The Rotary Club of Narellan Inc.

The Rotary Club of Narellan Annual Report

Presidents Report 2004 –2005

It is with great pride and pleasure that I present this report to the members and friends of Rotary.

I would like to highlight some matters here, however, a more detailed description of events will be found below under portfolio sub heading.

The year has been a busy, but successful one. We have had many projects on the go, all of which have been both challenging and successful. Generally speaking, the Club has grown both in membership and in spirit. The new members have added an additional dimension and are already showing an attitude beneficial to the continued growth of the club.

The year began with Past President Rhys, Jenny, Di and I attending most of the other club changeover dinners, this was enjoyable but proved to be an exhausting 10 days.

The first major event for the club was our Annual Ball, which, once again, was a huge success. The fundraising set a new record which will most likely be bettered again at the next ball. As usual, the night was also an excellent social evening. I would like to thank all the members for their involvement but in particular the Ball committee for their tireless efforts, commitment and Passion. Thanks to Grahame Smith and his wife Gwen, Jack White and Linda Lord, Tony and Cathy Perich, Barbara and Les Arnold.

This has been the centenary year and as result there has more than the usual number of functions to attend as President. We had the Governor’s Awards to deserving members of the community. This resulted in a ceremony held at Government house in the city.

There were many other functions held including a birthday reception hosted by the Mayor of Sydney at the Town Hall. A number of us attended this night and enjoyed good fellowship during the reception and afterwards at a Spanish restaurant in Sydney.

Our Club’s Centenary project provided us with some very interesting moments and some real challenges. However it was completed, while a little late, (no fault of ours) under budget. I would like to thank all of you who were involved in the project but a special thanks to Tony Ross who put in an enormous amount of hours and frustration. Well done Tony, not only for the centenary project but also for a complete year of jobs successfully achieved in the community service portfolio.

The Vocational evenings have been a great experience and the Pride of Workmanship Awards a success once again. Thanks Rhys to you and your team for your efforts in making it the success it has been.

Another big year in Youth with RYLA, RYPEN, our exchange student and others, thanks to Dick Leemen and his team, along with Malcolm McKenzie, who was the councillor for our exchange student, thanks for a great year.

Malcolm also filled the new role of Family of Rotary. This was challenging due to its somewhat clandestine nature, however, his role was to be somewhat of the the Club Father figure, a job he did well.

This year saw us increase our international exposure a little under the guidance of our International Director Jack Morris. We were involved in donating money to many worthy causes and also assisted other Macarthur Clubs in the Tsunami Dance Night fund raiser. Thanks also to Bob Gollan for his work on the joint committee as our representative.

Our growth this year was primarily due to the initiative of our Club Services Director and incoming President Peter Donnelly. Peter ran a campaign for new members choosing pride and passion as his foundation, making membership a privilege and the results speak for themselves, nine net new members in a time when membership is falling in many community service groups. Thanks Peter for a great job.

It has been very pleasing to welcome Roz Hill. John Hamilton, Terry Saleeb, Tony Bonanno, Debbie Roberts, Josephine Chalmers, Denis Cummins, Peter Roberts and Barrie Grimes to the fellowship, fun and community efforts of our Club.

My thanks go to Bob Piefke for taking on the Treasurer’s job. Bob has done a great job keeping the books and making sure we only spent our allocated funds, and my heartfelt thanks Bob, for your hard work.

A special thanks to Ruth, who once again did a wonderful job as Secretary. Ruth made mention, at a recent event, that I have been a demanding President. Let me say she has been equal to any task. Ruth not only carries out the secretarial duties extremely well she also manages to keep me and the rest of the board honest. She also manages to do some things done without my knowledge. Thanks for a great year Ruth.

I would like to close by thanking you all for giving me the privilege of serving as your President. The Club was handed over to me in an excellent condition and as its custodian this past 12 months I could only hope to hand it over in the same condition. Thanks to efforts of a great Board and all of the very committed members, I believe I have done that, in fact, we may have even managed to strengthen the club some. I look forward to continuing to serve the community through the Rotary Club of Narellan.

I wish Peter and Megan as great a year as Di and I have had and commend you all to follow his leadership. I am confident Peter will do an admirable job over the next 12 months.

Wayne Hosier, PHF

Community Service

The completion of the Club’s Centenary Project was a major goal of Community Services for the year and, as I am sure most members would agree, was a big job. Early in the year the Club decided to commission an archway for installation at the new Narellan Library site. The theme of the project was a combination of recognising 100 years of Rotary and the story of the Cowpastures Herd, which was deemed by the Club to be a part of our community history worthy of memorialising.

In conjunction with Camden Council, artists from “Art as an Option” were asked to present concepts for consideration and a focus was placed on using local business wherever possible. The support of Nepean Engineering is worthy of note in this report.

The Centenary Project was finally completed on the 16^th of May 2005 with a formal hand-over ceremony at the Library Site. The Club took great pride in assembling to watch as President Wayne Hosier unveiled the finished artwork and formally presented it to the Mayor of Camden in his capacity as the representative of the people of Narellan and Camden.

Thanks must go to Marty Magro, Jim Bakasetas, Ruth Morrison, Rob Elliott, Tony Perich and Wayne Hosier for their support during this project.

The Club was able to introduce two new events this year which I believe were both successful and worthy of our consideration for continued support.

Firstly, the Club ran its inaugural “Senior Citizens Christmas Party” on the 22^nd of December 2004. The intention of the event was to provide some Christmas spirit for those members of the community who may not have family or friends with whom to celebrate. Our area’s senior citizens were treated to a great lunch, top quality entertainment and fellowship from our Club and the feedback received on the day was very positive and reflective of the gratitude that our guests had for being remembered at this time of the year and included by our Club. This was a very positive event and one that I believe is worthy of repeat.

Thanks to Rob Elliott for his hard work in organising this event, Jack White for his efforts in getting guests to come to the lunch, Les Arnold for the wonderful catering and to all members of the Club who gave so willingly of their time to be a part of the day.

The other new event run by the Club this year was the “Macarthur Speechcraft Competition”, a public speaking competition for school students across the entire Macarthur area. This was a challenging event and whilst I believe it is fair to say it was successful, there is no doubt that if the event were to be repeated in the next year we could improve upon it.

The intention of the competition is to assist in improving a foundation skill, (i.e. communication), and to showcase the best of our communities youth and whilst there is no doubt that the quality of speakers seen during both preliminaries and finals was very high, I can only speculate as to what levels we would have reached had we received the full support of the local school community. I cannot begin to describe how disappointing it was to be advised that a number of Public Primary Schools in the area were not prepared to even offer their students an opportunity to participate because of the political bias of their headmasters. It is just not right that any headmaster can place their own personal political views ahead of their responsibility to their students, particularly given Rotary’s well known apolitical position.

I believe that the day remained a success but will be recommending to the Club, that prior to committing to the event again, we assess the local school communities desire to participate and support the event.

Thanks must go to Dick Leemen, Rachel Elliott, Camden Council, Serenity Financial Services and Stevens & Associates P/L., all of whom supported this event either financially or physically as well as all of our Club members who made themselves available on the day.

Finally, in terms of events, we also saw the running of our very successful Club Ball. This is a monumental task and many thanks must go to Grahame Smith and his Ball committee for the incredible amount of work that they pour into this event. This is our premier function and is responsible for the bulk of our fundraising. It is important that all of our members continue to support both Grahame and the Committee and the efforts that make this Club a very viable community support.

Other activities of note for 2004/05 include the Club’s ongoing support of organisations such as Lifeline, Mater Dei, Salvation Army, Kids of Macarthur, Survivors of Breast Cancer and many other organisations who benefit from the activities of the club.

I am proud of the achievements of the Community Services area in 2004/05. I would like to thank again all of those who contributed to the various functions we ran this year as well as Jennifer Haigh and Debbie Roberts for their support of the weekly meat tray raffles, Marty Magro and Malcolm McKenzie for their work on the Bowel Scan project and every club member for the support that I have received during my first year on the club committee.

Tony Ross

Family of Rotary

Being the first report under the above title necessitates only a few notes on what has been understood and achieved, in this position.

1. In the first instance, concern for the individual and collective lives of our members and their immediate families would appear to be one's top priority.

This has been the consideration with two of our members having extreme difficulty in

satisfying our attendance requirements. Their cases have been discussed with them, and acceptable solutions negotiated.

2. Whilst there have been only a few instances requiring this director's involvement, it does behove all Club members, to keep this director immediately informed, when the occasion necessitates, and not just mention problems as afterthoughts, when the purpose is all but lost!

Unfortunately, this directorship has not been fully accepted by some members who have continued to question its constitutional relevance, instead of welcoming its objectives for the Club's benefit. Hopefully, this will be accepted in the coming year to better effect.

Club Service

The main areas of achievement for the Club through Club Service have, I believe, been the success of our Membership Development Programs, through the introduction of new members by existing members and through our Membership Orientation evenings.

The Club commenced the year with 26 members. Even though there were some resignations due to pressure of business or family commitments, the gain of members has far outweighed the losses. We conclude this Rotary year with an increase of eight members which is a 33% increase!!

Whilst the Rotary movement and Service Clubs in general suffer from a decline in membership, it is a credit to the Rotary Club of Narellan and its members that we, as an energetic and focused Club, can reverse that trend.

Of course, our Club would not be as successful or as interesting to either belong to or attend as a visitor without good Club programs and fellowship.

Credit is due to Bob Gollan for writing and informative and fun bulletin each week, to Jennifer Haigh for providing interesting and varied guests speakers that held our attention week after week and to Jim Bakasetas, who managed to accrue the right numbers for attendance and hence our dinner supply.

Thanks must also go to the Fellows who weekly attend the Chocolate Wheel, which is bread and butter weekly fund raising. Great rivalry exists between teams as to who can finish in the shortest time.

Fellowship is an integral part of Rotary and this is enhanced by members opening their homes for the children’s Christmas party at The Eids and the best Melbourne Cup meeting at the Perich’s.

The other main achievement was the exposure, not only for Narellan, but for the combined Rotary Clubs of Macarthur area, that was received from the 100^th Centenary Celebration wrap around in each of the local papers.

Peter Donnelly PHF

International Service

In this year we have made contributions to various international projects as follows:

Continuing support of the Rotary Foundation to assist Rotary programs.

A donation of $1,000 to the Village Aide Program in the Philippines, RAWCS Project 137-2005

A donation of $500 to the Baby Faith Appeal from the Village Aide Program. Baby Faith is a baby girl found in a remote village of the Philippines with a horribly disfigured face from birth. Through this project the Village Aide has been able to bring Baby Faith to Australia for a series of surgeries to correct the disfigurement.

A donation of $1,000 to Interplast

A donation of $2,400 to Shelter Box Down Under to pay for two Shelter Boxes. Each Shelter Box will meet the needs of ten people for shelter, cooking utensils, eating utensils, and food in a disaster situation.

A donation $1,000 to African Aids Foundation, a charity formed and operated by Dr. John Schwartz of Elderslie. This local charity works to alleviate the suffering of AIDs victims in Africa. Dr. Schwartz was a guest speaker at our 24 May meeting and the donation was given to him that night by President Wayne Hosier.

A donation of $500 to Habitat for Humanity project of the Macquarie University. This donation was to assist our 2004 outgoing exchange student, Holly Daly. She will be traveling with a team of 24 persons to assist in Tsunami Relief efforts in Thailand. The project was initially set for India, but the university team was unable to meet the requirements of the work in that area. They have instead shifted to Thailand where they will assist in housing, teaching, and environmental clean up in an area of coastline devastated by the tsunami.

A donation of $1,000 to the Maubara Dental Clinic in Timor Leste. This donation is to assist the clinic in hiring a local dental nurse to operate the clinic. As others are also donating to this need of $5,000 annually, any money over the required amount for the nurse will go towards buying a second hand 4wd vehicle for the clinic.

Jack Morris

Vocational Service

The Committee members were Gillian Walker, Ruth Morrison, Amanda Hresczuk, Phil Dowd and Damian Ward. During the course of the year we lost Amanda and Tony Bonanno replaced her, on his induction into the club.

Without a doubt, the premier event of the vocational year is the "Pride of Workmanship" awards night, and the 2nd annual running went off without a hitch. These awards are sponsored by the Camden Advertiser (Fairfax Community Newspapers) and the Narellan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc.The awards are enthusiastically embraced by the public and the local business community, as witnessed by the numbers that attend.

Our weekly host, Camden Lakeside Country Club, also helped to make the evening a success by heavily subsidising the costs of the evening and without these three partners, the evening would just not happen. Also worthy of mention is Angela from Bella Arts who makes our programmes look 'GREAT' and this year her efforts secured us a full colour program and certificates for around the same cost as the previous years mono production, which added immensely to the night.

As in previous years, all participants received a framed certificate in their category and the winner of each category received a beautiful glass trophy as well. The positive comments and feedback from all ensure a permanent spot on the Club’s calendar for this event.

The club participated in two vocational visits this year. The first was to Lifeline's new H.Q. in the Narellan Rotary room no less, plus we had the honour of being the first organisation to be hosted there. The second was to the Careflight hanger at the Westmead Hospital inspecting their 'state of the art' facility & 'chopper'. Both these organisations are beneficiaries from our fund raising ball.

Along with the other five Rotary clubs of the Macarthur 'G' team, we helped sponsor Campbelltown Chamber of Commerce’s vocational "Macarthur Police Service Awards" for the second year and this will be an ongoing involvement in these very important awards.

Elizabeth Macarthur High School once again hosted club members and partners for our annual "vocational" visit where we were wined and dined to their usual very high standard. The skills learnt by the students on these nights are immeasurable and the dedication of the teaching staff most evident on these annual nights. Both students and staff are rewarded with certificates for there efforts.

I would like to congratulate President Wayne (George to some I believe) on the 'GREAT' year he has had and I thank him for all his assistance and friendship.

I also thank my fellow board members for all their help my committee for all their efforts during the year. To my successor and your committee, have as good a year as I and my committee have had and enjoy your year.

Rhys Evans PHF

Youth Services

It is always a rewarding experience to be involved in the development of youth in our community, as it is these young people who will be future leaders and possible Rotarians. The experiences they become associated with certainly have a great influence on their lives and we, the Rotarians, are often amazed, but no longer surprised, to see the difference the enrichment makes.

In January, 2004, we welcomed Tina Waldberger from Switzerland. Tina was a model student and her command of English blossomed throughout her stay with us. Many thanks must go to the host families, Lily and Bernie Eid, Peter and Megan Donnelly and Lynne and Ken Daly for their continued support of the program and their excellent care of Tina.

We look forward to welcoming Max Fattinger from Austria who will be hosted by Kerry and Chris Paul, Bernie and Lily Eid, Rebecca and Damien Ward and hosting stalwarts, Megan and Peter Donnelly.

We sponsored an Outgoing student in Holy Daly who enjoyed her experiences in Denmark and her brush with the Royal Wedding. Holly was able to travel extensively and master the difficult Danish language as well as benefit from the cultural exchange that Youth Exchange affords.

We will be sponsoring an Outbound student again for 2006. Amanda Pickering, a student at Elizabeth Macarthur High, has been informed that she, too, will be traveling to Denmark.

We were able to sponsor five students to the Siemens National Science Camp for Year 9 students held at the University of Western Sydney. Two Year 10 students attended the RYPEN camp and will report to the Club in the near future.

RYLA saw Kathy Mangham, an administrative assistant at Ward’s Accounting, and Monzer Boustany, an IT specialist, nominated by Bernie Eid, return to the Club and report with enthusiasm and inspired confidence on the opportunity the experience had provided for them.

Richard Leemen PHF

Secretary

After all that what can I add? Suffice to say, it’s been a very good year.

We lost a couple but overall we grew!

We made money and we spent money!

We had fun and lots of fellowship!

We fulfilled our obligations to Rotary in all financial obligations and in all avenues of service!

Well done, Wayne!!!

Now we are about to start again under Peter’s guidance and I’m sure the results will be equally spectacular.

Thank you, to all members for your cooperation and friendship and to the Board for their patience in my “keeping you honest”. It’s a privilege I’ve earned and one I will not give up easily.