Victor Szwed
Rotary Clubs across Australia are celebrating the Centenary of Rotary service in Australia. The first Rotary Club in Australia met in Melbourne on 21st April 1921.
There are now more than 1,100 Clubs across Australia with more than 30,000 members dedicated to community service. Daylesford Rotary Club was established in 1953.
President of Daylesford Rotary, David Stagg said, “We are a team of twenty volunteers who support many community groups and projects each year. Recent local projects have included: supporting the Good Grub Club; restoring the picnic shelter at the Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens; funding and other support for Friends of Cornish Hill; works at the Daylesford Dharma School and providing funding towards the Dja Dja Wurrung Six Seasons Mural at Daylesford Primary School.”
“Our Club also supports a number of projects elsewhere in Australia and overseas. Days for Girls is a project through which our members and others in the community have been making washable, reusable sanitary care kits. These kits are distributed to those in need and we also provide reproductive and hygiene education.”
“We raise around $30,000 each year with the major portion going to local causes and some to national and international projects such as disaster relief when cyclones and other events devastate communities. The monthly Farmers Market and our annual Daylesford Art Show are our main fundraising opportunities.”
As part of the Centenary of Rotary in Australia and New Zealand, the key project across Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific is the regional ‘Rotary Give Every Child a Future’ Pacific immunisation project. Its aim is to vaccinate 100,000 children across nine Pacific Island countries against rotavirus, pneumococcal and cervical cancer and establish sustainable vaccination programmes in each country.
David Stagg commented: “The Australian Mint and Australia Post have commemorated Rotary’s Centenary by releasing a special one dollar coin and also a postage stamp. Our Club members are dedicated to supporting our community and welcome people who are interested in what we do.
If you want to know more, visit the Daylesford Rotary website or contact Secretary Peta Hawker by email at rotarydaylesford@yahoo.com. For more information please contact: David Stagg 0418 508 381 or Victor Szwed 0488 011 186.
Opening of the Daylesford Art Show.
