike and I had an excellent meeting with Bernie Perrett and Geoff Broadfoot at The Men’s Shed. Our Prostate Cancer Support Group will meet at the Men’s Shed on the first Tuesday of every month 6.30-8.30PM, hopefully commencing on 7 September.
Apart from that, it was a quiet week, what with five Thursdays. However, Ange continues to trail blaze with her raffle ticket selling!
This week, we shall be hosting, with RC Narrandera, a dinner for BlazeAid at the Cobargo Pub on Thursday at 6.30PM. Please feel free to join us!
Ange and I will continue to plan ticket selling days at the Plaza and hopefully Julie outside the IGA. As the Covid-19 lockdown continues, our August Market looks less likely and so we all need to help to clear the tickets.
So as ever, onward and upward mes amis!
THIS WEEK
About five of our Rotarians will join about 12 BlazeAid volunteers for dinner at Cobargo Hotel. 6 for 6.30pm. Our twin Rotary Club of Narrandera and Narooma Clubs will sponsor the BlazeAid volunteers’ dinners; Narooma Rotarians will pay for their own, about $25 a head.
The Week that Was
From Moruya Rotary
Moruya Rotarians heard from four Anglicare employees last week about homelessness in the local area. Last year there were 383 cases of homelessness involving 7,300 interactions, that is—interactions with police, employment services, Housing NSW and other government bodies. Typical clients would be couch surfing, living in tents or cars or totally without a home. All were treated under the Anglicare maxim of ‘Dignity, Respect and Integrity’. They said that problems are worse now as a result of Covid, working from home, and the chronic shortage and rising costs of rental accommodation.
Anglicare has four ‘transitional’ properties which can provide very temporary cover. Pauline Sullivan, who handles emergency accommodation, spoke of the basic needs of people in the most desperate situations – being unable to keep clean and very conscious of the smell of their poverty.
A ‘shopping list’ was distributed to each table at the Moruya meeting, the ‘Pantry Appeal’ listed ordinary bathroom toiletries. Thanks to Michel Nader’s generosity, the local branch has as a hub a quite large shop in the carpark beside the River restaurant. Initially it was stocked with a truck load of donated goods from Sydney immediately after the bushfires. Moruya Rotarians heard that as individuals, they could help keep the hub stocked by donating goods, particularly perhaps those listed in the Pantry Appeal. Providing showers and laundry facilities was more difficult; Moruya Rotarians were left pondering whether they could help provide either a fixed or mobile unit to wash and dry clothes and people. Courtesy the Moruya bulletin
NEXT WEEK 12 August
Our first August dinner meeting will be on the 12th when we shall hear from Robin Burbidge on Natural Beekeeping. Robin Burbidge is a Natural Beekeeper and joins us to talk about the beauty and wonder of the European Honey Bee. Robin will share his experience of growing and learning through connecting and working with Bees and how we can help support this amazing insect. No ‘Honey’ or ‘Sweet’ jokes please! This was postponed from an earlier date so we look forward to finally catching up with Robin.