Seniors Award - 2007/2008

This Award was created by the Club in 2004 to recognize the contribution of Men or Women 60 Years or older who give outstanding service in a voluntary capacity to older people.

The 2008 RCM Seniors Award goes to Robert George Paroissien.

Mr. Robert George Paroissien has given 32 years of dedicated service to the elderly in the State of Victoria principally through his involvement with Strathdon Community (Homes for the Aged) and the Uniting Church of Australia.

Strathdon Community, a not-for-profit aged care facility with its headquarters in Forest Hill, provides an extensive range of services in Melbourne to elderly persons from the municipalities of Whitehorse, Manningham, Monash, Knox, Boroondara, Yarra Ranges and Maroondah, in Melbourne.

Robert Paroissien has been an integral person in the work undertaken by Strathdon Community having been appointed a Member and Treasurer of its Council of Management in October, 1978.  He was subsequently appointed Chairman of the Board of Governance in October, 1995, a position that he held with much distinction until his retirement from the organization in August, 2006.  During his period of service at Strathdon Community, its aged care program was expanded considerably to become one of the major contributors to services for the elderly in the State.

Mr Paroissien was also appointed to the Uniting Church of Australia Victorian Synod Aged Care Advisory Committee in June 1996. He Became Chairman of that Committee in July 1997 and served in that position until April 2004 when under a new aged care system introduced by the Church, this Committee was dissolved. In the period between October 2003 and June 2004, he was a Member of the Uniting Church of Australia’s Victoria and Tasmania Steering Committee for Aged Care charged with the responsibility of developing a more centralized system for servicedelivery.

Mr Paroissien’s other community involvements have included service as a Member and Treasurer of the Board of Management of the Arthritis Foundation of Victoria from September 1989 to August 2000, membership of the Board of Swinburne College of TAFE from June 1989 to December 1991, and Member and Treasurer of the Board of Management of the Association of Railway Enthusiasts since June 1970, a position he still holds.

It is with much pleasure that The Rotary Club of Melbourne presents its Senior Citizen Award for Rotary Year 2007/08 to Robert George Paroissien.