You may recognise these people who have been recognised for their tremendous work for Rotary and the Rotary Foundation. The Distinguished Service Award is yet to be presented, but the others awards were presented at the District 9800 Conference in April. 


 

SERVICE ABOVE SELF AWARD Doug Hawley OAM 

The Service Above Self Award is considered the highest honour that RI can bestow on a member. Up to 150 outstanding Rotarians and Rotaractors are chosen for the SAS Award each year because their service activities have made an impact on humanity. 

 

Doug Hawley OAM is a charter member of the Canterbury Club and lives the ideals of Service Above Self. As Club President in 1993, he organized 300 volunteers to raise $50,000 over 2 years for the Bone Marrow Research Centre. Since 1998 he has led eye, ear and teeth screening medical missions to rural communities in The Philippines, screening 140,000 people with 40,000 interventions, including 8000 eye surgeries. In 2015 he created the For a Meal program which delivers nutritional meals made from local ingredients to the needy. The project is fully donor and volunteer funded. Volunteers from Rotary, schools and community groups have packed more than 400,000 meals. These were initially distributed to Filipino disaster victims and since the Covid pandemic have provided hope to the homeless and needy locally. Doug is modest about his achievements but is always first to put up his hand. In 2013, he was honoured with the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the local community through Rotary and community volunteering, and professional achievements in biochemistry. 

 

 

THE ROBERT FELS PEACE AWARD – Dr Tania Miletic 

The Robert Fels Peace Award is a District 9800 Award to recognise a person who has significantly enhanced peace building and conflict resolution at international, national, or local community level. The award recognizes the leadership of Bob Fels in realising these outcomes. 

 

Dr Tania Miletic is an experienced peace and conflict studies academic and practitioner with a longstanding commitment to violence prevention and peacebuilding in Australia and across the Asia Pacific region. Tania has been engaged as a peace consultant and facilitator to a range of university, government and non-government organisations and stakeholders. She is now the Assistant Director of the Peacebuilding Initiative at the University of Melbourne. In 2002, she was District 9800’s first Peace Fellow. She did her masters course at the International Christian University in Japan and since then has maintained her links with Rotary - speaking at clubs, district conferences and peace conferences and helping with the selection of new Peace Fellows. She has twice been recognised as a Paul Harris Fellow. 

 

 

THE CITATION FOR MERITORIOUS SERVICE Cheryl Pisterman 

The Citation for Meritorious Service recognizes one individual Rotarian per district per year who has demonstrated outstanding active service to The Rotary Foundation for more than one year. 

Cheryl has given, and continues to give, selfless and meritorious service to The Rotary Foundation. For six years she served as the administrative coordinator of the District Foundation Committee, and for the past two years, has served as her club’s Foundation Chair. Her duties in her district role included that of minute secretary, events coordinator, and publicity officer for the Foundation. She carried out these duties with great enthusiasm and skill. For many years, Cheryl also helped to produce the District’s Foundation newsletter. The high quality of her newsletters is a testament to her talents and her attention to detail. She is thorough, perceptive, and always thinking of the best way to promote the Foundation. Cheryl continues to support the Foundation through her personal contributions, assistance to district officers and promotion within her club. 

 

THE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD PDG Dennis Shore 

The Distinguished Service Award is an internationally competitive award granted annually to a maximum of 50 Rotarians who have exhibited exceptional active service to The Rotary Foundation. Financial contributions to the Foundation are not relevant to this award. Nominees must have received the Citation for Meritorious Service at least four years prior. This year 98 nominations were received but only 38 were awarded. 

 

PDG Dennis Shore has an outstanding record of service to The Rotary Foundation. In our district, his Foundation knowledge and experience is second to none. Dennis led a Group Study Exchange Team to New Mexico (2005) and then served on the District GSE Subcommittee (2005-2010, Chair 2007-2010). He also chaired the D9800 Scholarship Subcommittee (2013 -2016) and was the District’s Foundation Chair (2016-2019). Currently he is chair of the Annual Fund Subcommittee and the Peace Fellowships Subcommittee. For the past three years he has been the Zone 8 Endowment and Major Gifts Advisor. He is also a Director Rotary Foundation Australia (2020-2023). Dennis served as our District Governor 2012-2013. 

 

Congratulations Doug, Tania, Cheryl and Dennis. 

 

 

 

You can see the 2022 District 9800 Recognitions at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsYqWdxxbTU

 

 

 

The Rotary Award of Honour

In recognition of his longstanding focus on nature-based solutions to address the climate crisis, Rotary presented HRH Prince Charles with its highest honour: The Rotary Award of Honour.

At a private audience during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting  in Kigali, Rwanda, Rotary International President 2021-22 Shekhar Mehta expressed appreciation for the dedication of His Royal Highness toward sustainability and biodiversity and noted Rotary’s shared commitment to protecting the environment.

“After billions of years of evolution, nature is our best teacher,” the Prince of Wales said. “In this regard, restoring natural capital, accelerating nature-based solutions and leveraging the circular bio-economy will be vital to our efforts.”