Hi everyone,
Well here we go again with yet another trying time for the region to cope with the current flood situation. I trust that everyone was able to stay dry & safe throughout the Clarence situation. Judy & Camellia I’m sure would have been watching with hawk eyes with mighty Clarence River right at their doorsteps. new comer to the riverbank Jenny H certainly had wonderful river views from her 1st story & would have been her very 1st flood experience. Fortunately the Grafton region “dodged a bullet” when the rain started to ease and the river peaked at around 7.6m at Grafton, well below the 8.09m peak in 2013 flood, luckily!
We have to very considerate for our neighbouring regions of Ulmarra, and further lower river areas, and of course our thoughts go to the residents of the Lismore region with such a catastrophic weather event that was no doubt one of the largest floods experienced for them. This will take the residents & businesses a very long time to recover with many losing everything they own. Further North we have our friends in the Gold Coast region also suffering damage from this weather event, and of course the Brisbane region who experienced it 1st.
DG Jeff has sent an email out to the district advising that the district is preparing an appeal to assist as shown below. At this stage we are not sure what this appeal may look like, however there will be many worthy appeals out in our community so we will need to be very mindful & careful with decisions of which if any we can assist with either monetary or labour etc. before we commit from our club. AG Anne is in communication with other clubs and district and will filter through information to us as needed.
If any member has any thoughts of how we can help please let me, Lee or Herman know for us to consider.
I have also received other emails from various areas within Rotary for us to turn our focus to supporting our local district where we can rather than looking to support projects outside of our region. This may be a temporary “road block” for some of our projects that we have planned, however it is what we need to do in this situation. As DG Jeff said that we have faced many challenges over the past couple of years however if we work together we will overcome this current challenge.
The current weather event has put many challenges onto our own members & their families, which has already & will no doubt push back some of our goals & projects as we work through this situation. If any member does need support through these times please reach out to myself or other members. We will however meet again on Wednesday at our alternate venue of the Crown Hotel to support each other, and to see what we might be able to do to help our community. If possible our RYLA attendees will be in attendance to share their experiences of the event. We have donated our BBQ this weekend to assist in a flood fundraising event and have donated our excess sausages stock and drinks for another fundraising event on Wednesday at Anytime fitness. If labour is needed the organisers will let us know to see who maybe able to assist. There are the sorts of things that Rotarians do in these times where we need to adapt quickly, and turn our focus to the people in need.
I am of the understanding that Roches has been resold this week and no doubt will meet the new owners in due course.
Next Sunday of course is our annual Polio Movie event at the Saraton with screening of “The Duke” at 3pm. Lunch will be available at the Crown from 12 midday with $5 from every meal going to ward Polio as well so organise your friends & families to come along and support this event even though it is not for the local community but a very worthy cause.
2022 March Flood looking to the West of Westlawn.
A Rotary project at Victor Harbour, SA that I saw in my visit to SA recently.
Take care, stay safe & look forward to seeing as many on Wednesday as possible.
Centenary President,
Robert
Purchase your Ticket Direct from the Saraton
