Last week we had a project meeting and signed off on a large number of projects for the coming six months. 

We saw Kevin Gibson present chief bin chicken Rob Davies and C4C administrator Peter Rawlings with the honor of a special bin chicken badge, fitting in the week we surpassed 600,000 eligible containers collected and $75000 raised in just over two years.

The club responded to a request from the Bays Hospital for their Christmas Appeal with a donation of $1,000 towards a Bili (jaundice) blanket which will allow families to take their new babies home sooner with this great technology. (See below link to donate and support The Bays Christmas Appeal).

We also paid $850 to Mornington Secondary College for their breakfast club.

As we sign off for 2025 I reflect on a year that has been a highly successful year for our club in terms of money raised and the relationships and projects that we have delivered. I would like to highlight the work of youth service and the positive steps forward in engaging with our local schools.

I commend everyone of you for your service to our community and hope that you have the opportunity to share the festive season with those you love. 

We have our final meeting on Wednesday at Donato’s at 6 pm and bookings for that event have now closed. 

Our first meeting for 2026 is at Wayne and Jenny Jenkins, from 4pm for dinner please let me know if you are able to attend and if you are bringing a salad or dessert.

Mornington Park Primary School 

Support has been provided to the Mornington Park Primary School Little Learners decodable books literacy program for Years Prep – 2 and advanced learning levels. 

This initiative is through the Decodable Books program. The Little Learners books are delightful stories that children can read by applying their phonics knowledge. The books increase in length and complexity as the children move through the program. The school had a limited resources of the Decodable Books - insufficient to allow students full access to increase their individual literacy learning. Through the donation of funds of totalling $5800 which consisted of $2900 from the Rotary Club Mount Martha and the club contribution being matched from the RAWCS (Rotary Australia World Community Service) Compassionate Grants program, full sets of the books program were able to be purchased. 
Stacie McCullough, Assistant Principal said “The children are all going to benefit greatly from these wonderful books. They are all excited about having some new books to read next year”.

Merv Williams, Project champion

The Bays Christmas Appeal invites you to consider supporting the campaign. 

Unlike many other hospitals, The Bays is not part of a large hospital group. We are an independent, community-owned hospital - and we operate without ongoing government funding for vital medical equipment or capital works.

This means philanthropy and community support directly fund the tools our clinicians rely on every day. In a system where 67% of elective surgeries occur in private hospitals, community-backed facilities like ours play a critical role.

This Christmas, we’re raising $100,000 to purchase new neonatal photo-therapy lights, a bili blanket and vital theatre equipment. These items make a real difference for patients -  including our tiniest.

If you’re able, we’d be grateful for your support:
https://the-bays-christmas-appeal.raiselysite.com/

Thanks for considering a contribution.

Best wishes,

Steph.

Stephanie Tucker (she/her)

Philanthropy & Donor Relations Manager, The Bays Healthcare Group