Meeting 3094 was opened by Chairperson Deb Williams and Toast was given by Bob Hinderwell.
Deb welcomed members and guest speaker Owen Crees.
Apologies were received from Bob Ahrens, Leanne Clinch, Kevin Clarke, Patsy Johnson, Tom Kelly, Anthony Barilla, Daniel Barrett, and Jeff Bennier.
Deb invited directors to come forward for Rotary spots.
Kim Potger- reported a successful fundraiser movie night from a treasurer’s perspective. 134 tickets purchased interim report is $1280 raised including raffle tickets and $5 from each seat sold. Final amount will be confirmed when Kim receives invoice from Gawler cinema.
PP Steve Barilla- Thanked everyone for their support in the Movie night- great fun was had by all. Thank you to donors of raffle prizes. Reminder Gawler Show this weekend still a couple of spots for volunteers. It is forecast to rain so be mindful of where you park cars-keep area at the top for elderly, families with small children and disabled.
Dino Donati- the club has received a certificate of appreciation for their support with the Indigenous Health Scholarship program and inquired if we are willing to support again this year.
President Mark Smeaton gave an update on Bob Ahrens. Bob is back at Southern Cross care and had a day out with his family on the weekend. He would love contact with people again either by phone or a visit. If visiting please phone ahead to make sure it’s ok.
The club Christmas dinner has been booked upstairs at Nixon’s at $40 a head. Family and guests welcome and encouraged. Please bring an unwrapped gift for under the tree which will be donated to Gawler Salvation Army on the night.
Kathy Heindrich President Mark and past President Steve, Grace and Kathy attended the Zonta meeting on Wednesday night, where the Zonta club approached all the service clubs within Gawler, about helping them build a mural for domestic violence victims. The mural is going where the toilet block used to be. It will become a place where people can go and remember people and reminisce; a place where they can go and be safe. There'll be a memorial garden on one side of it. It will be taken to board to see if we can support them financially,
Lookout for the invitation to Christmas dinner function. It will be emailed out shortly. We would like to take that opportunity to fundraise again, so we're looking for donations towards auction items,
After Barry’s Sergeant entertaining sergeants’ session Chairperson Deb announced, the fines would go to Angel Flight and introduced the guest speaker Owen Crees, Chairman of Angel Flight.
Owen Worked as a scientist and manager at Sugar Research Institute in Mackay, Queensland for 25 years; worked in commodities trading at Queensland sugar in Brisbane for five years, and came to Adelaide in 2001, as CEO of research laboratories of Australia, a private technology development company specializing in digital printing technology. He is now retired, and pursuing other business and aviation interest. A licensed private pilot for more than 45 years with 3000 hours flying experience as a Mooney aircraft, director of the Aldinga aviation propriety limited and Australian Mooney Pilots Association and chair Angel Flight Australia; a volunteer pilot with Angel fight since 2004, and has conducted 300 Angel missions,
Angel Flight is a national charity that started in 2003, founded by Bill Risto, who and had seen an Angel Flight type operation working in the US decided that would be perfect here in Australia.
They now operate out of all states of Australia. They provide free flights for isolated people for non-emergency medical purposes; provide free ground transport at the destinations. They fly small private aircraft They are not an alternative to Care Flight, RFDS, Air Ambulance and rescue services etc. They fill a gap to Rural Australians.
As of November 14th, 2021, they have provided 50,910 flights equating to more than 20250,000km.
Passengers can apply directly to Angel Flight who will coordinate with medical professionals to confirm their suitability. Passengers are People who:
- need non-emergency medical services not otherwise available due to cost or distance
- RFDS return patients
- Patient family or carers for compassionate reasons
- Compassionate transfers during COVID
- No limit to age youngest patient was 10 days old.
- During COVID 30 passengers were cross border transfers -family members coming home for end-of-life visits to loved ones.
Patients must not require in flight care, not be eligible for transport via RFDS or other services and must be able to get in and out of small aircraft. Pilots are a mix of private and commercial airline pilots and must have a minimum of 250 hours in command. Average experience is 3300 hours, and all exceed CASA standards of competency. Planes are mostly 4-6 seat single engine and passengers are briefed beforehand, so they are aware of the plane size etc, and it is their choice to fly.
Angel Flight is free because:
- Airports waive landing fees
- Airservices waive en route and tower costs
- All flights are private operators
- Pilots (3,318) are volunteers and aircraft operations are donated.
- Drivers (4671) are volunteers and motor vehicle operations are donated
Angel Flight pays for Fuel based on the aircraft type.
Commercial flights are used when required e.g., capital city transfers and weather delays.
They have a very small support staff and very low overhead costs.
Angel Flight does not attract Government grants or subsidies. They have no paid advertising or active fundraising. Donations, bequests, and sponsorship in 2020/2021 was $1.95 million. The policy is to never follow up donors asking for more.
What can you do to help?
After a series of questions and answers for members it was clear that everyone found the talk informative. Deb presented Owen with a certificate of appreciation and informed him we would be making a donation in his name to End Polio to vaccinate 45 children.
Deb then called on President mark to close the meeting.
President Mark thanked Steve Barilla for attending the Gawler Remembrance Day service on behalf of the club. He reminded everyone that next week is the AGM and urged people to think about nominating if they haven’t already. In particular for the role of President Elect. If you have someone in mind, give them a call and speak to them and encourage them to nominate. This is a big job but and important one.
The One and All cruise on the 29th of Nov is now sold out- a large number from our club but a mix of other clubs attending which is nice.
After the Four Way test mark closed meeting 3094.
Deb Willams Owen Crees & President Mark Smeaton
