TWO Stawell Rotarians attended the annual Rotary conference in Geelong.
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One of the excursions offered was a visit to Geelong’s depot for donations in kind.
Rotary’s Donations In Kind is a major recycling operation, run by volunteers, who collect, sort and distribute donated goods of all kinds and give suitable goods to people in need, for free.
The Geelong depot has been engaged in this project for more than 14 years.
The program’s roots go back 50 years, when Australian Rotarians began hands-on projects overseas and it became obvious that surplus material in Australia would be valuable in third world countries.
It was part of Rotary Australia World Community Service – a group that assists with practical projects in developing countries. There are depots throughout Australia.
Members were introduced to chairman and Rotarian Anton Van Doornik who has been managing the depot for 10 years.
Members were shown through rooms dedicated to school books – primary and secondary – good quality second-hand clothing (distributed in the small and poor villages in various countries), domestic linen, medical supplies (sorted by volunteer nurses), bolts of material, sewing machines (serviced by volunteer technicians before they are dispatched) and domestic goods – crockery and cooking utensils.
Scrap metal and other waste is sold to help to with expenses.
Large containers are regularly shipped to Port Moresby, Popondetta, Mt Hagen, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Sri Lanka and Africa.
These places receive the goods free of charge except for local wharf expenses.
Volunteers believe this gives the recipients a feeling of ownership.
Geelong recently acquired a Toyota 4WD to send to Bougainville.
Before it was loaded into the container, thieves broke into the depot and stole the Toyota, crashing it through a wire mesh fence.
A few days later, it was found by the police and returned.
The windscreen was smashed, tyres ruined, part of the vehicle was painted brown, and there was other damage.
Anton sent out plea for help on Rotary media and most of the parts needed to restore the vehicle were donated.
Since the depot was established in Geelong, 272 containers containing goods to the value of $2-million have been shipped to countries where the goods are requested. Each 12 months, 20 containers are dispatched, with freight costing $9600.
People can donate by contacting Pauline at seaby301@bigpond.com