Welcome to a new Rotary year! It is very daunting for me to take on the President's role for this 2018-19 Rotary year, but also quite exciting. On behalf of our Club members, I would like to thank Brian and Victoria for their leadership and hard work throughout the past year in their shared role as President for 2017-18.
They both have worked closely together with the Board to ensure another very successful year for our club. Both Victoria and Brian achieved this whilst having to manage some very difficult personal challenges and I know all Club members are very grateful for their dedication and commitment to the Club throughout the year. They have a wealth of knowledge and experience to draw on from their many years of service to Rotary and I feel I have very big shoes to fill. I know I will have their ongoing support and that of the Board and Club members to guide me throughout my year as President.
I would also like to thank the 2017-18 Board members Sandeep Rathi, Liane Corbett, Pat Perrin and Terrie McConnell for their ongoing commitment to the Club . All four members will be stepping up for another year as Board members and we will be joined by Mandy Van as Secretary for this next year.
Our thanks also go to our Committee chairs and all our members who have supported the various projects and Club activities . I look forward to working with you all to make 2018-19 another successful year.
The 2018-19 Presidential theme is Be the Inspiration. When I reflect on the members of our club, their work/life stories that they have shared and their commitment to Rotary and the community, they are all very inspiring!
In February 2016 club members worked with a District facilitator to develop a Club Vision of where we would like to be by 2021. Our Vision is for our club to be an ethical club of like-minded individuals from diverse ethnic and vocational backgrounds with a wide spread of ages and evenly split by gender reflecting our local community.
We aim to:
strongly support and be respected by our local community
increase our membership and
be inclusive, welcoming and understanding through good fellowship promoted by regular club and social activities.
Our breakfast meeting at Dunmore Lang College on Friday will be a Club Assembly where we will review where we are up to and plan for this next year.
Our Fun Run Committee met last Tuesday evening and plans for the Fun run are progressing well. Thanks to our IT team and particularly David Martin, Sandeep Rathi, Asim Khwaja and Paul Williamson the Fun Run website is now online and registrations are open. With the support of the student Colleges at Macquarie University , the Centre for Emotional Health, Epping Boys High School and the local schools and community we hope to have a great turnout of participants on the day.
Please set aside the date, Sunday 26 August, and ask friends, family and colleagues to register using the website www.northrydefunrun.com.au. We will looking for many volunteers to help set up, manage registrations, cook and serve at the BBQ, marshalls for the race itself and pack up at the end of the day.
Don't forget the two free Seminars on Youth Mental Health which have been organised by the Centre for Emotional Health prior to the Fun Run.
The first seminar will be held on Tuesday 24 July the topic will be Responding to Eating Disordersee here to register.
The second seminar will be held on Wednesday 22 August with the topic on Nature and Treatment of Adolescent Depression, see here to register.
We will be seeking help from club members to help with registrations and providing tea and coffee on each evening.
We are still seeking sponsors and if you or someone you know would like to sponsor the event please ask them to contact me on mobile 0400803417, email woodmal50@hotmail.com or at northryderotary@gmail.com. Sponsorship information is also attached see hereMany of our local schools have agreed to send out the flyers to their communities in their bulletins and we will begin a letterbox drop when schools return from school holidays.
The Rotary Clubs of Mosman and The Entrance, and the Interact Club at the Tumbi Umbi Campus of the Tuggerah Lakes Secondary College recently cooperated in the very successful running of a “Wheelathon” to support the provision of wheelchairs for disabled children in developing countries. The “Wheelchairs for Kids” (WFK) program has two key objectives:
1. Providing wheelchairs to children enabling them to have mobility for the first time in their lives, facilitating their involvement with family activities, and aiding their integration into their local communities. The wheelchairs are provided free of charge through various organisations, including overseas Rotary Clubs, World Vision etc. who arrange shipment and fitting to the individual children. The wheelchairs are a life changer for both the children and their families.
2. Encouraging the school's students to think more generally about the importance of enabling access and inclusion for children who have less abilities than others and providing them with a meaningful opportunity to make a difference.
As part of the "Wheelathon", students are sponsored by family and friends to both "wheel" and "be wheeled" in wheelchairs around obstacle courses or sports grounds. The event at Tumbi Umbi ran for around half a day with great participation and enthusiasm from the students and more than $5000 was raised from sponsorship with additional funds coming from a sausage sizzle and other catering activities.
Manufacturing to support the WFK program is supervised by Rotary and carried out by volunteers in Perth. With the all up manufacturing cost being $200 per unit, the efforts of the team at Tumbi Umbi will mean more than 25 children and families will benefit from the provision of a wheelchair.
Mosman Rotary has 15 WFK wheelchairs for use in Wheelathons and can provide information for preparation of proposals for consideration by schools; help with the promotion of events by providing access to videos, presentations, photos and other materials; and together with Rotary Clubs near schools provide logistical support and related fund-raising activities on the day such as sausage sizzles.
To date more than 40,000 wheelchairs have been manufactured and supplied to international charities for their distribution around the world but as always, demand exceeds supply. If your Rotary club is interested in joining with a local school in running a Wheelathon please contact Richard Vahtrick from Mosman Rotary at rvahtrick@gmail.com.
