As my Presidency year comes to an end on Monday 30 June, I would sincerely like to thank the Board and Members of our club for their support and friendship over the last 12 months.
We had a wonderful Rotary Celebration and Changeover dinner at the North Ryde RSL Club last Friday night and I would like to thank Bernadette and Peter Mason, Mandy Van, Pam Bennett and Pam Wood for their help in organising the night.
We had the pleasure of having our Rotary District 9685 District Governor Elect, Michele Ellery and her husband David attend the dinner. Also, at the dinner were, the Rotary Community Group 2, Bradfield, Leader, Jade Catherall, the Mayor of the City of Ryde, Trenton Brown, the President of the Rotary Club of Ryde, Anna Lindsay and the Joint Presidents of the Rotary Club of Macquarie Park, Roseanna Gallo OAM and Lidia Scuglia.
Also there on the night were members from the Rotary Clubs of Macquarie Park, Ryde, Eastwood Gladesville, Chatswood Roseville and Turramurra plus members of our local community.
There were some special awards presented on the night. We recognised three people with Paul Harris Fellowship Awards for their contribution to Rotary and the community:
- Pam Wood, Rotary Club of North Ryde – Paul Harris Fellow plus 1 Sapphire Pin.
- Ahmed Allam, Store Manager, Ritchies IGA Cox’s Road Mall – Paul Harris Fellow.
- Makram (Mak) Khalil, Rotary Club of North Ryde – Paul Harris Fellow plus 2 Sapphire Pins. Mak received his award for his generous financial contributions to the Rotary Foundation over many years.
Community Service Award presented to Desiree (Desi) Mulder from Bunnings Gladesville.
Vocational Encouragement Award presented to Michelle Chow from New Horizons.
It was with great pleasure that we welcomed new member, Nick Martorana, joining our club and we presented Nick with his Rotary pin and Club dinner badge at the dinner.
As announced previously Mak Khalil is not going to renew his active Rotary Membership next year after being a member with our club for 39 years. However, Mak has accepted being an Honorary Member of the Rotary Club of North Ryde and we presented this to Mak on the night.
We also had the opportunity on the night to announce the following donations that we have made over the last 12 months.
- Seven local schools and a scholarship at Macquarie University Dunmore Lang College - $8,469
- Australian Rotary Health - $6,000
- Rotary Youth Programs - RYE (Rotary Youth Exchange); RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award); RYPEN (Rotary Youth Program of Enrichment) - $7,650
- ROMAC (Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children) - $5,000
- RAWCS (Rotary Australia World Community Service) - $5,000
- Lifespan Health & Wellbeing Research Centre - $3,336
- Riding for the Disabled Ryde Centre - $3,000
- ShelterBox - $2,000
- CCA NSW Community Hub Eastwood - $1,000
- New Horizons - $1,000
- St Johns Anglican Church North Ryde - $1,000
There are also other organisations that we have donated to over the year. From all the fund-raising activities that the club has been involved with over the last 12 months the club raised $51,339. The club donated or has contributed to different projects the amount of $61,101.
Looking back over the last 12 months our club has been involved with:
- Cox’s Road Community Event in September 2024
- Tree of Joy at Cox’s Road Mall in December.
- The Carols on the Common, in partnership with the Rotary Club of Macquarie Park.
- Trivia Night in February to raise funds for the Rotary Youth Programs we participate in.
- The North Ryde eFun Run for Youth Mental Health in April, in collaboration with the Rotary Clubs of Ryde and Macquarie Park and the lifespan Health and Wellbeing Research Centre at Macquarie University.
- DIGIT week in May, with students from regional NSW schools and help from the Rotary Club of Epping.
We are delighted that the club was recognised during the year with the following District 9685 Awards:
- ShelterBox – Rotary Lifetime Giving Sapphire Award for significant financial contribution.
- ROMAC (Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children) – Certificate of Appreciation for over 25 years of support.
- At the recent District 9685 President’s Lunch our club was awarded:
- Community Service - Small Club Award (for clubs with 25 or less members) – for club contributions to the community with the Carols on the Common, the North Ryde eFun Run for Youth Mental Health, Buddy benches at North Ryde Public School, the Tree of Joy at Cox’s Road Mall, donations to the local schools and the Ryde Eisteddfod, DV SafePhone involvement and support of the Rotary and local area Say No to Domestic Violence campaigns.
- Vocational Service Award - Small Club - for the DIGIT program.
All this information and more is available in our
2024-2025 Annual Report which you can
download here or from our website.
I would like to thank again all the members of our Rotary Club of North Ryde for their support over the last 12 months, and I wish incoming President, Mandy Van, all the very best for her year as President.
