2024 President’s Report

On November 26th 2023 we lost our dear friend and long-time board member, Vice-President and Treasurer Dr Jerry Leech AM.

We miss Jerry’s intellect, attention to detail, challenging nature, work ethic and most of all his friendship. He was a wonderful humanitarian.

Jerry left us a challenge before he died and that is to give serious consideration to establishing a hospice in Mount Gambier. As a board we have discussed this and it will be given serious consideration at an appropriate time.

Our main focus over the last year has been planning our new two-home project and trying to obtain some government funding for such.

We have had wonderful help from Empak Homes in this process. They have very generously made a significant donation to our new home fund that will cover all the costs associated with the planning and approval process.

We have a shovel ready project and just require some grant funding to get it started.

We have spent considerable time and effort applying for funds under the federal Growing Regions Program. We put in an EOI for Round 1 and were then asked to put in a full application. However we were not quite at the shovel ready stage and decided to defer our application until Round 2. When Round 2 opened we discovered that our project was not eligible for funding. This blind-sided us a little and we are now in the process of looking at new funding options.

To this end we have been included in MP Troy Bell’s Future Mount Gambier 2.0 wishlist with a request for $1m.

We may also look at Jerry’s wish for a hospice. There are a few opportunities that may have some private funding available that we could add to, to get a much-needed hospice for our community. There is a community funded feasibility study under way at present. We shall await the outcome of that.

Finances

Our financial position continues to remain strong with a reliable and significant income stream and no debt.

We have received 22 donations in memory of Jerry, totaling $2335. The Rotary Club of Mount Gambier Lakes also made a significant donation of $10k in memory of Jerry, who was a long term and very active Rotarian. All these donations have been set aside for our new home project.

Stuart Stansfield has taken over from Jerry as Treasurer and has done a wonderful job. I am sure Jerry would approve.

Maintenance

Peter Telford continues to look after the maintenance issues as they arise in a timely and efficient manner.

It was decided after our landlord inspection in February 2023 that we should replace the kitchen and the common area floor coverings at Ryder and at the same time refresh the paint work in the common areas.

We have had this work quoted and it will cost in the vicinity of $70k.

We have applied to the Masonic Foundation for a grant to cover the cost of this work. We are awaiting a response.

Our maintenance man Chris continues to keep on top of the small maintenance issues as they arise.

Garden

Sue Roberts has continued to oversee the maintenance of the gardens at both homes. Sue also ropes in her husband Peter to help as required. We are extremely appreciative of the help that Peter provides.

Our Gardner Kathy continues to do a fantastic job. The gardens are looking brilliant.

Handyman Chris also assists in the garden as required with the heavier tasks.

Information Technology and Communication

Stuart puts on his other hat here and does a wonderful job looking after our website and FaceBook along with producing our newsletter.

We are so lucky to have Stuart on our board who brings his journalism skills as well as his knowledge in the IT space to our board. The rest of us it would be fair to say have extremely limited skills in these areas.

I know that Stuart spends many hours working on the Foundation’s behalf.

Home Liaison

Mary, Di and Greg continue to be the conduit between the board and the families of our residents.

This important role is vital in keeping the board informed about the happenings in the homes.

General

To celebrate what would have been the 100th birthday of Sue Ryder we held a morning tea at the homes on Wednesday July 3rd.

This was attended by the board along with the staff from the homes and some volunteers who over many years have raised funds for Ryder-Cheshire.

It was at this event that the Rotary Club of Mount Gambier Lakes presented the board with a cheque in memory of Jerry.

The Governor-General, Her Excellency the Honourable Sam Mostyn AC, visited the homes on September 21 during the final leg of her first official visit to SA.

Accompanied by the Mayor of Mount Gambier Lynette Martin OAM, Her Excellency spent about an hour talking to residents, relatives, estara staff and members of the Foundation Board.

The visit created much excitement in the homes and was a great success.

We thank the Governor-General for visiting our homes.

A huge thanks to Bernie Douglas and Greg Clayfield for the thankless task of producing the minutes and agendas.

And to Neville Gilbertson for his wise counsel and continuing support.

We all contribute as we can and as in the past the board continues to function extremely well and I thank you all for the opportunity to lead this important organisation in the relief of suffering.

Matthew Dixon