Surfers amazing generosity, Friday BBQ, Job Club and Mock interviews (Nov 01, 2020)

Date Claimers

Friday 13th November Anthony Miller from Miller Sockhill Lawyers is our guest speaker on all things to do with wills and the law

Saturday 14th November is working bee for the Rotary Cluster at Kirsten Court for our Maroochydore mini care garden

In November we also want to do formal presentation of our donations to The Board Meeting, Salty Souls Legacy and Care Outreach and run a couple of Job Club sessions at the Kawana Sports Hub.....so look out for that.

Also during November we will be donating our BBQ trailer to Maloolaba Rotary who are holding a community BBQ for The Board Meeting Surf Charity if anyone is interested in helping Geoff and his team.

Friday 27th November is the Rotary District Governors visit to the club

Friday 4th December is club AGM

Friday 11th December is club Christmas Dinner at Alex SLSC

Sunday 13th December "Christmas at Alex" for the kids (TBC)

Maroochydore High School Mock Interviews

Steve, Larney, Liana, Jack and Michelle with High School Student

The Alex rotary have been part of the regular Maroochydore High School Interviews for many years now, and we were delighted to continue that association last Thursday morning. Bob Thompson has been helping the kids with tips on job applications and interviews for over 5 years, and we took the opportunity of letting the Rotarians and volunteers present at the fantastic morning tea to know about the adults "Job Club" starting up in 2021 at the Kawana Sports Hub.

We also had interest from My Weekly Preview on the mock interview program and so the organiser in chief, Steve Hind from Maroochydore Rotary wrote these words which capture why Rotarians do this every year for the students...

"The annual Mock Interviews for Maroochydore State High School year 10 students not only form an integral part of their curriculum, they provide an excellent opportunity for Students to have a practice run at a Job Interview with “strangers” in our community so the actually get to feel some nerves, but more importantly, they gain valuable life experience in what it will be like when they actually apply for that job of their dreams.

The local Rotary Cluster on the Sunshine Coast always proudly supports this event and it’s one I am very glad to be involved with, pulling together between 20 to 25 Volunteers each year to work our way through the cohort. The legendary Morning Tea is a big drawcard for those that have had the pleasure of tucking in and the School usually provides a token of their appreciation with a box of chocolates and a certificate for each Volunteer. The most rewarding part? Knowing we have helped today’s youth towards a successful careers and meeting some of the truly talented up and coming youngsters who you just know are really going places in this world."

A certain scribe has also got to mention what a great job the Maroochydore High School Team does...many of the students we met were truly inspirational.

Friday Night BBQ

Friday night BBQ by Lake Kawana

On Friday night the club hosted a BBQ at the Kawana sports hub accommodation block.

We visited the block a few weeks prevoiously, and were really impressed by the facility which has been transformed during the pandemic by IFYS to act as a transit centre for the folks doing it tough on the accommodation and work front.

Carmel, Mike and Tony were the master chefs while the rest of us swanned about the fantastic deck overlooking Lake Kawana. What a setting for a Friday night chill !!

So now that we've all met each other Vicky & Renee are keen for Rotary to start the job club and we'll get a few trial sessions under our belt before the formal program starts in 2021. Stay tuned for more information.

Enjoying a Friday night on the deck at the sports hub accommodation block

Meanwhile the master chefs were busy in the background..thanks Carmel, Mike and Tony.

Christmas Functions

Christmas Celebration Ideas...

Christmas is going to be a bit different this year, with many, if not all of th eCommunity Celebrations cancelled. As you may know the Boat Parade and Mooloolaba Fireworks have been cancelled, and the "Christmas at Alex" is also in doubt. Josie Ryan is seeing what can be done, but it will be difficult.

So we're looking for ideas on what we can do to make a kids Christmas this year. Any suggestions, please let anyone at Alex Rotary know.

Job Club

Job Club - First Sessions

A certain scribe took the opportunity on Thursday at the Maroochydore High School "mock interviews" to ask the 25 volunteers there if they would be interested in doing something similar for adults who need a bit of help on approaching work too.

So what's involved in the job club?

Basically its providing a bit of support in the form of tips and suggestions on how to grab that all important first step on the job ladder. So its things like mock interviews, talking and body language skills, some coaching around investigating jobs and knowing what to say and do when you start work, how to interact with the boss and workmates and all the other small things that make up your reputation at work.

Rotary and IFYS will prepare the materials in the form of one hour sessions, which are typically broken up to 4 X 15 minute activities, designed to get discussion going on whats important in getting and holding down a job.

In previous sessions we've also put in some short video's to help keep interest..here's one that worth a view..it will make you laugh...

https://youtu.be/0EjqOCpM7d8

Occo's lunch

Surfing Community Generosity Shines Through once again

We knew from partnering with the surfing communities at the Surf Show and Shine that the Owen, Naomi, Rod, Julie and the Sunshine Coast artists, and of Jody and the folks at North Shore Board riders were an amazingly generous bunch, but the Surfing community really out did themselves last Friday at The Board Meeting "Legends of Surf Lunch".

A certain scribe was there to see it all, and also our roving reporter Save Newton filed this report on the proceedings.

The place was "jumping" with a great community feeling all happy to help The Board Meeting"....helping kids in need.

From our reporter at the event...

"What an amazing long lunch with Occy - a very humble and at the end of the lunch a very generous person as well.

Mark Occhilupo came from the Cronulla area, a Southern Shire Of Sydney where they breed 'em tuff. The male surfers were tough and the female surfers even tougher - watch the movie Puberty Blues when you get a chance.

I only surfed there a couple of times when I was with a local that I knew - localism of the surf tribes were rife.

Occy lives on the Goldie, his son Jade is following in his Dad's footsteps and is Junior Queensland Surf Champ. Great stories even if you are not related to surfing.

There were approx 350 in attendance, a full house.

The auction was amazing - 40 items sold and reaping tens of thousands of dollars.

Approx $120 bottles of aged scotch selling for $900 etc. Surfboards selling for $2000-$3500 - approx twice the value.

However the knockout came at the end when Occy auctioned a full days surfing with him at his wave machine park for 2 people up at Yeppoon, the winning bid being $15,000. Knocked everyone out including Occy.

Mark mentioned the RCAH twice in his speeches and the support provided by the club."

Official RCAH long lunch reporter

Steve

..and here's the twice world champion himself Mark Occholupo auctioning off his board...Hard to believe he is 54 year old...

Mark also spoke well about mental illness and our very own Sunshine Coaster, Mark Skinner also organised a Mental Health speaker at the lunch which was great to see.

Not surprisingly surfing is one of the best activities for relieving anxiety and improving mental health according to all the experts. And as my mate Owen says, if you can't surf just get on the beach and listen to the waves...works every time for me!

Club visits local DV heroes at King IT

Club visit to the "Great Guys" at King IT

On Friday the club visited Patrick and his team at King IT to hear the latest on the brilliant work that his team are doing in providing emergency phones to DV victims. We found out that demand for these emergency phones outstrips demand and that Ashton Wood founder of DV Safephone and director of IC3 are working with Red Rose Foundation to get these phones to DV victims who are in desperate need of reliable emergency contact mechanisms when things turn bad.

Ashton is funding the program himself, and Patricks team are refurbishing donated phones, and can already see that demand is so great that they will need significant help to meet the demand, and bring the program - which is already taking roots world wide- to the folks in our society who live with DV every day.

Sounds like a great thing for the larger Rotary organisation to get involved with..

Patrick was telling the club that his successful business, had a bit of prompting from fellow Rotarians at Caloundra and now that he's taken the plunge into small business, things are thriving and he's never looked back. So we'll done Patrick for not only turning a small business into a larger business, but also retaining Community support in your company culture.

Meanwhile, Ashton is pushing on with the phones for DV program and getting some interest from Vodafone and the wider good corporate citizens. If you can help, please donate to the program, or if you have an old phone, then consider donating to King IT. But first as we found out, if you have any accounts on the phone, please remove them, and if you're not sure how to do that... then pop in and Patrick's team will be happy to show you.

ROMAC quiz night will soon be here...

ROMAC quiz night - 4th March

We have one short for the Alex Rotary quiz team, if anyone enjoys a trivia quiz competition while supporting a great cause. Let Tony know if you can make it. Just saying that in the past few years the club has an impressive record in this prestigious quiz of being of runner up, 2 times winners, and generally being a bit of pest to the other Rotary Clubs in the district..let's hope we can maintain this in 2021.

Meanwhile here's where your entry fee is going...oh, and did I say that there is a bar with some nice Australian wines going cheap.?

Vincent to fly back to the Solomon Islands after 16 months of life-saving medical treatment in Canberra

Vincent Toto (centre) and his mother Cosinta Matesonia (right) have been in Canberra for the past 16 months for medical treatment. They stayed with Sandra Goldstraw (left). Picture: Karleen Minney

Vincent Toto has a smile that could brighten up any room = he came to Australia in July 2019 at two months old, he was only expected to stay for eight or nine months but he and his mother, Cosinta Matesonia, have stayed for the past 16 months.

During that time he has had three major surgeries and about 30 gastroscopies.

Vincent's treatment was possible due to a memorandum of understanding between ROMAC and the ACT government.

Vincent Toto and his mother, Cosinta Matesonia are now back in Honiara this weekend.

"I want to say thank you to the hospital for helping us and also thank you to Rotary as well for the help, if not my baby was going to die," she said.