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Upcoming Events
Lunch Meeting - Club Assembly before Board Meeting
The Brisbane Club
Sep 17, 2018
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
 
Burnett Cup - City vs Country in Mundubbera
Mundubbera Golf Club
Sep 22, 2018
12:00 PM – 10:00 PM
 
Lunch Meeting
The Brisbane Club
Sep 24, 2018
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
 
Lunch Meeting Cancelled - Public Holiday
The Brisbane Club
Oct 01, 2018
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
 
BBQ Meeting - Mark Williams' Place
Oct 05, 2018
6:30 PM – 10:00 PM
 
Lunch Meeting
The Brisbane Club
Oct 08, 2018
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
 
Lunch Meeting - Club Assembly before Board Meeting
The Brisbane Club
Oct 15, 2018
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
 
Lunch Meeting
The Brisbane Club
Oct 22, 2018
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
 
World Polio Day Dinner
Club Pine Rivers
Oct 24, 2018
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
 
Lunch Meeting
The Brisbane Club
Oct 29, 2018
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
 
President's Message
 
Dear fellow Rotarians and friends of the Club, 
 
We have had an interesting, productive and innovative week with our first Friday evening social meeting on 7th September replacing the usual first Monday of the month lunch meeting. Nineteen members and guests attended and we were very pleased to welcome the President of the Fortitude Valley Club, Andrew Lyon and his wife, Margaret. I am hopeful that our Club will reciprocate with support for functions arranged by other Clubs, especially those in the city cluster. My impression was that all who attended enjoyed themselves and in the absence of more entertaining talent I gave a presentation on Dymphna’s and my recent trip to Arnhem Land and the Wessell Islands which seemed to keep most people awake. Following the general gathering, twelve of us stayed on in the club for dinner which allowed for in depth discussion of many minor and major local and world problems including a spirited exchange on lighting arrangements for all-night plane and train travel.
 
As regards productive activities, Cameron Gibson and Phil Gresham have agreed to progress arrangements for a Club public Drought Appeal in the Macarthur Building. Volunteers are needed for four or five hours on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday and individual donations from members, which can be tax deductable, are most welcome. Dymphna and I collected two wheelchairs, produced by volunteers in the Surfers Sunrise Rotary Club Wheelchair Project, and we were given a most interesting tour of their facility by Daryl Sanderson who has been the organizer since its inception 20 years ago. As well as wheelchairs, they have constructed a pre-fab school and an orphanage for Western Samoa, the photos of which are most impressive. The wheelchairs which we collected will go to disabled children in New Ireland, PNG, with free transport arranged in a container of commercial, hospital and dental equipment by my friend, Richard Pickworth. The process of delivering the wheelchairs to a Port of Brisbane container facility had a ‘steep learning curve’ and was somewhat intimidating but we eventually succeeded.
 
As Melbourne Cup time approaches we will again have trifecta tickets available. These have been pretty easy to sell in past years with a $1000 prize and tickets at only $2 each. It would be great if everyone takes at least 50 tickets to sell on. We have also been offered an exclusive opportunity for Rotary groups of 20+ to attend a private screening of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ at $8 each on a date between 1st – 7th November and I will see if a member will be prepared to coordinate this. Dymphna and I will both go if it can be organized.
 
We look forward to our meeting on Monday 10th September where Nigel Harris will speak on leading a ‘Not-for-Profit’ in a challenging environment. We will also have a number of guests including the President of the High-Rise Club, Celia Grenning the CEO of the Kyeema Foundation and Donna Harvey-Hall from PNG. Donna is caring for 28 orphans whose parents have died of AIDS and we are helping Kyeema and Donna to set up a pilot chicken breeding project on her farm in Wau to help feed these children and eventually improve the diets of malnourished children in the wider community.
 
Dymphna and I will be in France and Italy from 11th September to 13th October and will report on our 290km walk from Assisi to Rome in due course. Our normal Monday meetings at the Brisbane Club on 1st October and 5th November have been cancelled and Mark Williams will host a gourmet sausage BBQ at his home on Friday 5th October. There will be a social meeting at the United Services club at 5:30PM on Friday 9th November hosted by Denise Schellbach and the Club Christmas Gathering will be at the United Service Club on Friday 7th December.
 
All the Friday meetings, including Mark’s BBQ, must be booked in advance including payment of a $15 fee.
 
Best wishes until we meet again and please remember and support the Mundubbera Golf Day if possible.
Yours in Rotary,
Chris Muir

Vol. 96 No. 6 
13 September, 2018

Upcoming Speakers
Sep 24, 2018
Advancing our knowledge of PTSD in Defence Force Veterans

Professor Ross Young was appointed Executive Dean, Faculty of Health QUT in January 2013 following seven years as Executive Director, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI), QUT.

Professor Young is a Clinical Psychologist and his research interests lie in the integration of psychological and biological risk factors in mental illness. His research includes work in substance misuse, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, mood disorders and more broadly in behavioural medicine. This includes work in pharmacogenomics and personalised medicine. Professor Young has over 250 published book chapters and papers in genetic, medical, psychiatric and psychological journals.  His work in post-traumatic stress disorder includes studies of risk factors, treatment outcomes and comorbidity with PTSD, such as substance abuse. This work has extended to other behaviours with compulsive elements, such as mobile phone use. Professor Young serves on several Queensland Boards related to mental health and medical research.

View entire list
Meeting Responsibilities
17 September - Meeting
 
Chairperson
ADLER, Dan
 
Minutes Secretary
WILLIAMS, Mark
 
24 September - Meeting
 
Chairperson
VANKOV, Daniel
 
Minutes Secretary
WILLIAMS, Mark
 
8 October - Meeting
 
Chairperson
WHITMORE, Graeme
 
Minutes Secretary
DE LACY, Jaqui
 
15 October - Meeting
 
Chairperson
BURRIDGE, Robyn
 
Minutes Secretary
SHEPHERD, Clive
 
22 October - Meeting
 
Chairperson
WILLIAMS, Mark
 
Minutes Secretary
SHEPHERD, Clive
 
ClubRunner
Stories
RCoB Chills on a Friday Evening
The first Friday evening social meeting was held at the United Service Club on 7th September. In all, there were 20 people registered for the event. A late apology was received from Dan Adler who ran out of runway preparing for his imminent trip to LA. We were pleased to see some Rotary fellows who have been precluded from attending by work commitments recently and it was also pleasing to see so many Rotarians' partners attending. A special welcome was also extended to Andrew Lyon, President of the Fortitude Vally Club and his wife Margaret. 
President of the Rotary Club of Fortitude Valley, Andrew Lyon and wife Margaret with Paul Choy and President Chris Muir
 
The only item of business on the agenda was a presentation by President Chris showing some photographs from his recent fishing research expedition to the waters off the Northern Territory. The intrepid crew braved hot weather, crocs, fierce barramundi, mud and no doubt flies to bring us a report replete with beautiful scenery and a disturbing situation analysis of the amount of plastic waste washed up on the Wessel Islands.
President Chris presents on his trip north.
 
Before and after the presentation, members, partners and guests we able to enjoy fellowship in the salubrious surroundings of the United Service Club. We will return to the United Service Club on the 7th of December for the RCoB annual Christmas Party and on the Fridays following the first Mondays of October and November we will be holding social events in lieu of a Monday meeting. See You There!
Meeting Notes 10 September 2018
There was a large roll-up to the meeting on 10th September, with well over 30 members and guests in attendance. The Brisbane Club even had to add an extra table for the event.
 
Chair for the day was IPP Daniel Vankov who opened the meeting with the usual toasts. He then went on to welcome the long list of visitors:
 
  • Guest speaker Nigel Harris, CEO of Mater Foundation
  • Andrew Lyon, President of the Rotary Club of Fortitude Valley
  • Kym McCluskey, President of the Rotary Club of Brisbane High-Rise
  • Nigel Harris' mother Elizabeth who is visiting from Adelaide 
  • Raewyn Bailey, Mater Foundation
  • Prof. Wendy Scaife, Director of the QUT Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies
  • Celia Grenning, CEO of KYEEMA Foundarion
  • Donna Harvey-Hall, Manager of Pikinini Haus
  • Leanne Butterworth, Lose your mind
  • Sally Gardner, Development Manager, Major Gifts at Children’s Hospital Foundation
  • Sabrina Chakori, Founder, Brisbane Tool Library
  • David Milling, Australian Road Research Board
  • Matthew Rowan, Director at P&Cs Qld
  • Michael Gerber, CARRS-Q
  • Paul Choy who is technically still a visitor but whose application to join has been approved by the board
The formalities and welcomes being over, Chair Daniel invited President Chris Muir to address the multitude. Chris also extended a warm welcome to our many visitors, and delivered his weekly Presidents' report which can be read above.
 
Chair Daniel then invited Donna Harvey-Hall, Manager of Pikinini Haus, to give a brief introduction to what she does in Lae. Pikinini Haus has been chosen by RCoB and the Kyeema Foundation to be the pilot project for our Joint chicken-breeding project in PNG. Donna told us that she is a life-long resident of PNG and went along to give a brief outline of her career caring for kids. Having 6 children if her own, she went on to adopt another 11 orphans. After raising these 17 children, Dionna turned to the problem of looking after orphans of parents who died from AIDS. These children are pariahs, with people too scared to look after them. Currently Pikinini Haus cares for 25+ AIDS orphans (only one of whom is HIV positive) and making ends meet is a daily struggle. The chicken-breeding project promises at some stage to provide some slight relief.
Donna Harvey-Hall, Manager of Pikinini Haus addresses members
Next on the agenda was spots:
 
Denise Schellbach gave us a run-down on future speakers, one of whom will be Acting Senior Sergeant Vicki Campbell from the Qld. Police Fraud Squad who will return to finish her presentation from last week.
 
Daniel Vankov also had a spot, the text of which is below:
 
I have some bad news and some good news:
 
First the Bad news:
The EU project on social entrepreneurship is not happening, at least not this year. We got 65 points in the evaluation but we needed 70 to get over the threshold.
 
Good news:
We know where we can improve and if the Club would like to continue pursuing the opportunity, the project proposal will be redeveloped and resubmitted next year.
 
Bad news:
The Brisbane Lord Mayor sent his apologies and will not be able to speak at our International Women's Day Breakfast next on March 06th, 2019.
Good news:
He is sending Councillor Adrian Schrinner, Deputy Mayor, Chairman for Public and Active Transport and Councillor for Chandler to represent him.
I also received a confirmation from Prof. Margaret Sheil, Vice-chancellor and President of QUT. So our panel is completed. Now we need to book the date with USC and ask them for quotes. I will also need more information on how many people we can fit in so that I move forward with the organisation of the event. 
 
Bad news (kind of):
With our Strategy being made public and with the article about it being published in the last Rotary Down Under magazine, which is not at all bad to hear, we shared and thus have lost our competitive advantage. Nevertheless, we are kicking off a new joint project with QUT but this time with the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies. We will be working together on the Club fundraising strategies hopefully to be implemented in near future. Thank you Prof. Wendy Scaife for your willingness to work with us!
 
Last but not least and not at all bad news:
I have Michael Gerber as a guest today and he is looking up out Club. Michael has applied quite a while ago in Germany to join the Free Masons. They told him that it takes 2 to 3 years to be admitted because they do not like people coming and leaving – something out Membership committees to consider.
Michael and I also come with a project proposal. Last year Club members visited the Queensland advanced simulator. Ensuring that there is a licensed operator is the expensive part of such endeavour. Luckily Michael is such and he offered his support for another similar Club activity. This time I plan to invite school children from Jindalee State School to immerse themselves in hands-on research environment. But as they are little they cannot drive the simulator themselves. So we will need drivers to have them as passengers, something I hope Rotary volunteers would like to do during a potential second vocational visit with President Chris's approval.
 
After spots, it was time for what we were all waiting for. Chair Daniel introduces our guest speaker Nigel Harris, CEO of the Mater Foundation. Nigel more than justified the strong attendance to hear his thoughts by delivering a wide-ranging and pertinent review of some of the challenges (and in some cases the solutions to those challenges). Some highlights:
 
  • What do we mean by non-profit? It shouldn't mean that we make no profit, but that we make no profit for shareholders - we make profit for mission. In fact the only way to serve society is to make money for our mission.
  • There is a disturbing trend of decline in public trust in institutions, and this is affecting the non-profit sector at least as much as other kinds of institutions. Sometimes the NFP sector is to blame for this. In particular, NFPs are under fire for their fundraising methods, sometimes unfairly and sometimes perhaps with reason. This is also partly because of the proliferation of charities as well. As of today there are approximately 56,000 charities registered in Australia and on average 7 new ones are registered every working day.
  • Perhaps partly as a result of the above, charity revenues are under threat. However, analysis of where the revenues come from may show some solutions to this issue. 60.5% of donations are made on the spur of the moment, but the 40% of donors who plan their donations account for nearly 85% of charity donations. This points to a need for charities to take note of the "6 Rs"
    • A charity must be Relevant to the people with whom they are engaging.
    • A charity must foster real Relationships with potential donors.
    • A charity should be focused on Results
    • Charity management should be Resilient, Respectful and practice Reflection.
  • Competition vs. Collaboration. Is fundraising a competitive activity? Perhaps in some ways it is. But doing good in the world is always a collaborative activity. Polio Plus is a good example of a collaborative activity where Rotarians should not be disappointed that they do not always get as much credit as they think perhaps Rotary should be getting.
  • As of today, Charity management metrics are rubbish. First, what we have measures the moment not the movement. Second, there are so many ratios bandied about, often with conflicting definitions, that there is no good way to set benchmarks and compare apples with apples. 
Nigel Harris addresses a full house.
 
The presentation was followed by some lively Q&A and discussion, which eventually had to be cut off for lack of time. Sergeant-at-arms Luke Marshall had a short but expensive session quizzing us about charities, and then it was time for the drawing of the raffle. PP Phil Gresham has the winning ticket, but like so many before him, couild not draw the joker from the pack. The Jackpot inches towards 5 figures.
 
Just after 1:45pm, President Chris closed the meeting with the singing of the national anthem.
Pilko Pitches for Polio Plus at Pine Rivers
October 24th is World Polio Day. To mark the occasion Rotary District 9600 will be holding a World Polio Day Dinner. Our very own Tony Pilkington will be a keynote speaker at this event. Members are strongly encouraged to attend. Price is $35.30, Venue is Club Pine Rivers and bookings can be made until 19th October at: https://trybooking.com/422828
Who is that poster girl?

By Francine Falk-Allen

One of the first misconceptions that confronted me as a handicapped child was that people – children, adults, everyone – would often say, “I saw your picture on the March of Dimes poster!!”  The March of Dimes was a campaign initiated to pay for polio vaccinations and patient care. Most of the patients were young children, who were the most prone to severe aspects of the disease. People were asked to send in “even a dime” and there were coin collection placards put out in stores, churches, gas stations, anywhere that people might be able to spare a dime. (A dime in 1950 would be worth about ninety cents in 2018.)

At first, when I heard that comment, I thought that somehow my picture was actually being used for the March of Dimes poster, and I was excited to learn this. I looked forward to seeing myself the next time I saw a placard around town. There I’d be, Francine Allen, the poster child. But I soon saw that it wasn’t my picture, though the girl was about my age, around five or six, wore a brace, used Kenny sticks (a half crutch with a canvas arm band), and had hair similar to mine, although hers was not in the meticulous ringlets my mother created to draw attention away from my limp. (If I looked pretty, it helped to make up for my defect, a concept I have never been able to drop.)

Not a Poster Child: Living Well with a Disability

Falk-Allen is author of the book Not a Poster Child: Living Well with a Disability (At Right)

I asked Mama if I was going to be the March of Dimes girl, and she assured me that I wasn’t, and that there were no posters out there with my picture on them. I was a little disappointed, but what bothered me more was that people didn’t recognize that it was not me, that any little girl with Kenny sticks and brown hair looked the same to them. It made me a little angry, that that was my identity: The March of Dimes Poster Girl.

It is possible of course that people thought, “What a brave little girl,” when they saw those posters, and that they thought the same of me. But I didn’t think of that when I was five-and-a-half. I was just perturbed that people could not see it was not me, and that I didn’t have a face to them, I had a limp to identify me. That’s one of my too early adult thought processes, required by the disease that took me away from home and into a hospital for six months when I’d barely just learned to run.

I was not a poster child. Not in reality and not in terms of the smiley, optimistic, never-bothered attitude that is often wished for in disabled people. Certainly that winsome courage is more appealing for the purpose of collecting donations!  No, I was “head strong,” independent, ready with a smarty-pants retort, a girl who got out of a wheelchair and onto crutches before I was four years old, growing up a little too soon and missing some of the carefree aspects of childhood.

Later generations in the United States and Europe have not had to face these same issues, at least not with polio, and for this we can be thankful. Wouldn’t it be great if this deadly virus were eradicated once and for all, and all children could live without its specter? It is possible, and with the commitment of Rotary, we are moving toward that goal.

Francine Falk-Allen is author of Not a Poster Child: Living Well with a Disability – a Memoir, She Writes Press, 2018. She and her husband contribute annually to Rotary’s  PolioPlus fund.

Source: Rotary Voices

Why you shouldn’t be afraid to take risks

By Daniel Vankov, Immediate Past President, Rotary Club of Brisbane, Australia

Rotary’s secret is cooperation. Alone we are useless. Together we are powerful. And together in a million we are unstoppable.

John Smerdon and Daniel Vankov prepare sausage sizzle for the homeless in Brisbane.

I had the honor of serving as president of the Rotary Club of Brisbane in 2017-18. It was a task that was not only challenging, but highly rewarding. My desire had been to make a difference, which also happened to be the theme 2017-18 Rotary President Ian Riseley put forward for the year.

Rotary Donations in Kind event

AT RIGHT: Club members Carolyn Tate, left, and James Delahunty do some heavy lifting during a working bee at Rotary Donations in Kind.

Reflecting back, I realize that at that point of time, I was unprepared in many ways for the enormity of it, given my limited exposure to both Rotary and the club. But I embraced the opportunity I was given with a passion and desire to learn and grow as a person and as a Rotarian. And I had many great former presidents to learn from.

One thing in particular I learned, and it would be my advice to those that follow, is to take risks. We would not have achieved anything as a club had we not been willing to try new things and assume the risks that entails. When you change nothing, nothing changes. One should not fear failing, one should fear not trying.

My favorite quote from Mark Twain is this:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

If you would like further insights into how my club was able to innovate, download our annual report from our club website. I am also happy to respond to inquiries through my LinkedIn profile.

Source: Rotary Voices

Club Officers

President                   Chris Muir
Secretary                   Mark Williams
Treasurer                   Warren Walker
Imm. Past President  Daniel Vankov
Sergeant-at-arms       Luke Marshall
The Rotary Club of Brisbane Inc.
ABN 75 152 438 499
GPO BOX 2909 Brisbane Qld 4001
District               9600
Club Number   17787

Brisbane City Cluster Assistant Governor

Lisa Bateson

District Governor

Wendy Protheroe

Rotary International President

Barry Rassin