Home Page | Rotary Club of Kardinia

Welcome to the Rotary Club of Kardinia. We are a diverse group of action oriented men and women who support local, national and international communities. We are always searching for more action focused people to join us.

Our club includes many really capable and influential people and we meet for breakfast once a week where we discuss community issues, build friendships and plan our action.

We warmly welcome guests at any one of our weekly breakfast meetings to learn more about our community involvement, Rotary and our club.

When Wednesdays 7.15am for 7.30am until 8.30am

Where Royal Geelong Yacht Club, 25 Eastern Beach Rd, Geelong.

Cost No cost to attend the meeting while coffee and/or breakfast are available for purchase.

Members and guests are welcome to stay on later for breakfast or a second coffee! There is no charge for the meeting; coffee and breakfast available for purchase. Parking is available on Eastern Beach Rd, (free up to 9am), or Ritchie Boulevard (free after 9am)

If you'd like to join us for a meeting please contact Henry on henrybrockman@bigpond.com who will ensure we welcome you on the day.

Virtual Sausage Sizzle Fundraiser for victims of the January 2026 Victorian bushfires

Picture - farmers and locals work to defend property near Yarck, in central Victoria. Credit: Jason Edwards/NCA NewsWire, via The Nightly

Over 250 homes have been destroyed and, tragically, one fatality in the worst bushfire disaster in Victoria since the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009. As of 9th of January, the reported estimated damage includes over 400,000 hectares burnt, 500 structures destroyed, and 15,000 livestock lost across Victoria.

Buy a virtual $10 snag today and your donation helps Victorian families affected by the bushfires to rebuild their lives. Kardinia Rotary will match donations (to a cap of $5,000 in total). Funds raised will go to BlazeAid, refer below.

Virtual sausages can be purchased via this Humanitix link https://events.humanitix.com/rotary-club-of-kardinia-virtual-sausage-sizzle

The Rotary Club of Kardinia’s Virtual Sausage Sizzle is going well and the Board has agreed to donate funds raised to BlazeAid. Rotary clubs and districts across Australia have a long-standing, active partnership with BlazeAid, a volunteer-based organization that helps rebuild fences and other structures for rural families after natural disasters.

There are currently two BlazeAid basecamps for volunteers in Western Victoria. All money spent at a basecamp feeds volunteers 3 meals per day, maintain assets such as vehicles and replace tools, goes back into the local community.

Geelong Gourmet Goodies 2025

Another great year of our Gourmet Goodies is over. The gift hampers have been lovingly packed by club members and friends and hand delivered to our wonderful customers. Onwards and upwards for next year, supporting local producers and delivering community projects!

Thanks to those wonderful customers in 2025, we were able to pack and deliver 783 boxes containing a staggering 14,570 items. Whilst supporting our local Geelong suppliers in tough times, we are proud to be able to use the funds raised to support our local and international Kardinia Rotary projects. Thanks indeed to our customers and suppliers not to mention the many hardworking club members. Keep an eye on our Gourmet Goodies page for updates for 2026.

The Value of Rotary, Jennifer Scott

The true volunteering spirit of Geelong was highlighted once more in the very successful, 2025 Volunteer of the Year Awards. The awards recognise and celebrate the impact volunteers, volunteer leaders and volunteer programs have in building resilient communities, services and connections across our region. Congratulations to the 15 finalists and the 5 winners who were presented with Certificates and Awards at the at the City of Greater Geelong Wurriki Nyal Civic Precinct on Wednesday evening, 30 July.

The five category winners were:

Leadership Award - Stephen Bentley, L2P Program
Service Award – Maree Brusaschi, Geelong Calesthenics College
Inclusive Award – The Pulse 94.7FM
Youth Award – Maggie O’Neill, The Outpost Inc
The Volunteer of the Year Award – Heather Miller, Barwon Health

Our thanks to Colin Dempsey of Volunteering Geelong and sponsors including Geelong Connected Communities, Standby Security, Beyond Bank, Keiser Geelong and the Rotary Club of Kardinia.

Mayor Kontelj and Patron Keith Fagg led a number of excellent speakers on the achievements and success of volunteers in the Geelong region. It was a heartwarming event where many of those who serve the community with energy, enthusiasm and without expectation of reward had their generosity recognised and celebrated by their peers.

Select Read More for detail on each of the winners….

Ambon Service Project with RC Wendouree Breakfast

From Tues 22nd April to 1st May 2025, 6 club members, (included partners) recently made a visit to the Indonesian island of Ambon, along with 13members from RC Wendouree breakfast. The purpose of the visit was to look at how money donated to various organisations was being spent, identify future needs and how best we could help, visit children personally sponsored by club members, and for some hands on work such as concreting and painting. The trip was a great experience, and an insight into how privileged we are, and how resourceful and positive the local Ambonese are.

Select [Read more] below, to continue.

Kardinia Rotary Club has been pleased to assist the Northern Bay College and community by supporting activities in their Family Centre, in their Primary School and and Secondary School over many years. Our support ranges building and maintaining vegetable gardens; funding clothing, books and toys for families in need; funding a Story Dog for Grade 2 students to read to; funding awards to students; and promoting peace through providing peace poles and running an International Day of Peace function.

Kardinia Rotary Club supports the local Australia Wide Story Dogs Program by funding three story dogs. The Story Dog Mission is to Create a safe, fun, supportive, non-judgemental environment for Year 2 primary school children needing assistance with their reading.

https://www.storydogs.org.au/bellarine-peninsula

Kardinia Rotary Club is an active participant in a group of Geelong and region Rotary Clubs formed to look at projects for Say No to Domestic and Family Violence. Through this group we are also connected with the broader Community of Practice Say No To Family Violence monthly meetings.

In 1979, a Rotarian from Nambour in Queensland had an audacious idea – to eradicate the Polio from the world. This goal was taken up by Rotarians everywhere and is close to fruition – only 2 countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan, now have the wild polio virus, with no cases recorded so far this year. The Rotary Club of Kardinia supports Rotary’s largest program, End Polio Now, through enjoyable local fundraising activities and donations. Come and join us to help eradicate this terrible disease from our planet.

At Kardinia Rotary Club, in addition to supporting our own Rotary projects we fundraise to support many other worthy projects and activities in our local community, the broader Australian community, Rotary outreach programs and International projects.

We do this where providing hands-on volunteers is not possible but financial support to other organisations and projects can make a significant difference to the viability of vital community services. As Rotarians we volunteer our time to events including Kids Plus Foundation Kite Day; Surf Coast Trek; Hope Bereavement Walk of Hope; event marshalling at various bike races (including the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race) and trail runs in the Geelong region; and we cook sausages at Bunnings Barbeques a couple of times a year, of course!

Guests are always warmly welcomed at our meetings. If you would like to attend, please contact Henry by close of business the Monday before the meeting.

Email: henrybrockman@bigpond.com

rotarykardinia@gmail.com

Visit our Facebook page

Kardinia Rotary supports a range of Rotary youth initiatives to help our youth to thrive including:

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) for 18- 23 year olds https://ryla9780.org/
National Youth Science Forum (NYSF) for Year 11 Students https://www.nysf.edu.au/
Rotary Youth Exchange for 15-17 year olds https://ryea.org.au/