Click on image for a heartwarming story from the Sunshine Coast to Lesotho
We had our changeover breakfast to welcome in our "new" board for 2020. Here they are being introduced by President Wendy under the national and international flags exchanged by the club over the years. Click on pic for more on this story.
We are very fortunate to have Vicky and Renee as corporate members ...here is an insight to some of the fantastic work (and people) that IFYS do to "make a difference" on the Sunshine Coast
Want to know more about our club's history...follow the links on the presidents name..
| Charter President | |
| Trevor Smith | 2000 - 2001 |
| David Woodrow | 2001 - 2002 |
| Chris Baker | 2002 - 2003 |
| Peter Andrews | 2003 - 2004 |
| Russell Thompson | 2004 - 2005 |
| Trevor Smith | 2005 - 2006 |
| Geoff Davies | 2006 - 2007 |
| Scott Brimelow | 2007 - 2008 |
| Carmel Hulett | 2008 - 2009 |
| Gary Lynch | 2009 - 2010 |
| Bill Bradley | 2010 - 2011 |
| Alan Walter | 2011 - 2012 |
| Bob Thompson | 2012 - 2013 |
| Sue Quinn | 2013 - 2014 |
| Prue Byrnes | 2014 - 2015 |
| Peter Darnell |
2015 - 2017
|
| John Malloy |
2017 - 2018
|
| Mike Storkey | 2019 -202 |
| Shared duties | 2019-2020 |
| Wendy Gilson | 2020-2021 |
Want to know what Paul Harris awards the club has awarded to members for exceptional achievement?
Science Schools Foundation Experience
The club is pleased to subsidise 4 budding scientists from local high school, Chancellor, Grammar, Mountain Creek and Sienna to attend the annual Science Schools Foundation "The Science Experience" at Queensland Universities.
The experience consists of 3 or 4 day courses, where our scientists of the future mix with University researchers and gain insights into the latest STEM developments.
In previous years we've subsidised 3 students to attend, and the feedback from the students has been that mixing with the professionals in their field of interest has been career changing. So we're hoping that even in this time of virus, there are budding scientists out there who would benefit from this fantastic opportunity.
During the history of the club, we have been hosted foreign exchange students ("inbounds") and also sponsored local students on their overseas exchange. We also host the complete group of Youth Exchange Students every year - called the "Youth Safari" at a getting to know you night at the Alex Surf Club. Here's some of their stories.
Marc Hohnhaus was the clubs very first exchange student in 2002-3. Marc is now a doctor in Stuttgart studying to be a Gynaecologist & Obstetrician. He attended Mountain Creek High School.
Chloe Ross Buzza was our latest "outbound" student who spent a year in Brazil with Rotarian families learning the Brazilian culture and experiencing life in South America. This picture was taken just before Chloe was about to set off to meet the other Rotarian students.
Bianca Aird - Bianca spent her Youth Exchange Year in Spain, Amy Fris from Denmark spent her inbound year on the Sunshine Coast and school at Sienna College. Here's epic where Bianca (left) caught up with Amy at the end of Amy's year with us, just before she returned home.
Hannah Binder from Austria was a Youth exchange student who we see here back in Austria where she is studying for her teaching degree. The picture was taken last year when she caught up with her host family while on the Sunshine Coast, Steve and Trish Power.
By any measure this has been an awful start to the year with drought, bushfires, flood and now Corona Virus. As a club we'll be harnessing our resources together to make sure that we stay safe and continue to look for areas where we can "make a difference" to our community.
At recent board meeting we acknowledged that our two major fund raisers are in danger this year, the Surf Show and Shine Kombi show, and the Winter Solstice Swim.
Nevertheless, our members have been looking at how do we come out of this stronger and in better shape to help the community and there are a couple of initiatives that we'll be discussing at our club meetings that President Carmel will be raising.
Also, not all help has to be financial, and we've been blessed by great volunteers and friends who help out in whatever way they can. Already we're investigating a community landscaping project, and also had discussions with a youth group about helping youngsters with job searches, interviews and work practices through our WorkLife program.
So while things are a bit quiet, have a think about your passion, and what you would like to see Rotary do in the community to help repair ourselves once this disaster has passed.
IFYS, Board Organisation, THRIVE, Community
The relationships formed by the volunteer work and the community is blossoming and its something the club would like to continue to support, and hopefully continue on as a Cluster activity. On Friday some ideas were aired about how we could facilitate providing support and aid to the Sunshine Coast Community
Surf Show and Shine
The Sunshine Coast Council have withdrawn community events permit for the event, but we're wanting to get the vent back on as soon as possible.
Drought Relief
The club has a long history if drought relief support, and in 2020 we're sure the demand will still be there. At the end of the year President Mike, Tony and John met with Care Outreach to explore ways to support their work via Rotary grants. We expect information will be coming forward in the next couple of months that we'll bring to the club meeting.
Bunnings
The two BBQ's thus far this year plus one in May will allow the club to donate community funds. If you have a special cause, let the club know and we'll see what we can do.
Solstice Swim
The swim has become a feature of the Sunshine Coast winter season, and this year we've approached Salty Souls as a beneficiary, which we expect to be a long term relationship where we can help Kerry and the team with their great work.
Drought and Bush Fires:
What have Rotary been doing?
The drought has been going for years and the bushfires for months, so what’s Rotary been doing to “make a difference?”
Here’s just some of the stories on how Rotary and Rotarians have been helping out their communities in the face of these personal and community disasters.
As we’ve mentioned many times, Rotary has the lowest cost funding model. We have by far the lowest admin costs than our nearest Charitable Organisation.
In other words more of your dollar donation goes directly to the community if you donate through Rotary.
Also Rotary supports through Projects and encouragement many of the community service organisations…here are just some of the stories behind the funding and projects……
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Did you know that Rotary has been supporting the RFS for decades?
But you may not have been aware that Rotary also has been recognising the efforts of individuals through the Rotary Emergency Service Community Awards. Specifically the NSW Rotary Emergency Service Community Award
I enclose extracts from the 2018 finalist article below, where Rotary encourages and supports these volunteers through their actions, volunteering and funding.
“Minister for Emergency Services Troy Grant today announced 24 NSW and 8 ACT finalists for the 2018 Rotary Clubs and Districts of NSW and ACT Emergency Services Community Awards.
Mr Grant said the expanded awards, which include the ACT for the first time, are a fantastic opportunity to shine a light upon the enormous contribution of emergency services workers such as nominee Alan Johnson from Batlow who has been a volunteer for over 52 years.
“These awards celebrate the outstanding commitment, sacrifice and spirit of service. As a community it is important that we take the time to acknowledge and thank volunteers and personnel who give so much of themselves and ask so little in return,” Mr Grant said.
“This year’s finalists have more than 600 years of combined service and I thank them all for their exemplary community service.”
Finalists come from the following emergency services agencies:
· Fire & Rescue NSW · ACT Fire & Rescue · NSW Ambulance · ACT Ambulance · NSW Rural Fire Service · ACT Rural Fire Service · NSW State Emergency Service · ACT State Emergency Service · Marine Rescue NSW · NSW Volunteer Rescue Association. |
Commissioners from the NSW SES, NSW RFS, Marine Rescue NSW and the NSW Volunteer Rescue Association will each nominate an outstanding individual for consideration of the scholarship. A Rotary NSW panel will determine the most deserving candidate.
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Did you know that Rotary clubs have been involved at grass roots level?
Here’s a typical story from Rotary Club of Taree….
The Rotary Club of Taree has shattered its bushfire relief fundraising goal of $30,000, reaching more than double that amount within a week.
"We're really deeply touched," said Maurie Stack, director of the club on the NSW mid-north coast.
He said that donations had been coming in from around the state in big and small amounts.
"On Saturday, I picked up an email from a local businessman who wanted to donate $20,000 but remain anonymous. He particularly wanted it to go to people who were uninsured, and there's plenty of those," Mr Stack said.
"On the other end, we've had lots of people give us $100 or $50. My eight-year-old grandson called me the other night saying he'd won $25 on the Melbourne Cup and he wanted to give it to people who'd lost their homes."
The group is working with the other six Rotary Clubs in the mid-north coast council area, as well as the local Lions club.
"Our starting point is to get the names of all the people who've lost homes," Mr Stack said.
A team of volunteers is working to compile that list and the affected residents will then be invited to make a claim.
"Some might choose not to because they're insured, and that's OK; but even those who are insured have suffered considerable losses," he said.
A grant from Australian businessman Dick Smith of $15,000 kicked in as soon as that fundraising amount was reached. While Mr Stack said they were delighted with the amount raised so far, he stressed the need was enormous.
Anyone wanting to support the Rotary Club's appeal can donate here.
The Rural Fire Service (RFS) is welcoming donations through their fund, while may local brigades are conducting fundraising through doorknocks, letterbox drops or at community functions.
The RFS also warned of phony donation requests, saying as a general policy, it does not seek donations over the phone.
(From SMH)
Did you know that Rotary has set up a Queensland Bushfire appeal?
Rotary Bushfire Appeal and Assistance
From: District Governor, Darryl Iseppi
Over the last couple of weeks we have seen the start of one of the potentially worst Bushfire Seasons ever in our Rotary District and surrounding areas.
Some of our members have been affected though fortunately at this stage minimal damage and no loss of life. Our communities have not been as lucky.
I know many of our Rotarians, their families and our clubs are supporting frontline emergency staff and also the support personal and evacuation centres.
My call to those clubs and the Assistant Governors for those groups has been heart-warming knowing they are dealing with it at a local level and are keeping in touch with our Rotarian Families.
I have called upon a number of clubs to be available to provide relief effort to those clubs first affected. The response has been wonderful, and I thank everybody. I ask that we all be aware of the need.
The clubs and Assistant Governors in these areas have been asked to come through District if help is needed and I have promised on your behalf that we will be there. I know we will all do what we can for our Rotary Family.
In addition to this the RAWCS (Rotary Australia World Community Service) President, Treasurer and Project manager have set up a Relief Fund for the Bushfire Victims and Communities. This gives total Tax Deductibility effect to any donation to the Fund. It also eliminates any administration fees being charged. I thank the RAWCS executive for offering to do this.
By going to the RAWCS website www.rawcs.org.au anyone can donate to
Queensland Bushfire Relief Project (RARF*) with number 19-2019-20
- The appeal will be titled “Queensland Bushfire Appeal”
- It will relate only to the affected Rotary Districts of Queensland
- It will be a project in RARF
- The project is live on the RAWCS website and is able to accept donations.
- RAWCS is organizing a quick donate button on the RAWCS home page.
*RARF = Rotary Australia Relief Fund)
The project will be managed as a RABS (Rotary Australia Benevolent Society) project for distribution and coordinated by the Queensland Bushfires Distribution Committee chaired by myself with Neil Black as Deputy. It includes representatives for all Districts connected to Queensland that have or will be affected by the Bushfires. Distribution will be to individuals, families and communities affected by the Bushfires.
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Australian Rotary Districts Drought Appeal
The highly successful Rotary Australia World Community Service Limited [RAWCS], Channel 9 and National Farmers’ Federation drought appeal closed on 30th September 2018 raising in excess of $10 million. These funds have been distributed direct to farmers and their families.
In October 2018, RAWCS initiated a drought appeal to continue this work and established the Australian Rotary Districts Drought Appeal.
The appeal covers nine Rotary District drought relief projects in the whole area impacted by this severe drought, west of the Great Dividing Range, from far North Queensland to Victoria and South Australia.
The appeal enables donations contributed after 30th September 2018 to continue to be distributed to these active RAWCS drought relief projects. Local Rotarians and Rotary Clubs understand which farming families are doing it tough, and this appeal ensures that this much needed support is received quickly.
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Care outreach and Alex Rotary
Locally, Alex Rotary has been a big supporter of drought assistance through the Care Outreach program, and this year we reached out to Bill and Melissa and their organisation to get ideas from team leaders on how Rotary could help their communities through the Rotary grants program.
We’re hoping to hear back from the team leaders in late January and start working on processing those grant applications to help the long-suffering Queensland Communities.
Finally, a big thank you to all our supporters in 2019, and we look forward to 2020 in the knowledge that there are great people in our community who continue to help others in whatever way they can, either in a Rotary Club or personally.
Frontline on the Drought (Warning - Graphic story)
On the coast we have "loo with a view"...in drought affected western Queensland they have "loo with a roo" ...or rather several roos...as Bill was telling us that one of the Care Outreach projects was to refurbish a community meeting place, to improve the mental health of those suffering from nearly 8 years of drought.
So with Care Outreach's help the team started to clear out the hall and make the place more secure. But what was that smell? It turns out that several Roo's had been attracted to the the smell of water in the toilet cubicle and had broken into the hall where they had perished, several on top of each other in the toilet cubicle.
The bodies had to be removed (by a pregnant farmers wife no less) and the toilet block demolished and rebuilt.
So next time you hear talk about " doing it tough" think about our fellow Australians out west.
Pallets ready to go !!
...and their destinations.
Local Rotarians have continued their fantastic work on the Rotary Care garden and over the past few weeks have been improving the IFYS child care facilities in Maroochydore. Some pictures below, and a big thank you from Vicky Meyer and her team for the smiles that we have been able to add o the mums and kids who now have a completely refurbished play area.
So well done everyone involved from Alex and Mooloolaba Rotary and really fantastic to hand over the facility just in time from Christmas.
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"Fantastic work, what a difference. It was lovely to hear from Renee and Sheree, who coordinates the program, the reactions from the children to the cubby upgrades, can’t wait for them to see these latest enhancements!
Thank you so much for all your support."
Vicky Meyer
Executive Manager
Community Services IFYS
They say its never over till the paperwork is done, and thats true, but we can say that the physical work is done with John & Lol White bring the plants and the poo (don't ask) along on Monday morning and planting out the garden beds. One is a salad bowl, one herbs, and another an interesting mix.
So after getting the plants in, and instructions to Damo to keep them well watered, we removed the temporary fence and replaced with the permanent fence and said good bye to a fantastic cluster project.
Lol white planting out the garden beds.
As I said on Friday, its been a fantastic project, and could not have been done without the help of Rotarians and Rotoractors,
So all thats left to be done is the paperwork, and a big thank you to everyone involved. And finally, your club received the Brett Mitchell Memorial TRF grants award at our handover dinner, which we accepted on behalf of the clubs and individuals whoo made this fantastic back yard possible, and left a legacy of fond memories for the kids who will be using it.
- Rotary has changed a lot over he past few years, but it remains one of the largest voluntary organisations in the world
- Rotary is Non-political, non-religious
- Rotary's only purpose is to support the local and international community while having some fun.
- Rotary is an united world wide organization of business and professional leaders
- Rotary provides humanitarian service
- Rotary encourages high ethical standards in all vocations
- Rotary helps build goodwill and peace in the world.
- ROTARY is some 1.2 million service-minded men and women belonging to nearly 27,000 Rotary clubs in virtually every nation in the world.
- ROTARIANS meet frequently for fellowship and interesting and informative programs dealing with topics of local and global importance.
- Rotary Membership is by invitation and reflects a wide cross-section of community representation.
- The Rotary Foundation, is a top 5 effective charities in the world, providing some $80 million for international scholarships, cultural exchanges and humanitarian projects large and small that improve the quality of life for millions of people.
- Rotary's largest community program has been the successful eradication of Polio worldwide
| It's compulsory to attend weekly meetings. | No, you can attend as many meetings as you like. |
| It's for old folk. | No, Alex Rotary would welcome anyone over 25 who was interested in "making a positive difference" to the community |
| It's expensive. | We try and keep costs to a minimum. Rotary fees are about $5/week, which includes magazine subscription |
| It's only for men. | We welcome women, indeed Rotary has many female Club Presidents. |
| The meetings are boring. | We regularly have community leaders come to our breakfast meetings to keep us up to date on local and international issues |
At Rotary we want to have fun while "making a difference" to our communities, locally and internationally.
However, we're a "can do" organisation..and if you have a cause or program that you want some help with, why not get in touch and we'll see what we can do?
The events that we run and support allow the club to raise money to support some of the many good causes in the community. All of Rotary donations and fund raising go to the community. All Rotarians are volunteers and give freely of their time. Club expenses are kept to a minimum, and the main Rotary Foundation is one of the top 5 Charities in the world in terms of its effectiveness, with the administration costs far, far, lower than many better known charities.
- Surf Show and Shine - Celebrating the Coast while helping the outback. We always need volunteers to help run this annual community event.
- SunnyCoast Solstice Swim - Supporting our Young Veterans and other Rotarian community causes. It's getting bigger every year.
- Worklife Program - Rotarians are generally business people who are passionate about giving back. So its only natural that when they see businesses complain that the young are not "work ready", and they see overloaded school curriculums, and stressed out kids going into the workforce that they want to help. So Alex Rotary has been delivering and promoting a program to help first time workers transition to work, in a practical and positive way. Already we've been to high schools on the Sunshine Coast , Rotaract at USC and IFYS community worker work start programs.
- Golf Day - Last year we hosted a charity golf day to raise funds for Sunshine Coast helicopter rescue - an initiative started by Rotary here on the Sunshine Coast.
- Christmas at Alex - Every year we host a BBQ at Christmas at Alex, to raise funds for our local battlers at Christmas.
- Christmas Hampers - Last year we gave 400 hampers to the Carers of Children to give a helping hand over Christmas
- Mooloolaba Triathalon - we're delighted to help the organisers host this event that attracts thousands to the coast
- Mooloolaba Ironman - For many years Rotarians have managed the gear tent for this great event
- Clean Up Australia Day - every year we organise a BBQ for our volunteers who help clean up the coastline around beautiful Alexandra Headland
The club offers students a transitioning to work a program on how to succeed and to be happy at Work. This is available in coffee - table book form or by presentations from the members by arrangement. We strongly believe that the youth and schools, universities of today will benefit from the practical support and mentorship of employers and employees. If you wish to receive the book, please click HERE or if you are interested in organising a course for your school, please contact the club through the home page address, RCAHsecretary@gmail.com and we'll take it from there.
Climb every mountain - Here's an inspiring story from one Rotarian in Africa
A Rotaractor ventures deep into her native Uganda with a polio vaccination team as part of Rotary’s newest virtual reality film, Two Drops of Patience
By Patience Asiimwe....As told to Diana Schoberg
Health workers must have a lot of passion. They face so many challenges to reach every child with the polio vaccine.
I found that out when I traveled to a mountain community on the border of Uganda and Kenya, 200 miles from my home in Kampala, to join a vaccination team. Just getting to the homes was a challenge, let alone persuading the parents to let us in. We had to park the cars, carry our coolers with the polio vaccine safely tucked inside between ice packs, and move on our own two feet, just walking and walking. It’s a bit of a trick – using your hands to steady yourself while you climb, yet still having to carry this heavy cooler. There were lots of streams and rivers, and at times we had to jump across or walk through the water.
Read on at this link HERE
2020 SURF SHOW AND SHINE
Planned for the Shorefront at Mooloolaba on Sunday 19th April
HAS BEEN POSTPONED
But we will be back in late 2020 with
Vintage Kombi & SurfBoard Displays & Vendors
Kids Play area, Food & Entertainment
Grand Kombi Parade
Here is a link to the complete WorkLife booklet developed by Alex Rotary as a mentoring guide to anyone starting work for the first time. (Also not a bad read for anyone going back into the workforce who would like a bit of inspiration and advice.
We've also found that local businesses use it as a friendly support for their employees to help discussions along on the importance of work, (and how to be happy at work while making the boss happy!!)
Alex Rotary - Trivia Quiz champions
Here's our group celebrating their win, with our exchange student Amy, who is basking in the reflected glory of the winners. 
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Alex Rotary are the current ROMAC trivia champions, having successfully won the trophy from hundreds (really) of Rotarians at a Fund Raising event hosted by Caloundra Rotary every year to raise funds for this fantastic medical charity.
This is the second year that we've won this highly regarded trophy. This year we had to win without three of last years brain boxes, Graeme, Doug and Dave W, but they were ably replaced by Verna, Professor Bob, and President Mike.
ROMAC is an organisation of Rotarians and supporters from the medical profession, who give freely of their time and expertise to help the Pacific Island community.
You've probably seen some of the examples of facial reconstruction, and limb correction that these great volunteers do. The recent separation of the Siamese twins is the type of extensive surgery that the Rotarians who make up the ROMAC team do around the area. Tony recently showed a ROMAC project where a young boy from the surrounding islands was able to stand on his own two feet for the first time after radical surgery to align his feet. Well done ROMAC, truly making a difference to people's lives.
We're delighted to support ROMAC and a big thank you to Bryan Mason and his helpers for organising an event, which this year raised $20,000 to support those volunteer medico's with the great work they do around our region.
By being a member of a club, you can volunteer for fundraising projects and give back to the community, much more than individually. Donations our members have made recently:
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Sunshine Coast University Community Fund (RUSCCF
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1,000
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Shelterbox for homeless
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500
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Cleft pallet surgery for Children (SMILES program)
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500
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Care outreach for QLD drought relief
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20,000
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Young Veterans on Sunshine Coast
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4,500
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Bamboo Projects on Sunshine Coast
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500
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ROMAC (Rotary medical aid fund)
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500
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Rotary Care Garden Project (inc other Sunshine Coast Rotary Clubs)
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25,000
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