Dear Fellow Rotarians,
It has been a very busy and productive month. And our thanks go to all those dedicated Rotarians who have given up their time and energies to help those in need.
The aftermath of the fires is still with us and the tool collection was a most successful initiative. Special thanks go to Rod Cooper and Barry Richards for organising the collection and delivery. The people of Foster were so generous. One amusing incident was the donation of a rare Peterson hoe, which Barry sold to a collector, at antique shop prices, a few minutes later . The profit/funds were used to buy wooden handles for other donated tools. A good demonstation of the multiplier effect, or better described as "canny". Mention should also be made of the sterling efforts of the fence posters.
As many of you are aware we have "ring fenced" in our accounts a minimum of $2000 to be spent on bushfire relief. The Board, with Club concensus, agreed that it should go to an identifiable project and not swallowed up in a general donation. If members have such a project please let us know. One project ( not needing funding ) which was suggested to me by a Probus member, was the cultivation of plants, bushes, trees etc for replanting in devastated gardens. Most of us have a few pots in the shed and can take suitable cuttings for cultivation. Let us discuss at the next meeting.
What a great GSE team from Canada we had. They told me that they had a wonderful time in the area. Although it rained for some of the time they could even see the grass grow. We had memorable trip to Snake Island, and David Bligh didn't get his trousers wet when wading to shore from the boat. He debagged! And Bill Fuller went well prepared with his fishing waders. Many thanks to Cheryl for putting so much thought into devising and arranging such an interesting and enjoyable programme for the visitors. Thanks also to the hosts, the Iser family for lending their house in Sandy Point for the team's rest day, and everyone for the behind the scenes catering and chauffering duties.
A few of us are off to the District conference at the weekend. I will report in due course.
Lastly, welcome to our new member, David Brook and his wife Ruth.
Yours in Rotary,
John Rice
