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How can you come up with a concise outline of the dozens of very specific facets of Rotary? Well, there wouldn't be anyone in our club who knows more about Rotary than "our" Past District Governor Darrell Brown! Capably assisted by Simon Brook wielding his trusty Apple computer, Darrell engaged us all with a very professional shortcut presentation. He covered the foundation of our organisation by Paul Harris in 1905, which since has grown to a total membership of over 1.2 Million members, 99,000 of which are resident in Australia, 1,256 (at last count) in 54 clubs are resident in our District. The establishment of The Rotary Foundation (given the absolute top 4-star rating by Charity Navigator) is a must mention, with one of the commencement of Polio Plus by the first Australian President of Rotary International (1978-79), Sir Clem Renouf. Sir Clem's most famous quote "Rotary takes ordinary men (and women) and gives them extraordinary opportunities to do more with their lives than they ever dreamed possible".Darrell focused on one very important segment, in which our club has always been active: Youth Services. The uninitiated may be a bit overwhelmed by a swag of acronymns: RYLA, RYTS, RYPEN, NYSF, TCSE, MUNA, RYDA... plus some with full names such as Interact, Rotaract! Too many programs to give full justice in this article. Much easier if you simply download a one-page summary of our Youth Programs from the District Website: Click here. Worth mentioning: in addition to participating in many of these programs every year, including hosting an incoming Youth Exchange Student (Ayana Sadaka - see website), Surfers Sunrise provides some serious manpower to the District's International Youth Exchange organisation: Chris Thurtell is in his fourth year as Chairman and Gerald East has been its Treasurer since time immemorial (2011 to be exact)... Then we sponsor the 'Lutzy Award', presented to a young Surf Life Saving Club member with special attention to leadership and mentoring of fellow members. But it's not just in Youth Services our club is punching above its weight: Mark Twyford is District Treasurer (after Doug Lipp was in that job for 4 years), Doug Lipp now in charge of District Finance and Ray Higgs is Chair of the Peace Fellowships Committee.
It's good to be a member of the top breakfast club on the Gold Coast. It's only when attending a presentation as comprehensive as Darrell's, that one realizes just how many extraordinary opportunities Rotary provides its members to do more with their lives - to borrow Sir Clem's quote. Yes, Rotary has so many facets, yet, after 32 years with this great club, your Editor still considers Fellowship, the opportunity to meet every week with a bunch of easy going people to have breakfast with and (hopefully) have an intelligent conversation alone is worth every hour and every dollar invested in Rotary's many programs designed to improve other people's lives.
A copy of Darrell's PowerPoint has been uploaded to our Download Section on the right. It's in two parts (due to size limitations of uploads).
to the District's International Youth Exchange organisation: Chris Thurtell is in his fourth year as Chairman and Gerald East has been its Treasurer since time immemorial (2011 to be exact)... Then we sponsor the 'Lutzy Award', presented to a young Surf Life Saving Club member with special attention to leadership and mentoring of fellow members. But it's not just in Youth Services our club is punching above its weight: Mark Twyford is District Treasurer (after Doug Lipp was in that job for 4 years), Doug Lipp now in charge of District Finance and Ray Higgs is Chair of the Peace Fellowships Committee. It's good to be a member of the top breakfast club on the Gold Coast. It's only when attending a presentation as comprehensive as Darrell's, that one realizes just how many extraordinary opportunities Rotary provides its members to do more with their lives - to borrow Sir Clem's quote. Yes, Rotary has so many facets, yet, after 32 years with this great club, your Editor still considers Fellowship, the opportunity to meet every week with a bunch of easy going people to have breakfast with and (hopefully) have an intelligent conversation alone is worth every hour and every dollar invested in Rotary's many programs designed to improve other people's lives.
A copy of Darrell's PowerPoint has been uploaded to our Download Section on the right. It's in two parts (due to size limitations of uploads).