Meeting opened at 630 chaired by pp Keith Weeding

 Welcome to Ryan Domes inbound student to RC Burwood in 1995

 Rotary District is looking at a International exchange again in the future 

Welcome to Jeanette Weeding

Apologies: Acting Pres John Mansour, pdg Paul Sarks, Patricia Abraham, Anne Marie Sanni

Reports:  

New Rob Whitney

RYLA was held at Stanley Tops. Anthony Lim sponsored by RC Burwood, said it was life changing and will come to speak to us in time, 

Three students attended NYSF.  Rob wrote to them and they will also be coming , 

Marilie   

 Thanked the club for raising the money at the Fashion Parade. See the Story in Spoke 

 Their visit was very successful. Money spent to repair roof of the school. The second school also  repaired their roof. Also gave money to three schools to feed children.

 Two other local Rotary clubs came to help. The money was given to the Rotary Club who presented it   immediately to the schools.  

 Pp Keith introduced Ryan Domes who thanked us for the invitation. He is from Portland Ohio. He was  on Exchange here in 1994-1995. He was at his High school and there was an announcement asking   “Do you want to be a exchange student” .    So he thought it would be good for him to grow. He got the   application and in the end they selected two candidates. He did basic interviews, with and without his   parents, and than district interviews. He had formal training and than met inbound students to give   them   an indication of what exchange was like. They were able to nominate countries they preferred to   go to but there were no promises. Australia was always on the top of the list. They could be sent   anywhere on the list. In the end when they were announced he was the last to be announced and   Australia had not been given to anyone and so he knew he was coming here as he was the last person   to be nominated .

Had training weekends where rules were given to handle their expectations They would stay with three or four, different families. It was pre internet days and so no idea where Burwood was. His first family were the Mansours. Three rotary sisters and he had three brothers, Than the Weedings. Than the Chungs where all their children had been in exchange. The  final family were the Warnocks, 

He loved his families and they made his exchange. He went to local events in Burwood,  There were councillors specifically for each country. District had many events,  He went on a great trip around Australia. He attended Concord High School. Clubs having multiple students was a good thing as he had Exchange company. At School the Teachers were looking  out for him. He was expected to be an an ambassador for the USA and for Rotary. He went to other schools to talk about the program and families.

Rules for Rotary Exchange were the d's. No dating, drinking, driving, drugs  When he returned home , he did not stop talking about Rotary and the work Rotary does and how it impacted his life, 

The impact 

 Cultural things like Vegemite. His experiences at the Mansours. Another Rule was don’t say no until   you  try it. He went to a catholic mass. He experienced Warnock’s jewish prayers at Dinner. For the   rest  of his life he will be an advocate for exchange and will always have life long friends. He still keeps   in touch  with the exchange students he was with in Australia. He now lives here and he married a girl   he met while he was at school here. There is also an Exchange student from Denmark living here  . For   twenty years he was in the Military as a Marine and after he left, he came to Australia where be re   kindled his relationships with his friend from Concord and eventually they married.

 Ryan is now an Australian citizen. There were 100 exchange students on there buses on the round Australia trip.    He has dual citizenship, 

Jeanette  Weeding

 Thank you for the invitation to talk about the postponed Expo that BPW is running. It was cancelled   due  to rain, and is now on Wednesday 15 th March. invite community organisations to a fair on   Burwood Park. Groups such as the Lions Club, Rotary club, Hope club placing women in jobs and a   range of different stalls. There will be about 14, Including Mayor Faker and the Strathfield Mayor.   RC   Burwood will do a bbq, Sam Helou has volunteered to help as well as Keith and Alf Dimarco. Will   appreciate others to help until about 2pm. Need volunteers. Important stakeholders help the   community.  Idea is to promote engagement, 

 Angelika Monterona is now working night shift and wishes to suspend membership of RC Burwood, 

 Keith thanked Ryan for his story and he is a great ambassador of the USA and the Exchange program, 

 Joke competition, 

 Raffle raised $36.00 Won by David Kwong Closed at 8.00pm