Welcome Mike + CNB donation

Meet our member Mike Molins

 

On August 17, our club speaker was new member Mike Molins who gave a very interesting and enlightening talk on his career, life in two countries and his involvement in Rotary. His talk via ZOOM was greatly appreciated by all members and we all look forward to his further involvement with the club.

 

Mike was born in USA and studied and worked there. He decided to take a break from working for a law firm based in Texas in 1969 and came to Australia on a skills-transfer visa and decided this was the place to be. His two now grownup children are more Aussie than he. Mike and his wife Carla live in Seaforth.

 

Mike was a former member of Manly Sunrise Rotary Club, however being a 6:30am breakfast club was challenging especially when retired; so, he spoke to Roger and found that our evening club was just what he wanted. Mike is enthusiastic about things Rotary, and has even studied the evolution of the codes of ethics when at Manly; a consequence of his training and career path.

 

Mike said he started out as an engineer who worked on piston rings & shaft couplings, but for most of his life worked as a Patent and Trademark attorney located in Ultimo. His major client was Breville and Mike could tell us much about kettles, coffee makers and toasters.

 

We were told the story about the most unusual patent he encountered came from a solo inventor - a plastic, wall-mounted box containing a can of deodorant. The set up was avoid it squirting the deodorant on one’s finger when being applied and named Touch of Scent. Mike went through the motions of taking him seriously, however subsequently the guy made millions in the US with a licence with Scott Paper, and the inventor took great delight in coming back showing that to Mike (along with his massive genuine Rolex).

 

Mike joining the club in May 2021

A diversity of pastimes and undertakings:

Mike really likes music to both relax and as a hobby and has played the violin since he was a 5-year-old. He also flies radio-controlled gliders using Seaforth Oval as the launch pad. Mike also plays water polo, goes surfing, diving and snorkelling - he went snorkelling 3 times last week. His admiration of the outdoors and water sports is a big part of the reason he now lives in Australia. Mike has a keen sense of humour: demonstrated in his email name goattrack - indicating he prefers the goat track to the information super highway - the smaller trails are more interesting than the main road. 

 

A large amount of his time and energy is also devoted to volunteer work and that Is a major reason for him being in Rotary. At earlier meetings, he has briefly discussed Streetwork, a program for disadvantaged youths on the Peninsular. He prefers to help directly or hands-on as a volunteer and has recently started to cook meals for ONE MEAL (an operation based in Cromer that serves hundreds of meals a day, using volunteer cooked ‘containerised meals’). Last Sunday, he served meals at Griffith Park in Manly and would like any people interested to help with deliveries and as drivers.

 

Mike also works as a journalist and proof reader for the journal for the Nan Tien Temple at Berkeley near Wollongong – the largest Buddhist Temple in the Southern Hemisphere; a way of fulfilling a desire to work on philosophical journals. He also works on another journal based in New York.

 

Welcome Mike!

 

Our Donation to Community Northern Beaches

On Monday August 23, John O'Brien & Michael Mead went to Coles Local on Manly Corso and purchased $2,000 of food vouches. The store manager Leyna Betteridge added $150 of complementary vouchers ( as on the previous 2 occasions)

 

John picking up the tab

 

When we presented the vouchers to John Kelly, Executive Director of Community Northern Beaches he was very appreciative of the club's generosity and our assistance in these difficult times. The vouchers will significantly assist their work in 3 key areas; Women's Shelter, Victims of Domestic Violence and  Homeless Peoples on the Northern Beaches.

John Kelly (Center) accepting the vouchers from John O'Brien(l) and Michael Mead.

We have received a most appreciative Thank You:

FINALLY: