President Anthony McGrath opened the meeting at 6.30 pm on 3 May 2021.

 

John Thornton is with us tonight to lead the singing of a rousing chorus of Advance Australia Fair. With John’s guidance, the Club members performed admirably and scored an 8/10 for their rendition.

 

 

We welcome Mr. Gordon Hudson as our Guest Speaker tonight who will speak to us about the long-running Project, Wheelchairs for Kids done through the Rotary Club of Scarborough.

 

We also welcome other Guests.

 

 

We have Apologies & Honorary, 17 LOA plus 3 guests hence around 40 people should be in attendance tonight.

 

 

 

 

Craig James shared that his youngest daughter has relocated to Perth after working for 7 years in foreign countries.

 

 

 

Kent advised that we have 34 members, and 3 guests present for a total of 37 at our meeting.

 

 

Russell advised that the trust was performing well and approaching our Target level for funds at $1,000,000.

In addition, Russell informed members that wine deliveries would take place from 09:00 from his premises.

 

A Board Meeting is scheduled for next Monday night.

 

A committee meeting will be held next week.

 

Kevin confirmed that we had an article regarding the upcoming Science and Engineering Challenge in the Post in the current issue and were also featured on the radio at 101 Curtin FM.

 

Nothing to report on Membership, however, John informed us that the Club has secured Rob Scott, the current CEO of Wesfarmers for the Business Lunch on 5th November.

 

RYLEAP is on in July and we will sponsor 1 person to attend this program.

 

 

 

 

 

           

 

Richard Gorham provided an update on the fast-approaching Science and Engineering Challenge which will be held over the week of 17 – 21 May.

Currently, only 50% of Year 12 students study science subjects Vs 90% in the early 1990s.  In Australia, 75% of the fast-growing industries require STEM skills.

At the Science and Engineering Challenge, we have over 40 schools participating with some 1280 students attending together with 125 volunteers.

Richard Gorham acknowledged the good work done by Michael Bissett in raising the funds for this, our Club’s biggest Youth activity and probably our biggest activity overall.  Richard also requested help to set up on Sunday 16^th May and for Friday 21^st May and invited all Rotarians to come along and view the activities.

 

Sam Hardy from the Rotary Club of Crawley informed the Club about their upcoming new BlueSky Adventure to the Kimberley district. A copy of their flyer was provided to our members.

 

Richard Ranshaw reaffirmed to Club members the worth of these trips based upon his recent participation in one of these excursions.

 

 

Fines were imposed upon the following usual suspects.

 

Pres Anthony asked Kim Smith to introduce Mr. Gordon Hudson who will talk about Wheelchairs for Kids project.

 

Wheelchairs for Kids commenced in 1998 and has now produced over 46,000 wheelchairs so far with production ramping up to nearly 400 wheelchairs per month.

9 or 10 years ago the WHO pointed out that the standard wheelchairs created pressure sores and hence were not always suitable for people with disabilities.  WFKs stopped production until they had a design that could cater to all levels of disability and now have an all-terrain, fully adjustable chair with both body and head supports with the child strapped into the chair.

WFKs have distributed chairs to 70-80 countries around the globe and work with over 800 senior volunteers in Australia.

WFKs raise about $1,000,000/annum and do not pay fundraisers.

They recently received a donation of $1,000,000 from a generous benefactor.

A fully tax-deductible donation of $200 will build a chair.

The organisation is completely run by volunteers.

 

Pres Anthony thanked Gordon for his interesting talk, the wonderful work done, and his life of service.