PRESIDENT'S REPORT 2024-2025
Paul Harcombe. President Rotary Redcliffe Sunrise. 2024-2025.
I have been honoured to serve as President this past year.
Thank you all for your support and hard work, especially the Board, Secretary, and Treasurer.
Our club feels vibrant with four new members including two Honorary Members: Doreen Johnson and Sandra Ruck.
Later today we will induct a new member, John Kelly.
We will also accept former Rotarian and past club president, Kate Narracott as an Honorary Member in the coming months.
New members bring fresh ideas, fresh energy and increase our skillsets and capabilities to meet the challenges ahead.
Today is about celebrating our achievements and for a relatively small club of 10 plus active members we punch well above our weight and have delivered a multitude of activities, seminars and projects across areas of service such as the Community, Environment and Youth, all to bring about positive change.
I have often wondered why we do this. I think it’s because we care.
We care about the health and well being of our citizens here and abroad. We care about our communities, and we care about the environment of this beautiful place we call home, all through the lens of the Rotary ideals and the motto of 'Service Above Self'.
In financial terms we raised almost $20,000 for charities and causes, which was donated to the following:
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Redcliffe Breakfast Club
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Australian Rotary Health
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Motor Neurone Disease Qld
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Flood Disaster Appeal for Qld
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Flood Disaster Appeal for NSW
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The Rotary Foundation
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ShelterBox (Partner)
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Days for Girls (Partner)
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Ukraine Land Mine Detectors for Ukraine
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Biogas for Nakura Kenya
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Triage Equipment for Gizo Hospital Solomon Islands
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Redcliffe Hospital
Our 'Raise it for Redcliffe' Hospital donation of $4,500 was doubled to $9,000 by the hospital's Impact Partners.
We became a Community Partner, and some of this money went towards transforming the Rehab Nurses Rest Area from a barren piece of gravel with a few plastic chairs to a haven for our rehab nurses. This bit of 'Rotary Magic' certainly has had a positive impact on our hardworking nurses. Next year we are looking at helping the Palliative Care Unit.
We participated in 'Redcliffe Remembers' and helped upgrade Corscadden Park with some history markers and walks.
We collaborated with our sister clubs on the following:
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Red Ride against Domestic Violence (Caboolture)
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Motor Neurone Disease Walk (Nundah) raising $20K
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Einbunpin Festival (Nundah)
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'Lift the lid' walk for Mental Health Research (Kippa-Ring North lakes)
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Rotary Display at Redcliffe Show (Kippa-Ring North Lakes)
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Young Interactor on the East Coast Leadership Challenge on the Rotary Sailing vessel the Windeward Bound (Kippa-Ring North Lakes). Thank you Peter Macaron (President), Bernard van den Bergen (Secretary). We are 'Uniting For Good".
We sponsored seminars for Men's Health.
We collaborated with Greenstreet Consulting in establishing the Redcliffe Sustainable Business Network, running workshops for 20 businesses and Not-for-profits, all designed to help them to understand and adopt sustainable practices across their supply chains and realise savings of up to 15%.
We were informed by a range of interesting and thought provoking guest speakers. Thank you Hugh.
District Governor Mark Williams congratulates Paul Harcombe on his appointment as President for 2025-2026.
Some amazing work has been done in the Environment Area of Focus. Our Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group (ESRAG) lead by Vice President Colin Scobie have run a couple of Family Fun Days (Turtles and Dugong) and several Eco-Forums featuring terrestrial and marine creatures in the Moreton Bay region.
Guest speakers from the University of the Sunshine Coast and The University of Queensland presented on Koalas, Kangaroos, Dolphins, Sawfish, Shellfish, Humpback Whales, Scalloped hammerhead sharks and Crocodiles, engaging over 200 interested parties.
ESRAG also hosted the inaugural Moreton Bay Turtle Symposium. Twice there has been a 150% increase in turtle nestings this past season.
There was also a talk about dingoes on 99.7FM.
With Greater Community awareness comes appreciation and understanding how we can preserve and protect these precious species.
We adopted Humpybong Creek to monitor and improve the water quality and are planning a project to remove some of the invasive pest fish species to help restore the habitat in this local waterway.
The ongoing Shell Recycling Project has seen almost 10 metric tons of oyster shells collected and taken to the Port of Brisbane, shells that would have otherwise gone into landfill.
These shells are laid out in the sun until they are biosecure, then stacked in wire cages (gabions) before being reintroduced into Moreton Bay.
The gabions provide additional habitat for marine organisms including oysters. Fun fact: Each oyster filters 180 litres of water a day. We need a few more million so it is a long-term project but one worthwhile doing.
Congratulations to Colin and his election to the International Board of ESRAG – this is a great honour. Congratulation to the ESRAG team for their tremendous work.
The Third Service area is Youth and we have been strong supporters in shaping the positive attitudes of our future citizens.
The Club mentors Rotary Interact Clubs at Southern Cross Catholic College and Redcliffe State High School where students learn and implement the ideals of Rotary, do their own fundraising for their chosen charities and govern themselves.
We sponsor Prizes for Academic Excellence at Clontarf State High School.
We sponsored an Interact Student on the East Coast Leadership Challenge as a sail trainee on the Windeward Bound from Brisbane to Gladstone.
We helped manage high school students in driver education from four local high schools at the Brackenridge TAFE.
I know this is a lot of detail but it’s not until you write it down that you appreciate the magnitude and scope of our tremendous work and influence to bring about positive change.
The Rotary theme for this past year was “The Magic of Rotary” – I think we found some in ourselves and in others and spread a bit of magic along the way
To paraphrase the great Sir Winston Churchill –
“Never has so much been delivered by so few to so many…”
[Edited and abridged]
