INCOMING PRESIDENT - STEVE GIDDENS

Stephen Giddens (better known as Steve) who was Melbourne born, bred and educated, but moved to the Warrnambool district for work in the late 1980’s before beginning his career with the CFA in 1990. This new work involved him moving around the state in various roles ranging from Officer-in-Charge of the Traralgon Fire Station, road rescue at Dandenong and managing major fires at power stations in the Latrobe Valley.

At the time of the Black Saturday bush fires, he spent six weeks working as an Incident Controller encompassing all facets of operations, response, recovery, media and welfare of both CFA and community members.

Since moving back to Warrnambool in 2010 with the CFA, in his role as Operations Officer, Steve attended a logistics course in Bendigo where he met Louise Brennan, who is now his fiancé.

Louise, who is a member of RC Horsham East, is the one we need to thank for introducing Steve to Rotary, long before we enticed him to join our Club. She is the Secretary of the District 9780 Youth Exchange Committee, and through Louise, Steve has acted at MC at Youth Exchange events ever since, and this year accompanied over 30 Exchange Students on Safari, and survived.

Steve was inducted to our club on December 17, 2013 and in his short time in Rotary, has proven to be a very dedicated and enthusiastic member and we look to an exciting year with him as our President.

As President of Rotary Warrnambool, Steve has asked his Directors to formulate their committees with only 2-3 people; this enables club members to participate in more than one of the avenues of service. We will have champions of projects, like Brian Trenery who headed up the Rotary Lights Project. 

With some change comes fun and Steve has asked Judy Ross to organise the fun. She is currently investigating some bus trips and possibly an overnighter. This should enable members of the Club to enjoy each other’s company in a social environment, as our yearly standard program is full of commitments.

We will be actively involved with Youth, as we say goodbye to Astrid, heading home tomorrow to Denmark, and what a glowing ambassador she has been to herself, her family and Rotary. We have arriving in late July, Carla from Germany and Steve is looking forward to the whole Club engaging with this student.

This year, Steve has asked members to think about a large local project and an international project to work towards, not necessarily completed in his term, but a sustainable project.

Membership Director, John Stuckey, is targeting a 10% growth in membership, but a couple of questions must be asked, is Rotary right for you? And are you right for Rotary?

As our President Ravi Ravidran has said, the work we do as Rotarians gives life and hope to people who are not as fortunate as us. Continuing this work as Rotarians is our “Gift to the World”