Good afternoon Rotarians & guests
October is Rotary’s Community & Economic Development Month and it is fitting that we acknowledge the efforts of our club & reflect on the wonderful international projects where we have impacted the lives of so many.
Today we are going to hear from Murray Verso and Shirley Glance on the incredible contribution and ongoing efforts by Rotary to eradicate Polio across the globe.
In reviewing our website we can be proud of the numerous projects we have been involved in and continue to support with the wonderful commitment of many of our members.
In my time as President in 2000-2001 we established our East Timor Committee with a dozen members. Our initial involvement was the East Timor Roofing Project in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Doncaster and later the Rotary Club of Lilydale. It was a tragic time when the Indonesians had blown the rooves off thousands of homes.
As the Rotary year progressed we had to raise around $23,000 and this was successfully achieved at a breakfast attended by nearly 1000 Rotarians and friends with guest speaker, General Sir Peter Cosgrove and Jose Ramos -Horta , President of Timor – Leste.
In addition to the close involvement we had with Doncaster & Lilydale Rotary one of our cluster clubs the newly formed Albert Park Rotary Played A Significant Role In The Success Of Our Fundraising Breakfast.
To me , it once again highlights the benefits of “strength in numbers“ and smaller clubs partnering with their cluster and District.
It is certainly worth spending time to review some of the international projects on our website.
Peter Dakin
Thank you to Peter Dakin for providing this reflection on 23 October 2024.
