Welcome to the Rotary Club of Keilor East

Are you someone who wants to make positive changes in our northern suburbs and join projects to benefit our overseas neighbours? Our dedicated club members like to help the community.
And becoming a Rotarian connects you with friendly people offering Fellowship and happy times.

What We Do

Rotary Keilor East members are dedicated to projects that enhance lives and communities locally and in developing countries. You cacn see the range of our work on this page. We are keen to build up these projects and create new ones, but for that we need more volunteers willing to give some of their time, skills and energy. So we're appealing to community members in Keilor and Moonee Valley -- not just to our own members - to lend us a hand. If you'd like to help, and enjoy making new friends - use our blue Contact button at top right-hand of the page. Thanks, David Dippie, President.

Helping hand with surgery

We have enjoyed visitors from the newly-chartered Rotaract Melbourne University and from ROMAC (Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children). The young ROMAC patient Elina, from Vanuatu, has had correctional surgery on her club foot at St Vincents Hospital. She attended our meeting with her mother, aunt and host, Linda. Our Rotaract Melbourne University visitors were President Viraj Patel, Secretary Elizabeth, Treasurer Alvin, Sree and Richie. We promised the transfer of $500 to help fund one of their upcoming projects.

Our club's 41st birthday!

It was our Rotary Club's 41st Birthday on August 10. We celebrated at the brilliant Open Day at Rotary Donations in Kind West Footscray. Chartered in 1983, we are still going strong, with weekly meetings, great guest speakers, Camp Getaway Working Bee Weekend from 23-25 August and our wonderful Moonee Valley Art Show with Rotary Club of Essendon 11-13 October at the Ukrainian Centre Essendon. Happy Birthday to Rotary Keilor East and may we celebrate many more happy occasions in the future.

Moonee Valley Art Show opens 11 October

RCKE praised by Inner Northwest Press

The latest newspaper from Inner Northwest Press features our club's Cambodian work with an article and pic of our sponsored student Sokhey, plus a mention in their editorial, namely "Keilor East Rotary Club shared stories of the inspiring work they've done in Cambodia."

The story, as sent, and the published version in pic, reads

Rotary help for deserving student

In rural Cambodia, desperately poor families will even cut back on their meals to afford high school for their teenagers.

The Rotary Club of Keilor East, based at Windy Hill, is helping out. It's using fund-raising from Bunnings sausage sizzles and annual art shows to pay for university and living costs for 19-year-old Sokhey.

Her father is ill. Her six-member family borrows rice from neighbours to live on and her mother pays it back by labouring at the harvest.

Sokhey had to repeat years at Future Bright International School because her jobs with caretakers, guards and cafes chewed up her study time. But she graduated last year and is studying catch-up English to prepare for Pannasastra University, where all course-work is in English. "My mother believes education can change my life," Sokhey's written to the club. " I want to learn, I want to change my life, and I love to help other people around me."

Contact: rotarykeiloreast.org

Raising Timor kids' schooling

Imagine a primary school with 122 kids trying to study in open shacks, tumbledown buildings, no toilets and not even a tap for washing hands. The desks and seats are in poor shape and there's not nearly enough for the kids. That's the situation at Sulilaren Primary two hours drive west of Dili in Timor Leste.

And Rotary Keilor East is doing something about it, combining with other Rotary and aid groups. The $90,000 project in Bobonaro District involves getting a replacement school built, with four classrooms, a teachers' room, five toilets, tap-water and new desks, chairs, exercise books and pens. Half the funding has been raised already, mainly by the Build It Well charity.

Timor Leste is the poorest country in our region. It knows that better education - especially for girls - is the key to development. It wants more kids to get schooling and stay at school longer, but the budget for education isn't big enough to make that a reality.

The Australian-based groups lending a hand with Sulilaren Primary includes volunteers from Spend It Well, which gets schools built efficiently and cheaply; Donations in Kind (West Footscray) which recycles donated furniture and equipment; Rotary Foundation which helps fund the container shipments; and Keilor East and other Rotary clubs.

"When we work together great things happen," says Keilor East Rotary's president David Dippie.

Pictures: Top - the original school shack. Middle: First renovations

Bottom: Renovations well under way

Volunteering for the Community --
Our Invitation to You

To Everyone in the Keilor -Moonee Valley Districts...

From David Dippie, President, Keilor East Rotary.

You might not be a member of our Keilor East Rotary Club but why not join us for a morning or day helping on a community or environme

ntal project?

We're friendly volunteers committed to making the world a better place. We're achieving a lot but could do much more with your help. If you've got some spare time, please lend us a hand! If you'd like to apply to join our club, that would be great but it's your call.

Contact using the blue "Contact" button at top right of our webpage, or just email solatube@bigpond.com.

Our club assisting WERN

Rotary Keilor East members have put their shoulders to the wheel to help Western Emergency Relief Network (WERN) this month. Pics show members in the warehouse. WERN comprises of Rotary Clubs helping to supply good quality second hand furniture, electronics and whitegoods, to people in need without charge.

Our club's new Cambodian student

Our club is sponsoring a second university student in Cambodia, a poor but diligent girl Sokhey. Here's her letter to us (slightly edited) about her life and studies. Note her excellent English. Sokhey pictured below, tallest in back row.

Hello Rotary Club of Keilor East!
First of all, I am delighted at the surprising news that you are my new sponsor. I cannot describe my feelings and emotions now but I will tell you what I can tell. I want to meet you in person and say thank you to you again. I would like to share with you about myself, my family’s situation, my study, as well as my current positions at Cambodia Rural Students Trust (CRST).
I am 19 years old. I have three older sisters and a brother. My family is very poor. I wanted to continue my studies but my family didn’t have enough money. They have no specific jobs. They are just farmers but they don’t know much about growing plants well. My older sister had already married once but she now broke up and is living with my parents. Moreover, my father has health problems so he cannot work hard. My mother works on the farm every year. We do not have enough rice to eat per year; therefore, we need to borrow some from our neighbours and pay them back after we harvest. My mother urges me to study because she believes education can change my life.

Furthermore, I applied for a scholarship from CRST twice before, in 2020 and 2021. I wanted to learn, I wanted to change my life, and I loved to help other people around me. When I joined CRST, I had a lot of opportunities to volunteer. I actually changed my life a lot . I grew up to be an independent girl and walk in the right path.

Additionally, I studied at Future Bright International School when I joined CRST, one of the outstanding private schools in Siem Reap. I was not a good student in the class because I did not have enough time to study. However, I didn’t give up and instead, I worked extremely hard on studying. Finally, I got grade C which was considered a good grade during the national exam of my high school. I was so proud of myself even though it was not the result I preferred, but I had already done my best. It felt fantastic to get it.

Now, I am studying an English program called IEAP at Pannasastra University of Cambodia (PUC). This class is organized to make students ready to be freshmen and this is an English-based university, so we need to understand English well. I started to study there at beginner level and now I am studying level one. I got grade B for the final test of beginner level.

I was promoted to be a Campus External Team Department member after I graduated from high school. I work with the external (non-NGO) team members on high school students’ meals. I also work on campus with a caretaker and security guard company. And I work with restaurant owners to make food for high school students. One more thing, I was promoted to be a "Project G --Empowering Girls" production team member. I am being trained now and I have more responsibility.
Best regards,
Sokhey

Rotary Keilor East gets its own Mustang display

Rotary Keilor East’s tour of the RAAF Museum at Point Cook on November 16 had an unexpected bonus -- Wing Commander Jason Easthope gave us an 800kph flying display of an RAAF Mustang fighter. He was leaving Pt Cook to fly via Temora to take part in the Williamtown Newcastle air display next day. He told us the Temora stop after two hours flying was because the WW11 Mustang lacks a working toilet. Jason, a kiwi, is an RAF veteran of the Falklands war and then an F18 pilot, with 4500 hours flying all-up.
Mechanics wheeled out a battery starter to his beautiful Mustang with its shark-tooth nose. The 12-cylinder Packard Merlin engine burst into life with its 1200HP roaring and a puff of blue smoke. Jason sat for a while with canopy open, ensuring engine pressures and temperature were OK. Then he swung the iconic fighter around onto the strip – blowing away a few hats from the prop-wash. The engine blared and the prop howled as the tips neared the sound barrier, then his Mustang was into the air and climbing for its first pass across our small party’s sightline.
He followed with a loop putting 4G stress on his body – as if it weighed more than 300kg. Several more passes and rolls, then a waggle of wings as he waved us ‘goodbye’.

That was the highlight but our tour of the museum itself was also terrific. Behind every plane and exhibit there was a story and our guide Norm was keen to tell it. For example, the roundel in planes used in the Pacific have no red dot in the middle –because four planes including a Catalina were shot up by friendly fire from US gunners mistaking the red dot for Japan’s emblem.
The oldest plane there was a replica 1913 Bristol Boxkite aircraft that was actually flown 100 years later at Point Cook with former Air Force Test Pilot Air Vice Marshal Mark Skidmore (retired) at the controls. “Considering it’s mainly wood wire and cloth, Mark was a brave airman,” said Norm. We attach a video of the flight below, in case you don’t believe Norm.

Our tour numbers were increased with a group of guests from Tony's Melbourne Bearbrass Probus.

Our fun day at Tahbilk, Nagambie

Great RCKE outing to Tahbilk at Nagambie

A large party of 30 enjoyed a day at picturesque Tahbilk Winery on Sunday November 5, organised by RC Keilor East. The visitors came from a variety of Rotary and Probus Clubs and retirement villas. RCKE’s Gerard Mahoney stepped into the breach when our bus driver came down with Covid on November 4. The 24-seater Bendigo Bank bus which the bank kindly supplied, filled to capacity and others went independently by car.

Our day started with an hour’s boat cruise along Tahbilk’s wetlands waterways, with delightful nature commentary by “Captain Bobbo”. Next we were taken in hand by tour guide Michael, who led us through the grounds of Victoria’s oldest winery, including the lush private garden of the founding Purbrick family and the winery museum. We descended to the Tahbilk cellars to see the massive wine storages and equipment, then emerged for lunch at the restaurant with views across the wetlands.

The size of our party put the restaurant under pressure but they soon provided copious entrees and by 3pm we had our gourmet main courses, along with plentiful bottles of Tahbilk’s famed wines. We had planned to visit Michelton Winery after lunch but enjoyed our setting so much that we stayed there until 4.30pm.

Our bus trip back was non-stop and efficient, delivering us to Centreway close to 6pm. With new friends made and a relaxing time in beautiful surroundings, the Nagambie trip was a day to remember.

Rotary members work hard and selflessly for charities and it's nice to organise them a fun day out to socialise and blow away any cobwebs!