Rotary Activate Victoria Club, focusses on volunteering and a hands-on approach to Rotary Membership.

Article by PDG Stephen Lamont, Rotary Coordinator

One of the very basic fundamentals of friendship is finding and belonging to group of likeminded people. Often, we ask the question ‘have I found my friendship group’ and when we do, that friendship group shall nurture you and make you feel welcome. If you like hands on projects, then a new type of Rotary Club may be what you are looking for in a friendship group – and such a club has recently been formed in Victoria – Rotary Activate Victoria Club (RAVC)

RAVC offers flexible, online club membership with plenty of opportunities to volunteer in meaningful, hands on, convenient community projects. The major theme to the club is to make a difference to the community and yourself by activating your weekend and your potential. The message is simple - Volunteer in meaningful, hands on, convenient community projects with diverse people who share your sense of community and invest in your own development.

RAVC offers a contemporary volunteering membership experience and meet online every fortnight. They enjoy flexibility in how they make a difference – but still offer the basics of the Rotary experience by providing the opportunity to meet lifelong friends with something important in common and capitalise on the vocational advantage that volunteering and Rotary membership provides.

Members are encouraged to volunteer in projects across their community, and even start their own. As Rotary Activate membership focuses on hands on participation in meaningful projects – the type of project is only limited by identifying where help is needed. Here are some examples of current and ongoing projects:

HOMEGOODS FOR FAMILIES IN NEED IN MELBOURNE'S NORTH

Volunteers receive, manage and deliver donated furniture, appliances, bedding and other essential home goods to families in need from a dedicated warehouse in East Brunswick in Melbourne's inner north as part of the Rotary Inner Melbourne Emergency Relief Network (RIMERN). This takes place on Saturday over two hours.

PREPARE AND DISTRIBUTE HOT, NUTRITIOUS MEALS TO INDIVIDUALS IN NEED

Every week, Nourish prepares up to 65 meal packs, including a hot meal, salad, fresh fruit, bread and a sweet treat, and distributes them by hand to individuals in St Kilda struggling with housing and nutrition.

TREE PLANTING

On National Tree Planting Day thousands of volunteers of all ages turned out to help Rotary clubs of Melbourne, Chadstone-East Malvern, Camberwell, Kensington-Flemington (and more) support National Tree Planting Day in collaboration with local councils.

PACK MEALS FOR COMMUNITIES IN NEED

FORaMEAL - utilises volunteers and donated ingredients, equipment and transport to assemble and provide 150,000+ meals to communities locally and around the world every year. That's a total of 500,000+ donated meals!

HOMEGOODS FOR FAMILIES IN NEED IN MELBOURNE'S WEST

Western Emergency Relief Network (WERN) - Receive, manage and deliver donated furniture, appliances, bedding and other essential home goods to families in need from a dedicated warehouse in Ravenhall in Melbourne's west.

RESCUE UNSOLD FOOD TO FEED VULNERABLE PEOPLE

SecondBite – Club members assist SecondBite to collect nutritious, unsold food from Prahran Market vendors to be cooked into meals to feed individuals and families in need, such as the homeless.

RAVC is to be commended on developing a wonderful club experience focusing on volunteering. It is an appealing club in particular to a younger demographic who wish to focus more on volunteering and less on meetings and guest speakers. Certainly, a model for now and the future.

Photos from the Club's Facebook page and website.