TESTIMONIALS
The following testimonials are just some of the endorsements for Rotary SAFE Families Stopping Abuse in Families Everywhere
Victoria Police
"Thank you so much for coming on board with us delivering a well informative awareness speech to the community. I am sure people took so much out of it. It was a great effort by everyone putting together and achieving a very positive outcome.
On behalf of my community , I would like to pass my regards to the Rotary SAFE Families for proving their support in the event.
Its great to hear that Rotary would like to work with us in future endeavours. Dorothy, I must say that you are doing an outstanding work for the diverse communities, and you must be very proud.
Thank you for sharing the beautiful photos."
PSO Sergeant Simmi Kaur
Comment from Facebook after viewing Rotary SAFE Families film: Child Abuse
A courageous and honest spotlight by
Rotary SAFE Families for Rotarians who are involved with programs for young people and minors. Would you have the courage to act? … the things we walk past are the things that we accept.
"These are great and productive strides you are all making for SAFE Families.
I am proud of the team behind this program for it goes a long way in helping families establish strong relationships of love and understanding.
A family is the most important unit of a community and so we are touching the community's heart by making sure that its foundation is cemented with Peace.
Let us continue with the courage and zeal and navigate the challenges presented by community work and God will always provide a way."
Regards.
Oscar Lumire
Rotary Club of Kericho, Kenya
Comment from Facebook 8.2.22
"Well done Rotary SAFE Families!
Good on you for tackling the tough issue of child abuse and actually acknowledging the realities. This is hard, but really important and necessary if Rotary wants to be involved in prevention of child abuse."

“Rotary Melbourne is to be commended for taking the initiative to raise awareness of elder abuse through its SAFE Families program. The video and webpage provide helpful information for all in our community. More importantly it encourages all of us to call out ageism and elder abuse and take action to prevent it. By doing so we can ensure that all of us can age with dignity and live safely. Seniors Rights Victoria commends the Rotary SAFE Families program to you and your networks.” Jenny Blakey (former Manager)
See Webpage: https://seniorsrights.org.au/

”The Salvation Army Family Violence Stream acknowledges the disproportionate harm of gender-based family violence predominantly perpetrated by men against women and children and simultaneously recognises the significant impacts of family violence across a broader range of relationship contexts.
Family violence is behaviour that threatens, controls, or dominates a current or former partner, family member, or person in a family-like or kinship relationship causing them to fear for their own or another person’s safety or wellbeing. Family violence also includes exposing a child, indirectly or directly to these behaviours or their effects.
It is driven by a range of complex social factors and is primarily underpinned by an abuse of power related to gender inequality and intersectional oppressions. The impact of family violence on infants, children and young people as victim-survivors in their own right, whether they are directly targeted with abuse, witness abuse or violence towards their parent/carer, or are exposed to the effects of family violence in their environment is significant.
Therefore, we commend Rotary on the ‘Rotary SAFE Families’ program which was established to prevent and address family violence by delivering education, resources and tools to support every Rotarian in every part of Australia to contribute to ending family violence.”
Lorrinda Hamilton,
The Salvation Army National General Manager Family Violence Stream
“I would like to congratulate Rotary for its SAFE Families initiative. As Commissioner for Senior Victorians it is great to see such an important focus on prevention of family violence which includes a dedicated focus on elder abuse as well. The film is very powerful in its messaging and the resources are extremely relevant and well developed. Let’s all take a stand against family violence, including elder abuse. This is indeed great leadership to develop such an important program as Rotary SAFE families.”
Regards

"Dear Dorothy,
Greetings from Uganda and hope you are keeping safe and healthy. I am very impressed with the good work you have carried on especially on the production of the two films on family abuse. Can we translate them to local languages? And is it okay to call it a partnership with our organisation Anti Domestic violence Center and the Rotary club of Jinja? It is true these films come in handy when many victims are locked down with their Perpetrators. I hope and trust they will be of great help." Bugonzi Margaret Kyemba Kulaba
See Webpage: http://www.rotaryclubofjinja.org/

Rebecca Tolstoy: Rotary Perth - Path of Hope
"You should be so very very proud of the AMAZING work you have done in this space. I am so proud of you both fellow Rotarians and all. Yours in rotary Service, Rebecca."
See Rotary Perth's Path of Hope: https://www.pathofhope.org.au/

Rotary SAFE Families has been created by two Rotarians who want to make a positive difference to the world by the prevention of family violence in particular violence against women and their children and elder abuse. Safe Families seeks to enable everyone to be equipped to “Identify”, “Be Informed”, “Support in Prevention” and “Make Referral”.
Safe Families offers a comprehensive resource kit targeting Rotarians and Rotary activities, workplaces and the broader community. In particular, there is fantastic information contained within sections 4.8 and 4.9 of the manual and from page 10 of the toolkit that seeks to address the question: “What can I do?” – building the capacity of the individual to be able to assist someone who may be experiencing elder abuse, or to join in elder abuse prevention efforts. This is complimented by a series of videos, including one which focuses exclusively on the issue of elder abuse, available .https://youtu.be/bn_naKjMb4c
For more information, please visit the Rotary Safe Families webpage.
Deakin University:
Email received from Dr Tony Chalkley, Senior Lecturer in Communication, Deakin University 2020: “I wanted to share a good news story about ****, one of the students in the Rotary Safe Families project last year.
She has just secured a job with Casey City Council and one of her key success stories was your program, her referees where really interested in what it was about, what skills students developed and were aware of the Safe Families initiative.
So, the HITI project with Rotary has already changed one student’s life and **** wanted me to pass her news on to you, with her thanks.”
Email from Victorian Commissioner for Senior Victorians - 8 July 2021
Hi Dorothy,
I wanted to congratulate you on your work and thank you for the impact you are making.
Well done and thank you!!
Regards
Gerard Mansour
Commissioner for Senior Victorians
Ambassador for Elder Abuse Prevention

Thank you Rotary SAFE Families. We use your film: "Elder Abuse" from your website.
BODY SAFETY AUSTRALIA
Preventing children in our Australian communities from experiencing and perpetrating sexual abuse
www.bodysafetyaustralia.com.au

Run Against Violence wrote: "...... It is a big bonus to us to have access to such great content that aligns with our mission. Thank you Rotary SAFE Families!"
Run Against Violence is a volunteer-based, member association. "We’re on a mission to create a healthy relationship culture within our local communities and to remove the stigma and social barriers that often stop people from talking about their experiences with family violence and asking for help when it is needed."
We thank Run Against Violence for their promoting our Rotary SAFE Families films on Facebook. This is greatly appreciated.
Our key contact is the Founder of Run Against Violence, Kirrily Dear. If you would like to be a volunteer or a participant, contact Kirrily via the website: www.runagainstviolence.com