What a great start to kickoff the 2018-19 term with our Bollywood themed changeover on 7th July 2018 at the Belgian Beer Cafe in Southbank. We had 90 people in attendance - mixture of Rotarians, family and guests spreading across whole Victoria, interstate (NSW & WA) and internationally (Malaysia & Indonesia). It was a celebration and what a performance by Ranjhe bhangra group - fantastic young group! Sincere gratitude and thanks to all members and volunteers who helped to make this event a memorable one to remember.

Our first club project/event is on 14th July 2018, a community free event at Boyd themed "A morning to ... pause, recharge & reconnect" which is being organised by Iris Goh and our newest member Jasmin Dhillon. It is tailored to suit all ages and there is a great program in store for everyone.

We will reconvene at the Belgian Beer Cafe in Southbank on the following dates so please RSVP on our website:

• 17th July 2018 - "Playing our own game" by Guest Speaker Holly Bailey.
• 24th July 2018 - Board Meeting
• 31st July 2018 - Batman Cluster Meeting

This year, under the leadership of President Liam Jones, Rotary Southbank has achieved a large number of successes.

Read on to learn more about some of them.

Club Service

This year, we revived our guest speakers programme where we had over 20+ speakers who came to our club to speak on various topics, projects and food for thought ideas.

Other highlights of the year included:

• Fishing trip on 23rd January 2018 as a club social event.
• Club Planning Day on 28th April 2018 in Tallarook hosted by President Liam.
• Club raids to North Melbourne and Point Gellibrand, Williamstown.

Community Service

Througout 2017-18, we have supported Kay Ledson who walked across USA to raise awareness on Spinal Cord Injury, an amazing 3102.5 miles (close to 5,000 km's) and 6,252,860 steps done. Not only it was a success, it also gave hope and faith to other Warrior Mumz that nothing is impossible.

For the upcoming 2018-19 year, the plan is to support Y-House Foundation in its quest to construct a multi-purpose rehabilitation centre for youth who needs special care.

In the month of December 2017, we partnered with Ray White Southbank to provide gifts to disconnected families and children through "A little Ray of Giving" initiative.

Association and partnership with Boyd Community Centre in Southbank continues by participating at the Boyd Street Festival on 12th November 2017 where we sold burgers and sausages as a fundraiser. We also had Southbank Residents Association, and other neighbouring community groups at this event. Peter Duras (from Central Melbourne Rotary) and his other members also partipated on the day and assisted with the BBQ'ing.

Our members also participated in the Rotary At Pride march on 28th January 2018, lead by Rotary Club of Prahran.

Vocational Service

Southbank organised a Millennial Breakfast (theme:Developing the Millennial generation; the future of leadership) at Crown on 16th November 2017 where we had over 200+ attendees from various corporate businesses, consulting arms and SME businesses to hear Michael Bryne, Toll CEO discuss global trends in the transport and logistics sector and how to embed the millennial generation who are tech natives with different expectations from their job and the world around them.

Rachel Johnson, CEO of Victorian Ports Corporation (Melbourne) was the event's MC. She also spoke at our club meeting about the port industry in Victoria as a whole.

Youth Service

Last May 2018, Rotary Club of Southbank was successful in its application to co-sponsor Rotaract Club of Melbourne City, Australia with Rotary Club of North Melbourne.

Relationship and engagement with the club started early in 2017-18 and we hope that with our three clubs combined in force (Rotary Southbank / Rotary North Melbourne and Rotaract Melbourne City), Rotaract will not be isolated/left alone.

International Service

After many years of a strong relationship with our first sister club agreement in the early 2000's with Rotary Club of Bali Taman in Indonesia, Southbank now has Rotary Club of Bangsar in Malaysia as our second sister club.

We are in the process of finalising another two more sister clubs - one with Rotary Club of Teluk Intan in Malaysia and Rotary Club of Carlsbad Hi-Noon in USA.

Allies with Rotary Club of North Melbourne

This journey began when Sally Page (daughter of Past President, Neville Page and Judy Page from North Melbourne) joined Southbank in May 2017. Both clubs have visited each other's meetings and supported club events/projects, most notably during the Rotary Club of North Melbourne's Phonse Tobin Awards on 12th October 2017.

2018-19 will see further collaboration with North Melbourne including hosting of a Batman Cluster meeting on 31st July 2018  in Southbank while also supporting the Book Fair in early September together with the Phonse Tobin Awards.

By Stuart McArthur, Secretary & Webmaster, Rotary Club of Southbank

Expressing the heart and soul of your Rotary Club is I believe what every club tries to achieve when they design a new website and the extent to which the Rotary Club of Southbank has been able to take the current Rotary DCS platform "out of the box" and populate it with all the best news and events of our club and district has been nothing short of exceptional.

For years, I have always thought of our club as an innovative club at the forefront of Rotary websites in Australia. But combine my own experience with the ease of use and capability of the system currently being offered; the opportunity to communicate who and what we are was not only a breeze, but extremely powerful in its reach.

Rotary DCS has allowed me with "practically" no hand holding, no back and forth emails, no huge wishlists, etc,. to populate our content, apply SEO principles (Search Engine Optimisation), create events and bookings, create multiple categories of blogs, individually customise the home page banner & menu, select from multiple webpage themes, create a newsletter with templates that already exist and more.

Sure the beginner will take more time to get their head around the system, learn the way the system works and most importantly tailor the system to their community and their needs.

And that is where I'll be there to support the early adopters to bring their sites to the fore and help build a partnership where Rotarians can celebrate not only what brings us all together as Rotarians, but what makes each and every Rotarian and each every club an individual force for change in their community.

And behind all that are the team at iVvy who will continue to enhance the system with the improvements that will take the system from exceptional to world changing.

By Jasmin Dhillon,

Having recently witnessed a situation involving the reporting of elder abuse to a State government owned entity and seeing the despair and hopelessness firsthand, in that older person's eyes; I thought it a good time to reflect on this distressing and growing societal issue.  Currently, in Victoria, 1.25 million people are aged over 60, accounting for more than 20 per cent of the population. By 2031, our older population is set to increase, comprising 22 per cent of the population in Greater Melbourne and 31 per cent in regional and rural Victoria. 41% of Victorians aged over 65 and 46% of those aged over 85 were born overseas. Unsurprisingly, the victims of elder abuse are mostly women (72.5%).

We will all inevitably be a part of the above statistics one day, and although Elder abuse is a complex issue and experiences of elder abuse vary for people from different cultures, we can all play an active role in helping to minimise its prevalence within our sphere of influence.

Seniors Rights Victoria defines elder abuse as, 'any act which causes harm to an older person and is carried out by someone they know and trust, such as family or friends. It includes financial, emotional, physical, social or sexual abuse and neglect'. It may involve taking someone's money of possessions, not providing necessary care, making threats or stopping an older person's social contact, as well as physical or sexual abuse. Sadly, 60% of perpetrators are adult sons and daughters.

Although, the above information sounds alarming and too tough to tackle, and the Victorian Budget 2018/19 includes $26.6 investment in public aged care services, and $6 million to tackle elder abuse by extending the trial of an integrated model of care.

We can all play a role in reducing this unfortunate societal trend.

• First, we can be aware of our own unconscious bias when making hiring decisions, such as respecting the wealth of experience and knowledge older applicants possess.
• Second, improving visibility of our ageing population by involving older people in community events and acknowledging their role in society and the importance of the contribution they have made.
• Third, be vigilant and make an effort to talk to older people, many feel isolated and disconnected, making them easy targets for abuse. A simple hello and check-in can help more than you realise, and you may learn something of value.
• Lastly, if you think elder abuse may be occurring refer the elder person to Seniors Rights Victoria's confidential Helpline: 1300 368 821.

By Neville John, District Director Membership

The District Support Team is conducting three facilitated workshops in August 2018, involving Warwick Cavell (Facilitator), Kerry Kornhauser OAM (Public Image/Communications), Yvonne Flynn (Club Service) and PDG Neville John (Membership Director).

• Leading change in your Club
• Identifying the elements of a strong, vibrant club
• Project identification and selection
• Member and Community engagement
• Promoting your club projects and activities
• Your One-Page plan on membership recruitment and retention

Two members from each club are invited to attend, preferably President and/or Membership rep. The workshop is general in nature and not club specific and will provide an understanding of the process that can be used and ideas around how other things, if done properly can improve member recruitment prospects and retention.

If the attendees feel that their club could use some help thereafter in implementing what they want to try, the membership support team will meet with their Board to explain the process and set up a club forum.

There is NO COST to the Club and members can attend any of the sessions that suit them best.

Details are: 

• 12 August 2018 - Rotary Gateway Function Centre, 26 High St, Kangaroo Flat 3555
• 19 August 2018 - Baden Powell College, 81 Baden Powell Drive, Tarneit 3029
• 26 August 2018 - Montague Street Continuing Education Centre, 100 Montague St, South Melbourne 3205

All sessions are 8.30 am for 9 am start and finish at 1.00 pm with a light lunch.

RSVP is essential by 6th August, 2018 detailing session you will attend and any dietary requirements to:

Marjorie Gerlinger, marbern@bigpond.net.au, 0419 302 109 

Vibrant Clubs provide opportunities for its members and other community stakeholders to engage in a range of interesting humanitarian projects that promote what Rotary does to make a difference to the lives of others.

Members and visitors who attended the Rotary Club of Southbank's this week's meeting witnessed a most enlightening presentation / Q&A session with the current District 9800 Director of Governance David Whiting on the proposed Digital Communications Solution (DCS), formerly known as OneRotary.

As early adopters of the platform which hosts our brand new website, The Rotary Club of Southbank invites other clubs to come and join us, learning not only from our experience, but empowering their opportunity to be a front-runner in shaping a platform that not only drives a positive message to the public about the work Rotary does but is consistent, updated and reflective of each and every Rotary Clubs' individual characteristics and community.

Key to the governance challenge is the task to set up a legal entity which will manage the onboarding of clubs and districts, handle sponsorship and corporate partnership opportunities, while allowing the proceeds of the sponsorships to be passed back into Rotary Projects in Australia.

It is expected in time, this role should lie with a corprate entity such as Rotary Down Under with a national support team, however like all great Rotary programs, they have to start somewhere.

The Rotary Club of Southbank is passionate and motivated by the vision of where this opportunity lies and seeks to fulful that role in the short term to get the process started.

For more information on the Rotary Digital Communications Solution and to submit your club's application for your own club website, visit www.rotarydcs.com.au.

For first hand knowledge, of what the platform is like to use, please feel free to contact the Secretary and Webmaster of Rotary Club of Southbank, Stuart McArthur

Each week, the Rotary Club of Southbank, Melbourne, Australia gathers either for a dinner meeting at the Belgian Beer Cafe or various community project, social or networking events.

Our meetings consist of either guest speakers, opportuinities to plan projects of community benefit and catch up with friends.

Visitors to the club are always welcome, particularly non-Rotarians.

Rotary is where you can meet people equally passionate about helping out their commuity, share ideas and take action to make a difference in your community

In 2018-19, our regular meeting schedule will be alternate weeks with club projects and visits to other Rotary Clubs scheduled on alternate weeks.

For full details of venue times, locations and guest speakers, please refer to the latest club events on our club website or contact us for more information.

Regular Venue: Belgian Beer Cafe, 5 Riverside Quay, Southbank VIC 3006

The meeting runs from 6pm for 6.30pm (finish at 7.30pm) with fellowhip before and after the meeting.

Southbank Rotary member Kay Ledson recently walking across America - From LA (22nd September, 2017) to Washington DC (Mid March 2018).

CARLSBAD CA - PHOENIX - FLAGSTAFF - ALBUQUERQUE - AMARILLO - OKLAHOMA CITY - DALLAS - SHEVEPORT (1/2 WAY) - JACKSON - BIRMINGHAM - ATLANTA - GREENVILLE - CHARLOTTE - RALEIGH-DURHAM -  RICHMOND -  WASHINGTON DC

This is her story - and that of her son Josh.

Seventeen years ago (2000) Kay's son Josh was involved in a horrific accident while snowboarding on Mt Buller. Josh was left a complete quadriplegic C5 / T1 with less than 3% chance of any recovery. With his doctors "mending him" to Kay's horror "the healing" of Josh would be up to her.

In desperation she remembered something her Grandmother used to always say "if you don't use it, you lose it" so if Josh was paralysed,  Kay would have to build a team to help Josh learn to use his body again. Kay built a team of alternative professionals who collectively shared her vision of movement.

Josh walked out of the hospital's rehabilitation unit 4 ½ months laterdiscarding his wheel chair  after 2 ½ years.. 17 years later his spinal cord has never recovered; it is actually worse; yet he still gains recovery. They now understand their early intensive work commenced the process of rebuilding Josh's neural pathways in Josh's words he "drives a manual body."

Both Kay and Josh have written Books

• Kay's - Warrior Mom & Josh's
• Relentless Walking Against All Odds

In 2012 Kay moved to the USA to work with an Activity Based Below Injury Recovery facility in Carlsbad, California. It was there her network and the success Josh had experienced began to grow. Weekly Kay was and still is contacted by mother's needing help for their loved one who have suffered a spinal cord injury. In Kay's words "there is always another Mother!"

Kay established a support group Warrior Momz (2013) to help families deal with this devastating injury.

While in the USA Kay joined Carlsbad Hi Noon Rotary in California. Her fellow Rotarians were very supportive to her in her role at the facility, Kay still keeps in close contact with her old Club. Returning to Australia in 2014,  Kay joined Rotary Club of Southbank where she had strong ties with the Club  through her sister Wendy Bennett. The club had only recently been chartered when Josh had his accident so the club went through the journey with Josh, who went on to speak to the club several times.

In 2015, Kay was contacted in the same week, by 5 mother's in the USA all seeking assistance. One family needed a ramp built and their bathroom modified to allow them to bring their injured son home. They had no money and faced the prospect of having their 15 yo placed in a nursing home. Kay immediately suggested they contact their local Rotary Group,  the mom answered "What's Rotary." So began a new journey for Kay.

Kay decided she needed to meet the families in their  locations so Kay decided to walk across America.

On the 22nd September 2017 Kay left Carlsbad Ca walking over 5100 km to Washington DC taking over 7 million steps to spread her message.

RECOVERY IS POSSIBLE, RAISING MONEY FOR "THERAPY GRANTS AND SCHOLARSHIPS"

(THIS SPECIALIST THERAPY IS NOT COVERED BY HEALTH INSURANCE EITHER IN THE USA OR AUSTRALIA)

Finally building local communities to support families dealing with spinal cord injury her goal is to visit and where possible, speak to Rotary Clubs across the Walk Route

The feedback she received through speaking to several clubs in the USA was, the members liked the idea of supporting "local projects."

Thc club also supports "Y House", a locally based foundation involved in building a facility in Elsternwick, for those injured in Melbourne to attend once they have been released from Hospital Rehabilitation.

To learn more about the walk:

Visit Warrior Momz Walk on Facebook

View the journey donate via the Quad Foundation

Rotary Club of Southbank member Kay Ledson has completed the journey of a lifetime to walk the entire breadth of America from Carlsbad, California to Washington DC, A total of 7 million Steps.

Activity Based Therapy

Aussie Mum Kay is passionate about her son Josh and his efforts to recover from a snowboarding accident in June 2000.  So much, she has managed to successfully walk across America to help promote and develop recovery options for people with Spinal Cord Injury.  Starting from Carlsbad, California, Kay and a whole delegation of people effected by the problem met with US government officials in Washington to look at ways that activity-based therapy could be introduced to support people suffering spinal cord injury as a way of highlighting the struggle that families face and assist them to live more normal lives.

Why America and not Australia you ask?

There is no doubt that spinal cord injury affects people all around the world, however it is the friendships and the support from organisations in America so far, who have greatly assisted Kay and her son Josh in his recovery, as Josh was able to use existing treatments, often at huge cost, to learn to walk again following his snowboarding accident in June 2000. In addition, it was the opportunity to meet up with other families also affected by spinal cord injury along the road which was much of the inspiration for Kay's journey.
Kay is immensely proud of her son and what he has managed to achieve.  Giving up, though is not in their psyche.

It is hoped however that through increased support by the US government, that similar treatments will become available in Australia and other countries around the world.

Rotary Club of Southbank has over many years supported, in partnership with the Rotary Club of Bali Taman, Indonesia, and the Rotary Foundation, a number of projects delivering water to remote villages and addressing needs of Women's Health to the Bali community.

Bali's economy is very dependent on tourism so challenges such as the Bali Bombing in 2002 and the recent eruption of Mount Agung have a deep impact on this community.

Since this time, projects have been implemented in partnership with our sister club, The Rotary Club of Bali Taman and continue to be supported by visits from members to Bali.

• Pap Smear Test: Once a week
• Women's health education: 3 times a week
• IVA Test: Twice a week

The target for 12 months of operations for the 2017-18 year includes 520 pap smears, 2600 IVA tests, and education of 3120 women in women's health issues which to date is about 50% achieved.

Below are a list of other projects undertaken by Rotary Club of Southbank

• 2002 Launched Southbank Bali Trust and raised in excess of $100,000 for Bali.
• 2006 Water Project
• 2014 Water Project Bulian Village GG75732
• 2016 Women's Mobile Health Clinic
• 2018 Women's Mobile Health Clinic GG1635710

For Further Information, please visit:

https://www.facebook.com/balitaman.rotary

https://www.rotary.org/en/about-rotary/rotary-foundation