New Member Induction
We inducted our newest member, Ben Gomez, whose classification is Research and Development Carbon Capture. We would like to welcome Ben to our club and look forward to getting to know him better. Welcome to our club Ben.
Thanks to Susan and Geoff Buxton
Vince Campbell presented a Paul Harris Fellowship to Susan and Geoff Buxton in honor of their help over the past five years with our Flag Program. Vince plants flags in Blackburn and they pick them up.
Patrick Gibson, Rotarian of the Year
Our Rotarian of the Year is Patrick Gibson, presented for his service over the years to our club as Treasurer and also as our Kiva Co-ordinator. Patrick could not be present today so his honor will be presented at the next regular meeting.
Executive Change Over
Our outgoing President Graham Gilchrist welcomed our new President for the 2023/2024 year, Heather de Kok.
Heather thanked Graham and presented him with the Past President’s pin.
Messages from our Incoming President
Heather welcomed her new executive board, President Elect Loida Lumanlan, Secretary Trina Vandermeer, Membership Stephan Jansen van Vuuren, Community Services Carin Jansen van Vuuren, International Services Norman Leach, Members at Large Vince Campbell and Donna Hutton. The position of Treasurer is still open.
Heather went on to talk about the Rotary Themes for the upcoming year. The Rotary International Them for this coming year is ‘Create Hope in the World’. Our District focus for the upcoming year is Mental Health which happens to be a topic very near and dear to Heather’s heart. Heather has also chosen a theme for our club this year to be ‘Joy’. Heather said that she loves life, being a Rotarian, a mum and a working woman. She said that if you have joy, you have hope and can then give hope to others.
Heather said that we are going back to weekly meetings for this Rotary year. Fellowship is the core of our club and to encourage this, the last meeting of every month will be a non-traditional social gathering. Each month she will assign a random group of three members to come up with some type of social get-together for the last week of the month, of their own choosing, day, time and place. The goal of these is for us to have the opportunity to have some fun together and get to know each other better. Heather also said that the end of this upcoming year will be the 50th Anniversary of our club (1974 -2024) and we will conclude our year with a big birthday bash. We can look forwards to a new and vibrant year together.