Investing energy in youth

Younger residents of our communities, in the 20 to 40 age group, make a major contribution to the number of people who volunteer in Australia.

But they also have strong preferences when it comes to deciding where to dedicate their time and are particularly passionate about their choices.

The Rotary Club of Carlton is planning to find out what younger community members think are the most important issues that need to be addressed in our Carlton/Parkville community. They can do this by listing a project that they think can make a meaningful difference to address this issue through hands-on volunteering. Click here to find out how you can be involved.

After collecting these over the next month we will invite young people to vote for the one that they believe can be best achieved by a group working together. We will then invite those who have voted for the three projects that get the highest number of votes to meet and choose which one they would like to help develop a project plan. The Rotary Club has members who can provide advice on project planning and management as appropriate and the club can support at least one project with a small amount of seeding funding if needed.  However, it will remain the project of those who supported it.

We do know that younger people are attracted to projects that align with their priorities and:

• Make a meaningful difference – things such as environment, equity and mental health, that directly impact beneficiaries, and which they can share on social media;
• Are hands-on – they are participatory, and have tangible results that visibly benefit people, so they can share the results of their work; and
• Are conveniently held in their local community, are run regularly, particularly after hours, and are free to participate in.

The deadlines for the steps in this process are:

1. Saturday, September 17 for listing a community project on the website shown above.
2. Saturday, October 15 for voting on your preferred project
3. Latter half of October and early November to join a group to develop a project plan for either of the three highest rated projects.

Supporting Ukrainian refugees

Carlton Rotary is assisting the Rotary Club of Alexandra to provide supermarket vouchers to Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in Australia on humanitarian visas.  These people are entitled to apply for Centrelink benefits but often have to wait up to six weeks while paperwork is processed. In the meantime, they have little to live on. Alexandra Rotary Club is providing the funds but, as the refugees are being housed in student accommodation in Carlton, they were looking for a local Rotary Club to purchase the vouchers and hand them to a Ukrainian Australian for distribution. Carlton Rotary is acting as the intermediary and has just supplied the first 20 $50 vouchers.

Next meeting

The Rotary Club of Carlton has begun meeting on the third Tuesday of each month at Naughtons Hotel, Royal Pde, Parkville commencing at 6.30 pm. If you would like to join us on September 20, or any other month, to find out a little more about Rotary, please contact Paul Kruspe on 0423 025 962 or [email protected] and we would make you most welcome.

Ian Ada – president, Rotary Club of Carlton

[email protected] / 0447 173 084 •