About Us
WHO WE ARE
Russian Ethnic Representative Council in Victoria Inc. (RERC) is a peak umbrella organisation and spokesboby for the diverse Russian community in Victoria . RERC is a non-profit organisation which has been supporting its community since 1984.
The Council aims to unite, represent and develop community groups and individuals. It hopes to promote and assist welfare and cultural interests of the Russian-speakers and believes in giving back its expertise to broader community.
Click on the link to your right to download RERC’s Constitution - Constitution.pdf
Click here to read about Our People
WHAT WE DO
Through coordination of voluntary and Government-funded welfare activities we provide:
- information to the Russian community on government initiatives and regulations
- community services for needy, elderly and disadvantaged
- assistance to migrants with settlement and employment in Australia
- assistance and resourcing to Russian groups, classes, clubs and societies
Among our Current Funded Projects are:
As part of its unfunded activities, RERC publishes and distributes the newsletter Vestnik. The Counsil also assists and /or organises various cultural events in and around Melbourne.
Click here to Contact us for more information
The History of RERC
The initial idea for the formation of the Russian Ethnic Representative Council came from several active members of the Russian ethnic community who had been concerned for some time about what they saw as three major needs within the Russian community. These were:
That whilst the ethnic Russian community was an active one - being comprised of a variety of groups and organisation - it did not have a body of people or an organisation, whose specific role was to act as an official representative and spokes body of the Russian ethnic community.
The second need, closely related to the first, was the need to provide a means for the various Russian groups and organisations to have a sense of unity and in doing so, to improve communication between all groups.
An increasing number of elderly people within the Russian ethnic community gave rise to the third need that of provision of welfare services developed specifically to cater for the needs of Russian elderly. Although there were many welfare services available within the general Australian community to cater for the needs of elderly people, it became clear, not only within the Russian community, but in other ethnic groups also, that in many instances, these services were not able to provide adequate or appropriate assistance due to barriers such as language and cultural differences.
Early in 1983, Anatol Karel and Eugene Zubrin, took concrete steps to form a representative Russian organisation, initially enlisting the support of a small group of like-minded community members who met together to draft the rules of the organisation.
On the 19th of February 1984, this initiating group called a meeting of Russian community leaders and individuals who were active in various Russian organisations to discuss the formation of the Russian Ethnic Representative Council. Using the aims and the rules proposed by the initiating group together with some amendments which were made at the meeting, an Interim management Committee was elected and delegated with the task of registering the newly formed organisation.
On the 30th of July 1984, RERC became an Incorporated Association.
The Interim Management Committee called the fist General Meeting of delegates from all Russian ethnic organisations on the 25th November, 1984. The general Meeting formally approved the RERC Constitution and elected the first RERC Management Committee under the chairmanship of Mr George Nekrasov, Commander RAN (Rtd).
In April 1985, RERC became a member of the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria.
Presidents of RERC to date:
- 1984-1987 - Gerge Nekrasov
- 1987-1988 - Vadim Spiess
- 1988-1992 - Anatoly Karel
- 1992-1995 - Alexander Ilyin
- 1995-1997 - Eugene Zubrin
- 1997-2000 - Alexander Ilyin
- 2000-2002 - George Lavrin
- 2002-2005 - Alexander Ilyin
- 2005-2006 - Jane Volkov
- 2006-2008 - Elena Ilyin
RERC’s Initial Activities
RERC’s first task as an umbrella organisation was to rent a small room in the city. This office was staffed by volunteers from the RERC Welfare Section, whose primary roles were public relations and welfare activities. They also acted as spokespeople for the Russian Ethnic community in handling enquiries from the public and from government and non-government bodies and organisations.
The RERC Welfare Section volunteers provided support for isolated members of the Russian community, the sick, and the elderly.
In 1985, Department of Immigration funding was received for the purpose of researching and writing a report about the needs of elderly, sick and frail Russians. A report was issued in 1986. Using this report as a basis, RERC applied for several government grants. A HACC Access and Advocacy grant was allocated in 1989, and a part-time welfare worker was employed. A valuable contribution to the Russian Elderly community was the organisation and setting-up of the four pensioners clubs.
