(Established July 2023 from the merger of Rotary Clubs Manningham and Templestowe and has since welcomed former members from the Rotary Club of Doncaster.)
Co-Presidents 2025-26 Esther Murray (L) Anthony Callinan (R)
Dear Members and Friends,
Dear Members and Friends.
Another great week in Rotary. Our Bowls night meeting was filled with excellent discussion and fantastic food. There was a buzz in the room as we listened to our speakers. Trish Carr (Rotary Community Leader) gave an overview on the QR Code Project that we have taken on. Two members of our Community Welfare & Health committee, Brian Negus and Tania Marinaccio, gave a presentation on what we are planning to do. This includes engaging with our local community via shopping centres, Bunnings, schools, health areas etc establishing our QR Code logo in as many places as possible. More information further in this newsletter.
We enjoyed the most lovely, tasty and flavoursome food provided by our rotary member Zubair and his partner Zainab. With help from two young ‘waiters’ everything flowed nicely. The food was plated in a well presented container, it was a highlight of the evening. Great work Zubair and Zainab.
Anthony and Ian Goldsmith were apologies and Luke was late as we were invited to attend a reception arranged for Onemda volunteers and supporters. We heard from one of their clients, Lily who spoke about the wonderful work they do for people with disabilities. Onemda will be promoting our Black Tie Good Vibrations Disco on 1 November. We also talked about other opportunities to collaborate with them. Watch this space!
Next week we meet at the Manningham Hotel where we will see the place winners of the two Speech competitions from the Doncaster and Templestowe sections. Six students will give their winning speeches. it will be a great event. We hope to see you all there.
Rotary Community Group Leader, Trish Carr spoke to us this week about the history of the Rotary Club of Box Hill– Burwood's community services card project. This project involved preparation and distribution of a concertina’d ‘wallet card’ of about 6 pages, that contained contact details for professional services and assistance available within the Whitehorse area. The card included services such as homelessness, mental health problems, emergency services and allied health issues. The card was released about two years ago and provided to citizens through doctors’ clinics, the police, and to hospital patients upon release. The project was financed with assistance of a Rotary Foundation District Grant.
With experience, the Rotary Club of Box Hill–Burwood became aware that the wallet card was not fully effective as it is subject to wear and tear, and it is difficult and expensive to update changes in the locations and contact details of the service providers. A new solution was needed, and has been found, with the use of QR codes.
The QR code, when scanned by a mobile phone, will open a webpage app that allows the user to select the type of service needed, from a numbered list. The app provides details of the services requested along with contact details such as phone numbers for obtaining them. As the information displayed comes from a centralised database, any updates to the data are done on the database only, thus avoiding the necessity to re-inform users of the changed details. Privacy is maintained as no details are collected from the user.
Rotary Manningham City is working with 12 other Rotary and Rotaract clubs in the Community Group to deliver this project. We are planning to place small signs or placards with a QR code in appropriate and prominent places within the City of Manningham, such that all citizens have access to the listed services. The signs will feature the Rotary logo.
Our Health & Welfare Committee, lead by Co-President Esther, with Brian Negus, Luke Bastian and Tania Marinaccio is promoting and managing this project. Tania spoke, following Trish–she is seeking ideas from members for the locations for the QR signs and has done the leg work with Council and others on the project. But she needs suggestions for locations! She has handed out leaflets describing her ‘Sticker Blitz’ calling for members to suggest locations. Members should speak to Tania to request leaflets to explain the project to others, or email her on taniarotarymanningham@gmail.com.
The Good Vibrations Disco has been around in various forms since 2007, when disability service providers asked some Rotarians to help run the canteen. Since then it has grown and evolved, been dropped, scrapped, paused over COVID and resurrected and become something we are very proud of.
Rotary Manningham City provides the neurodiverse members of our wider community an opportunity to socialise, dance and enjoy themselves in a safe regulated environment.
Our involvement not only provides an outlet for this community, but also a brief respite for the care givers and parents who do a thankless hidden role that is never ending. For a few hours every couple of months, we can celebrate diversity, amongst younger people of ‘all-abilities’.
From a project that was pioneered by Liz Ollie and members of the Doncaster club, we are now taking it to a new and exciting level. Mostly thanks to the efforts of John Bennie planting the seeds of an idea with councillors at Manningham, Mayor Cr. Deidre Diamante has embraced and facilitated the inaugural Black Tie Mayoral Disco.
In recognition of the importance of the project, and in support of our community, we are hoping to fill the function centre on the 1 November with dancers, their parents, and their carers, along with Councillors, Rotarians, and our sponsors the Bendigo Bank, to celebrate and give back to the community.
Only 30% of attendees are from within the wider Manningham area, so widespread is the appeal and need that people travel great distances to come and dance for a few hours. Usually with about 100 dancers and support crew, we are aiming to surpass that for this special event. Kathy Monley has kindly offered Op-Shop discounts to ticket holders so our dancers can find a new outfit, and drive more foot traffic into our store. Look out for the influx over October if you are in the shop.
This event we ask you to come and see, even if you don’t stay to celebrate from 7pm-9pm, I give you three reasons to dress up for the last disco of 2025:
Come along and witness something small but tangible we are doing well in the community.
Come and show the council that the whole club supports this project. They were unaware until this year that we did it, and they love it. Show them we are also proud of it.
If you are able to stay for an hour or two, grab a spot on the Roster when it comes out next week, and help out in a small supporting way. Show the participant our presence.
If we do this well, it might become a regular end of year event on the disco calendar, farewelling the outgoing Mayor–and welcoming the new. We will have the Red carpet Paparazzi capturing dancers on their arrival, Balloons decorating the space, a Photo Booth for the dancers to capture memories, and set the scene for an even better 2026.
