Presidential Ponderings!
A great start to President Kelly's first meeting of the year - he forgot what he was doing and Angus forgot who he was - great pauses all round! Makes for good theatre as they say, however when composure was re-established Kelly wished us all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and thanked Brian J and Veronica L for their support when he was MIA.
Also took the opportunity to remind members of the vacancies for the 2025-2026 Rotary Year - Membership Director, President Elect/Club Service and Community/Fundraising.
President Kelly also thanked Wayne the Elder for organising extra storage space at the Senior Citizens abode along with shelves to store our accoutrements with which help is sought to move to their new home. See Wayne for more details.
Guest Speaker- David Tucker – Bicycles for Humanity (B4H)
He grew up in Melbourne in 50s and 60s. Graduating with a degree in Geology at the height of the WA Nickel Boom was the start of a 48-year career for David in the Mining industry. He worked in companies large and small, culminating in senior management and Board roles.
David thanked us for the invitation and brought greetings from Crawley Rotary Club President Sharon West.
- Bicycles for Humanity WA was formed in 2011 as a fully registered Charity.
- 100% volunteer organisation with about 85 active members and volunteers.
- HQ workshop in Midvale, where used bicycles are collected and fixed up.
- Regional workshops run by Rotary Clubs in Geraldton and Esperance and by the Claremont Showgrounds Men’s Shed.
- To date 25 containers, about 9,400 bikes to Africa and over 1,500 to remote community schools, PCYSs and community groups in WA/NT.
How the Program works – The donated bikes are collected and fixed up to safe working order in the Midvale workshop. They are then loaded into containers and shipped off to NGO partners in Africa. The containers then become a community-run bike shop they operate out of. The bicycles are then either sold or donated to the local community.
Here we ride them for recreation or to work. In Africa it is all about getting to work, accessing health care, transporting food and water or getting to school. It will get you there twice as fast and carry four times the load….or sometimes a bit more than that!
The Community Bicycle Resource Centres (CBRC) become a sustainable small business run by people in the local community. The profits are invested back into community projects, usually run by local health or education NGOs. As well as providing employment for a few people to run it, it is affordable transport for hundreds and hundreds of people.
Bikes for the World is an International collaboration that was started by the RC of Carroll Creek in Maryland, USA. The RC of Emangeni in Africa started a Recycled Bicycles to Africa project. The vision between those two clubs was to establish twelve CBRCs across rural South Africa over the next three years.
David
contacted the RC Clubs of Carroll Creek and Empangeni and offered to talk to
Rotary WA about getting together with B4H here. The B4H Board agreed to supply
at least three containers over next 2-3 years, with about 450 bikes in each.
Mill Point, through Bulldust N Back, supported Ebikers 2024 E-Venture ride to Esperance 12-18th October. Thank you for your $3,000 donation.
So far in 2024, four CBRCs have been established:
- Ladysmith (B4H Calgary)
- Kimberley (Bikes for the World)
- Ingwavuma (B4H NSW)
- Howick (B4H WA)
The first B4H WA container (of hopefully three, at least) was delivered in September. It is hoped to send the second container by the end of March. A problem is, the cost of shipping containers is unknown. The combination of the pandemic disruptions and then the Houti rebels attacking ships through the Red Sea, has meant that container shipping at the moment is chaos. To add to that, there are wharf strikes here as well. A third container will hopefully go late this year or early next year.
millpointrotaryclub.org.au>members only (password)> this link>Guest Speaker Presentations>TUCKER David – Bicycles for Humanity
Directors' Reports and Member Announcements
Veronica: Attended RYLA dinner and met our sponsee (Meg)who is eager to come to the club and share her experience at RYLA as well as her gratitude for the opportunity.
- RC of Como event - please consider attending to support Polio Plus and the RC of Como - see details under events page.
- Camp Opportunity Dinner on Wednesday 24 January. $40 pp at Point Walter Recreation Centre - please support our Youth Director Astrid. See events page for details.
- District conference 2025 in Margaret River and Glam Up Your Truck competition - details under events page.
Gorby: Wongan Hills Rotary Club Vocational Visit on Tuesday 4 February, overnighting in Wongan Hills. 17 members booked - please let Gorby know asap if you are interested 0417 935 504.
Wayne: BNB meeting after breakfast
Rick: Thanks to all who donate to PICYS, recent visit by Rick allowed him to see the benefits that donations make and in particular the new beds at the premises.
And what a Fine(s) Performance!
...and he's baaaaaak! Owen took great delight in alighting to the podium amidst some severe silent hand-clapping....
- Wayne the Elder who confused us, multiplied us, divided us and square-rooted us as fines master last week.
- Those of you who have already broken your New Year resolution.
- All of you who didn't manage to stay awake and welcome in the New Year.
- Saw new granchildren swell our ranks - pay up if this was you.
- Hospitalisations - of which there were many...
- Downsizers - gone from the MacMansion to smaller abodes.
- Non old-schoolers who turn their air-con on in the hot nights.
- Holiday makers who ventured on extended "Tours".
- Tennis Tragics who survive(d) the late match(es).
- Peter Matthews - 1. for trying to grow a moustache and 2. for constantly returning to the club.
- Alison - 21 again x 3?
- Wayne the Elder - lack of interest in Fran's birthday - tut, tut!
Winner of Heads and Tails
Attendance
37 attendees in all, including guest speaker David Tucker (also a Rotarian), visiting Rotarian Bill Boekman from Wongan Hills and Peter Matthews.
