CLUB COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Treasurer (Leon Lorenzen) Please settle all outstanding debts to Leon this week, before the end of the financial year this Friday, 30 June, to balance the accounts.

 

Community Service (Anthony McGrath) Thank you to those who volunteered to assist at Foodbank on Friday, 7 July; details will be sent out earlier that week.

 

Other Announcements John Hopkins asked members to put the date of Friday, 20 October, into their calendars for the Business Lunch, which will again be held at the Royal Perth Golf Club. The guest speaker will be Fiona Hick, the CEO of FMG.

 

Subscriptions will be sent out this week. The fee will be increased from$335 to $350 per annum.

Shelterbox recognition - Shelterbox has presented the Club with a Ruby Award Certificate for its continued support of it.

 

PHF presentation – Past President Jason van Straalen was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship Award. Jason has been an active member of the Club since he joined in 2020 and stepped up to become President in 2021-2022 on short notice. He is the Director of the Public Image Committee and has worked hard to ensure the Club gets much publicity. Well done to Jason for his deserved award.

President John outlined the many activities of the Club this year. Post-Covid, the busyness of the Club is evident by the many events and organisations supported by the Club.

 

The International Committee has undertaken and supported nine large projects this year. It supported the Assisi Centre for Social Justice and Peace in Uganda and the Club was featured in the June edition of Rotary Down Under. The Committee is undertaking its third annual book drive which is very successful again and assists children in Papua New Guinea at Buk Bilong Pikinini and in remote Western Australian communities. It held a Christmas stall again to fundraise for Tabitha Family Support in Cambodia.  Many, many pallets of medical supplies were sent to Ukraine, Madagascar, and Somalia, among many other countries, to CTEC at UWA and Doctors in Africa. This huge contribution is organised through the hard work of Anita Bourke. The John Fawcett organisation in Bali was again supported by the International Committee.

 

The Club Services Committee organised a number of events this year, including the Christmas party held at the Weld Club; the Welcoming Barbecue at the Golf Club in January; the International Fellowship Dinner held in February at Café des Délices in Dalkeith; the Vocational Excellence and Pride in Workmanship Awards Dinner in April; the 39^th Anniversary Dinner at the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club and a venue change to the Hollywood Subiaco Bowling Club to accommodate a speaker in June. In addition, the Club Services Committee members are responsible for organising and reminding the speakers, the calendar, the football tipping competition, fruit cakes to be sold and given to guest speakers, the weekly duty roster of members at meetings, inventing and collecting fines, managing the web page, the Celebrations List, badges, the property cupboard, compiling and sending out the weekly Bulletin, all of which are done with aplomb and efficiency.

 

The Youth Committee sponsored a place on the RYLA seven day camp, and the recipient, Joshua Morley, spoke to the Club about his life changing experience as a result of attending the camp. Claudia Walton–McDermott is being sponsored by the Youth Committee for an Indigenous Medical Scholarship. Two thousand dollars has been given to Emanuel Radici to help support him as he embarks on a law degree at Lincoln College at Oxford University. Emanuel was a cheerful volunteer at the Science and Engineering Challenge and will look to joining Rotaract in Oxford. The Youth Committee gives ongoing support to Shenton College and gave two laptops to it this year. Neil Wilkie is the liaison for the Club with Dalkeith Primary School and continues the relationship with it. The Rotary Exchange Programme has recommenced, and a Belgian student, Mathilda Hontoir, will be sponsored by the Club and arrives at the end of July. Stephanie Fryer-Smith and Anita Bourke will be her Club mentors. The highlight and biggest project of the Youth Committee is the Science and Engineering Challenge held in May organised by Richard Gorham, Michael Bisset and Kim Smith. Over 1,100 students from 38 schools participated in the weeklong activity which is said to be the best run Challenge in Australia. It is so successful largely because of the volunteers from the Club who give their time during the week.

 

The Community Committee has been very active and successful in its projects again. Community engagement has been high and resulted in over 3,000 kilograms of food being collected for Foodbank in the Cans for Christmas campaign. There was also involvement from local primary schools participating in the project. Considerable financial support has been given to the My Home project in North Fremantle, constructing eighteen homes for homeless women over 55 years old. Community engagement continues this coming year with Club volunteers attending Foodbank in Welshpool on four days to assist with its activities.

 

The Public Image Committee has had twelve articles published about the Club this year. Under Director Jason van Straalen’s leadership, its social media presence has increased dramatically, and the Club is receiving good publicity about its works.

 

President John thanked all the directors for their work this past year.

 

 

President John recited the expectations of a president and then passed over the presidential chain to Jill Elias, who becomes president for 2023-2024. Many thanks to John for his outstanding contributions as President in the past year and to Carolyn for supporting him.