Rotary is engaging with our local refugee community

During the past month the Rotary Club of North Melbourne have had some great speakers on Zoom and are so happy that we are now getting back to meet in person at the Mercure Hotel.

Two recent speakers we had were from the River Nile School and Ames Australia.

The River Nile School (RNS) offers full time programs delivering the VCAL curriculum to re-engage Refugee and Asylum Seeker school-aged young women who may have experienced disrupted schooling and are newly arrived to Australia.

This school is right in the centre of the area our Rotary Club serves in Capel St, North Melbourne.

Ames Australia is an organisation that is responsible for supporting the Afghan refugees that have arrived after fleeing the Taliban. They are currently coordinating a donation distribution centre from the Drill Hall opposite Queen Victoria Market currently and they are looking after about 3000 people.

Our members were really impressed with the work both organisations are doing and have decided we will get more involved with both of them on an ongoing basis to aid.

Our club has our final meeting of the year as a fun in-person break up “Xmas Party” at the Mercure Hotel and we have invited both organisations to make up a table from the refugee community they work with so that they can interact with our members with a view that ongoing positive relationships will ensue.

And we are still looking for volunteers

We mentioned last month about our new venture as a founding member of RIMERN being the Rotary Inner Melbourne Emergency Relief Network.

This organisation collects and distributes household goods to people that have just been provided housing. The recipients are referred by various other organisations that assist people who have been homeless or possible even victims of family violence. Some may have just come out of prison.

One of these organisations is the River Nile School. From our article in last month’s edition we did receive a few contacts from volunteers who have been working with our own members.

Our club is doing a three-hour shift every two weeks on a Saturday afternoon and we would still love to have more volunteers to share the load.

So, if you are interested in volunteering or finding out more about Rotary please give our volunteer coordinator Judy Page a call on 0425 741 624 or email her at [email protected] •