UPCOMING EVENTS
Club Meeting and Speaker Event - Mental Health First Aid Australia
Location: Amora Hotel, 649 Bridge Road, Richmond VIC 3121
When: Tuesday, 30 October 2018
‘Approximately 20% of Australian adults experience a common mental illness each year. Completing an MHFA Course will help you to develop the skills to support a friend, family member or co-worker. Having mental health first aid skills means that you can assist someone developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis and make a real difference to your community.’
The Rotary Club of Melbourne Park are excited to welcome Fiona Blee of Mental Health First Aid Australia (MHFAA) to discuss how the organisation is providing programs on dealing with mental illness It is now an international program in over 25 countries: http://www.mhfainternational.org/.
We will also have updates on projects and events that are on the go at the club.
About the Meeting
The meeting is a 6:30pm arrival for a 7pm start. Please RSVP by midnight on Sunday 28th October 2018, if you would like to attend. If you are unable to attend, please let us know 24 hours prior to the meeting as we need to provide numbers to our venue. Meeting fee is $15 and includes a drink on arrival and nibbles. This is payable by cash and credit card on the night. If you have any questions, please email contact our Meetup admins
Please RSVP on Meet Up or send an email to info@rcmelpark.com
If you have any questions, please email contact our Meetup admins.
No Club Meeting
When: Tuesday 6th November 2018
There will no meeting this week due to Melbourne Cup.
Please keep checking for future Meet Up posts.
For more information please email info@rcmelpark.com
Please keep checking for future Meet Up posts.
For more information please email info@rcmelpark.com
Volunteering - FORaMEAL Packaging Event at Rotary Club of Canterbury
Location: Basscare Centre, 2 Rochester Road, CanterburyVIC 3126
When: Monday 12 November 2018
The Rotary Club of Canterbury have invited us to the packaging event which will be held at 6:00 for a 6:30pm sharp start on the Monday 12th November 2018 at the Bass Care Centre, 2 Rochester Rd Canterbury. The estimate time to complete is 8:30pm and there will be light snacks and beverages provided. There is anticipate there will be about 50 people there, hence there will be limited spots.
About the Event
The evening is not seen as a work task because that is the last thing people want to do after working all day. Rather, the evening is a fun event. People work shoulder to shoulder as part of a packing line team and share many humorous moments. In addition, the outcome is wonderful because, with just a few hours of a person’s time, many thousands of nutritious meals will be prepared for people who have been displaced by disasters. At the last food packing, done for the RC Camberwell, they packed 18,000 meals contained in 3,000 packs with about 50 people in 2 hours. The contents of packs are a dry mix of rice, oats, lentils and a sachet of vitamins and minerals, as displayed on the outside of each pack. The packs are heat sealed and clearly marked as NOT FOR SALE.
The food packs are quite nutritious.
This is quite important because in emergency situations, children and pregnant women particularly, need nutritious food rather than just plain rice. It has been demonstrated that the folic acid concentration in the blood of mothers generally decreases with every succeeding baby. This increases the risk of the next baby being born with spina bifida. It follows that this effect is magnified in indigent women who are likely to be nutritionally deficient, including in folate, before they are affected by a natural disaster.
In the last 15 months, over 100,000 meals have been provided in 20,000 food packs to Rotary Clubs in the Philippines for distribution, free of charge, to displaced people resulting from emergency situations including earthquakes (Ormoc), volcanic eruptions (Mt Mayon), insurgencies (Marawi), and extreme weather events like typhoons (Burias and Ticao Islands). The distribution concept is to locate the product to geographic locations in developing Nations that are prone to regularly encountering food crises due to disasters happening, prior to any crises occurring.
They are stored by local Rotary Clubs or local Government ready to be distributed as soon as the emergency food crisis emerges. The food packs have a 2 years Best Before Date printed on them.
If the packs are not distributed within 12-18 months, then it is suggested that the local partner where the food packs are stored, usually a Rotary Club, use the food packs as part of a Feeding Program for disadvantaged children BEFORE the expiry date of the packs is reached. Such Feeding Programs are commonly undertaken by Rotary Clubs in developing Nations.
If you would like to join us, please RSVP through Meet Up. If you are placed on the waitlist and someone can not attend, we will let you know
If you have any questions, please email info@rcmelpark.com
