HISTORY OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF MOE
Year 2010-2011
Wendy Farmer was President and David Power was Secretary. President Wendy reported “ At the start of this Rotary year I presented a Club Plan to our Club of what I believed was achievable throughout the year ; I am pleased to announce most of the objectives we planned for we achieved, as well the opportunities and challenges that were not envisaged at the planning stage. All activities were undertaken with willingness and enthusiasm. I sincerely thank the Board and all members of this Club, together with their partners, for their support, dedication and hard work throughout the year that ensured the ongoing success of our Club.
A strong characteristic of our Club is the tremendous fellowship between our members and the warmth of the greetings given to our guests and visitors throughout the year. Visitors, both Rotarians and non-Rotarian, have commented that “fun and fellowship” is a fantastic feature of our Club and that they feel very welcome at our meetings. We should be proud of the fact that we interact with each other so well considering we come from many backgrounds and walks of life. I am certainly proud to be able to say that members of The Rotary Club of Moe not only have a huge amount of fun together but also work well together to achieve many goals and that each member contributes in so many ways to the overall success of our Club”.
Club Service. Chairman Pash Demagistris reported that five trees were planted in the Botanic Gardens in Moe to represent the Youth Exchange students that have gone out on exchange or spent their year here. Florian Sutterluty - Inbound - Austria, Rafael Hilgenstieler - Inbound- Brazil, Cesar Olagne - Inbound - France, Jeppe Straarup - Inbound – Denmark, Melissa Howlett – Outbound – Austria.
International Service. Chairman David Prust reported the start of the year saw the completion of Melissa Howlett’s student exchange to Austria and during the year we had Jeppe Straarup on an inbound student exchange from Denmark. The highlight of the year was the hosting of the GSE team from District 1410 in Finland. They were with us from March the 21st to the start of the District Conference on 25th March. During this year there were a number of trips to Amed in Indonesia to support the Bhunutan Primary School. Michael and Neil travelled three times, Len Cairns twice – on one occasion accompanied by Julian and Jocelyn Yeatman and Peter Kingsbury. As the school is in a very poor part of Indonesia our project is to assist their 250 students with school uniforms, school books, white boards and sporting equipment. The Annual Golf day was a great success with over 100 players and good weather over $18,000 was raised. A film night was organised at the Village Cinema in Mid Valley with 160 Rotarians & Guests attending raising $18,000.
Community Service. Mike Carter (Chair July – December), Alan Sinnott (Chair January – June).Alan reported our main activity for the year was the successful completion of the Botanic Gardens Project. We installed nine street lights along the footpaths and surrounding area adjacent to the Tennis Club and Barbecue Rotunda, special thanks to Danny Batista and Stephenson’s Haulage Company for their donation of much appreciated labour. We supported the Moe “Carols by Candlelight" providing free sausages (but sold soft drinks) it was very well attended. We had two large ride-on toy cars given to us that we donated to Baringa Special School. A Christmas Raffle was run this year and given its success, will no doubt become an annual event. Barbecues were held at various locations including Bunnings, Querencia, Harvey Norman and TM&H Hardware. The Cool-room is now completed and has already been put to good use. The Barbecue trailer has had an overhaul thanks to Daniel Barry and Barry Dunstan, but more repairs to burners will be needed soon.
We organised and distributed Medic Alert Booklets. The Fishing Platform is now structurally finished.
Vocational Service. Chairman Len Cairns reported last December at Old Gippstown we hosted a Vocational Pride of Workmanship award evening. Students from local schools were presented with awards recognising their contribution to both their school and to their community. The committee recommended that our Club re-introduce the “Brief Job Talks” sessions to the weekly program and this was successfully introduced. We also supported activities such as MUNA (Model United Nations Activity), with Lowanna Students being involved. Unfortunately, RYPEN and RYLA had some difficulties with student support. We recently presented Pride of Workmanship/Vocational Service Awards to four locals from the Moe Business community. These are Julian and Jocelyn Yeatman for their fine customer service through the iconic Yeatman’s Newsagency and to Jim and Jan Siekman of the Valley Greengrocer + Deli who have had some fresh and innovative ideas that greatly benefited our local community.
Membership 30. Gained 2. Lost 1. Attendance 89%