Garry Maloney Receives Paul Harris Fellowship at October Celebration Dinner
Garry Maloney, Mak Kahill, District Governor David Clark, Rob Wilkinson
This year, in awarding a Paul Harris Fellowship, we would like to honour the service to Rotary, and commitment to community service, of Garry Maloney.
Garry was born in Sydney in 1950 and raised in Balmain throughout his school years. He attended St Augustine’s Balmain for Primary school and Christian Brothers Balmain for High School. Garry has always been a keen sportsman, competing in tennis, cricket and football as a young person and he continues to enjoy tennis and golf regularly. Since joining Rotary, Garry has participated in a number of golf days supporting ROMAC, Australian Rotary Health and other charities.
On completing High School, Garry commenced work at Sydney County Council, which later became Sydney Electricity, where he continued to work for 27 years, in IT and customer service. On leaving Sydney Electricity he tried his hand as a tennis coach and then joined Oce Australia. Garry worked for Oce for 14 years as a Customer Relations Officer and then as a member of the sales team. During his time there, Garry organised a number of golf days for clients. He also tried his hand at musical theatre, for a couple of years, with a group of staff members who were in an amateur musical society in Carlingford! In 2011, Garry joined Konica Minolta in customer relations and stayed with the company until his retirement in 2018.
Garry met his partner, Pam, and her two children in 1989 and they moved to Castle Hill in 1992. Garry became involved in the parent committees whilst the children were at high school, helping at working bees, school fetes, art shows and other fundraising events and activities. At the same time, he also helped at the schools where Pam was working, providing an extra pair of hands whenever needed.
Garry joined Rotary, with his partner Pam, in November 2014 after helping at the North Ryde Fun Run in August of that year. Since joining, Garry has been a strong supporter of the Club. He has involved himself in many fundraising events particularly sausage sizzles, book sales, fun runs and the Carols on the Common. Even whilst frequently travelling interstate for work, he would organise free printing for the events through Konica Minolta. Garry has also helped with the Country Students’ IT Tour, assisting with organising venues to visit, and accompanying the group of students on tours and activities.
Since retiring, Garry has taken on more volunteering activities with the Club. He has been operations coordinator for the Carols on the Common in 2019 and the North Ryde Fun Run in 2018 and 2019. He has given his time to set up and pack up many fundraisers, often working throughout the day as well as the days before and after the events. He has attended organising committee meetings regularly. He has sourced prizes and sponsors for the fun runs, trivia nights and ensured certificates of appreciation are delivered. This year Garry has taken on the role of Club Service Director, working with the Board to organise social events and club meetings.
Garry’s exceptional contribution to the Rotary Club of North Ryde, and to our community in general, makes him very deserving of recognition as a Paul Harris Fellow.