Rotary continues under lockdown

Like all community groups that are used to regular meetings, Rotary clubs have been forced to adapt to the changing landscape.

Warragul Rotary Club has been no different, but it is rising to the challenge and continues to successfully operate under “lock down”.

With the board and members being unable to meet in recent weeks, President Rosemary Allica said she, like a lot of her members, has been on a “steep learning curve.”

From the outset of the coronavirus crisis the club initiated a traditional phone tree to update members and to receive feedback. Whilst effective, this measure was not perfect and lacked the personal touch that traditional meetings can bring.

The board had already held its March and April meetings on the seemingly ubiquitous Zoom conference system and given its success the club ran its first successful members meeting using the platform last week.

Ms Allica said that despite some early teething problems, both the board and member meetings on Zoom have been successful.

“Obviously, not all of our members are as experienced in things like video conferencing as others,” Ms Allica said. “I myself have learnt a lot and am hopefully a lot better at it than I was a few months ago.”

Despite some early technology hiccups, the committee meeting was such a success that the club will continue its bi-weekly member meetings and monthly board meetings via Zoom until social gathering returns to some sort of normal.

As well as this, the club has instituted a WhatsApp group for communication and over three quarters of the membership had joined up.

“While it’s not as personal as meeting face to face, the WhatsApp group and the Zoom meetings have given our members a degree of contact that is valuable,” Ms Allica said.

In addition to providing a means for members to catch up, the club plans to continue its tradition of informative and entertaining guest speakers in the coming weeks via Zoom.

Fundraising continues to be a major pillar for the club and despite events like the Art Show having to be cancelled for 2020, the club is working on a number of ideas and initiatives to raise money in the community while complying with the requirements of these strange times.