ROTARY OF PERTH PRESIDENT UPDATE - 6TH MARCH 2018
This is a busy month for our club and I hope that all of our members can continue to support the various projects we have in motion.
The key event for this week is the ROTARACT MASQUERADE CHARITY BALL on Saturday, 10 March 2018. This has been a huge effort organised by our Rotaract Club and judging from the TryBooking site, it is nearly sold out. With our club band the Rotars performing, it should no doubt be a great Saturday evening out. The beneficiary of the proceeds from the ball is the Perth Homeless Support Group (http://perthhomeless.org.au/ ) who no doubt support some of the most needing persons in our community. If you haven’t already, Book Now and support the future leaders of our club and the community…the Rotaract Club of Perth!
After lunch on Friday, a number of our members including Graeme Peden, Kathy Kusinski, Jacques Phillips, Dick Cook, and myself met with Kirstin to discuss the Rotary office move. We have had an offer of good quality (second hand) office furniture via our member Jamie MacKenzie so are working on the details of securing this.
There are a few minor adjustments to be made to the plan, but here are the basics:
- This Saturday, 10 March 18, (Morning): Pick up office furniture from its stored location and deliver to Level 5 office.
- Saturday, 17 March 18: Move the contents of the existing office on level 1 to level 5
These two dates are when we will need your help, your trucks / trailers, to help with the move. We are thinking that if 15-20 people can make themselves available, this will make the move quite easy.
Given we’re having to move in and out of the CBD, and will need to park some trailers, etc. does make some challenges, but we’ll push through!
Last week I had the pleasure of inducting our newest member, Nitin Vashisht, who has already hit the ground running. Rather, he’s been on the ground running for some time now in support of our TeleMed project in India with the Rotary Club of Heirisson. Nitin brings with him passion and enthusiasm and will be a great member of our team!
Also on Friday I mentioned the great work that our member Mike Gurry AM (and of course his wife Corrine) have been undertaking overseas. Last month Mike was recognised and awarded membership in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM) for his service to charitable organisations through fundraising and cooperative networking roles and to social welfare programs in Cambodia.
Earlier this year I received this update from Mike which demonstrates not only the magnitude of his and Corrine’s efforts to serve others, but also the scale at which their ‘tiny’ team is making such huge impacts:
Thought you would like to know the Tabitha project raised $284,000 through RAWCS in the last 6 months bringing the total for the year to $488,000.
The Nokor Tep Project raised $294,000 in the last 6 months bringing the total raised for the year to $839,000.
Overall $1,327,000 was raised during the year thanks to Rotary support.
Two more house building trips are planned for Cambodia this year (July and Nov 2018) again with ScoutWA members involved.
The next house building project briefing is on 21 March 2018. Our club views this as a great way for our two organisations to get involved in serving the community – the international community in this case. If you are interested in either:
- Participating in a house building project (we don’t discriminate - you can be as young as 14 or even as old as 70+)
- Financially supporting a young Scout/Rotaractor so that they can attend
Please contact Jess Karlsson, our Youth Director, who is coordinating the event. Jess can be contacted on: 0400 525 702 or jess.karlsson@cahoots.org.au.
There are several other events planned this month where our project teams need your support – that means YOU (i.e. your presence) if you can make it!
Thanks for all you do to support the club and our community.
Join Leaders. Exchange Ideas. Take Action.
Yours in Rotary,
Stephen Inouye - President - Rotary of Perth 2017/2018