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Club Information
  Welcome to Surfers Sunrise Rotary!
Surfers Sunrise

A great way to start the day

We meet In Person
Wednesdays at 7:15 am
Surfers Paradise Surf Life Saving Club
Esplanade (Cnr Hanlan Street)
Surfers Paradise, QLD 4217
Australia
Home Page Stories
Last Wednesday’s Guest Speaker came all the way from the Rotary Club of Goonellabah (near Lismore). John Walters outlined an interesting program his club is running to curb the ever-present problem of underprivileged children attending school being undernourished, and in consequence, underperforming. Hold on! Undernurished?. Hungry? In Australia? Yes.
 
From a lower rate of 15%, to as much as 96% of children in schools don’t get breakfast. More than 40% don’t have lunch.  Combine that with the stigma attached to wearing a second-hand uniform when starting the first year High School... well, there is no need to greatly elaborate.
 
John’s Rotary Club has established a program in conjunction with the local schools (since promoted to many other schools in the vicinity): This is how it works and why it works: the Rotary club communicates with the Headmaster to identify what is needed (not which kids need help). Not just food, but also uniforms, shoes, learning materials, access to special programs or events and activities that are out of a family’s financial reach. Individual children are NOT identified, as goods (or food) are purchased and distributed by the school. The club organises the financing and liaises with the school.
 
In the Download section (top right-hand side), you can find a detailed PDF of the School Mates program. Spend a bit of time studying and evaluating it. It makes sense, it is effective and is a program well worth adopting, because it produces results. (Photo: John Walters (on right) with our Meeting Chairman of the day, Ray Higgs)
For the rest of the world May is designated Love Month. Ok, in the northern hemisphere at least… Up there it is now Spring, when nature comes into full bloom. But Rotary International designated May to be Youth Service Month. Alternatively, May could also be named Rotary Acronym Month. These are just for Youth Service: YEP, RYLA, RYPEN, RYTS, MUNA, NYSF, HESS, RYDA (coming up for breath now…) Plus, for the uninitiated, some bewilderingly non-descript names such as Earlyact, Interact, Rotaract… Have I forgotten any? Ah yes, there is one in our region, the Conoco Phillips Science Experience which is held in numerous campuses across the nation. Yes, each one of these is a major Rotary Youth program!  I won’t elaborate on details – our District Webmaster Gareth Hunt has done a sterling job of extensively outlining them: go to www.rotary9640.org and click on the Youth Programs tab at the top; they are all there.
 
One of these programs is running next month, in June: RYPEN. (Go on, look it up!). RYPEN is designed to help senior school students (14 – 16 years old) to get used to the real world. It starts on Friday 13th June and runs till Sunday. Talk to our Youth Service Director Thomas Robinson – he has all the details.
 
May. Youth Service Month. Visualize: some 45,000 Rotary and Rotaract Clubs throughout the world focussing on youth, focussing on providing youth with life training, the stuff they don’t seem to teach at High School, from “every day” kids to future leaders, all the way up to the top Science students who get accepted into the National Youth Science Forum in Canberra (we just had Chloe Chan reporting back to us last month). World wide, hundreds of thousands of future leaders, year on year. Will it make a difference? Yep, you proudly may answer this question in the affirmative.
Bookings for the Sportmen's Lunch on Friday 20th June 2025 are now open. It will be held at the Surfers Paradise Golf Club. Join us for a super-fun event with famous comedian Danny McMasters as MC and Rugby greats Mick Veivers and Tom Lawton as guest speakers. Heaps of finger food and unlimited drinks package from 12 noon to 3 pm.
 
 
Here is the link to the booking site:
 
or scan the QR Code on the right.
 
Meanwhile, Ross Augustine is looking for Raffle Prizes - please contact him directly: click on this link.
“I heard the call for volunteers to help at this place on Radio 4CRB, where my wife volunteers, and I thought that would be a good place for me to work” he explained when I asked John how he found out about us.
 
Born in Brisbane, he moved to the Gold Coast in 1954, and married his first wife in 1962. “We bought a house on Smith Street, which at the time was just a bush track, for £3,100 ($6,200 when decimal currency was introduced 4 years later). It was so remote that the Council didn’t collect the garbage from our place!”  Regrettably, his first wife died young, but then he found and married his current sweetheart Tricia. He completed an apprenticeship to learn the Butcher trade. Later, he bought a Taxi License and drove cabs for some 38 years, managing to sell out just before the disrupters such as Uber arrived on the scene. 
 
In retirement, he had quite a home based business recovering furniture. But moving heavy lounge chairs got a bit too much, so now John is helping to build Rough Terrain Wheelchairs. In his spare time, he enjoys Golf, Fishing, seeing his family, reads Readers Digest condensed books and has a strong interest on “whatever comes on four wheels...” Welcome to the Surfers Sunrise Wheelchair Team!
As President Andy mentioned in his closing remarks, we always hear the mostly negative stories about "Today's Youth" and - regrettably - one hears so little about young emerging leaders who quietly beaver in their classrooms, the school library and slave over hot computers to qualify for the rather stringent requirements to be selected to attend the annual National Youth Science Forum in Canberra. Future leaders in their professions who well may make headlines when they publish their discovery some years hence. Considering that it is quite expensive (over $3,000, of which our club sponsors 50%), the event is usually oversubscribed and participants are selected purely on their level of scientific knowledge and in particular  on aptitude. 
 
Chloe, who currently studies at Queensland Academies Health Sciences, was selected to attend this year's event (back in January). Last Wednesday, she presented with the quiet assurance and poise of a person years beyond her age, outlining her week of mixing it with fellow STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) students, professors and professionals of various disciplines at the ANU in Canberra. Events in laboratories, the Canberra Cyber Hub, Mt Stromolo Observatory, direct links to CERN in Geneva, individual discussions in very small groups with professionals, meeting with alumni of previous NYSFs, developing 'buddy' relationships, just to name a few. "I am really glad I went, knowing now what I wouldn't want to do (now, there is an original thought!) She has now principally settled on Cyber Security, a branch of science that most definitely will be at the forefront still for decades to come.
 
We wish you every success in your career, Chloe. Thank you for taking time out of your busy life of study to report back to our club members.
 
(A copy of Chloe's PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded - see Download Files on the right. Photo: Chloe with our meeting chairman of the day, Mario Fairlie)
What is the collective noun for a group of top level Rotary leaders? Whatever it is, we were honoured today by the visit of District 9640 and Rotary International leader personalities, taking time out from this weekend's District Conference to visit our Project Shed. Wheelchair Trust Chairman Geoff Croad (centre at back) welcomed District Governor Lisa Hunt (3rd from right at back), District Governor Elect John Oomen (4th from right) and his partner Narelle (front left), as well as PDG Jennifer Scott (front right) and her husband Ian, who are representing RI President Stephanie Urchick.

Welcome to the Surfers Sunrise Project Shed!
Breaking News:
This year's Surfers Sunrise Golf Day has just concluded. With well over 90 players, a record (and, I dare say, most likely also a record fundraising effort). Photo is of the winning Corporate Team: Astill Cronin Lawyers. Golf Day organiser Charles Thomasson (second from left) introduces Glenn Screech, Ashley Cronin, Glenn O'Kearney and Ethan Ahrens. The same team also won the overall competition. Photo Album is now uploaded - see segment on the right. Full report  in next week's bulletin.
This week's meeting was one of our special events of the year, the presentation of the Lutzy Award. The recipient, selected by the Surfers Paradise Life Saving Club, is not necessarily the top surfer, but is an emerging leader of the Life Saving organisation. According to David Orchard, one of the senior people in the Surfers SLSC, Louis' name came up easily. He is also the youngest ever awardee in the 9 year history of this award, presented in honour of our former member Keith Lutz. 
 
Should you wonder "what defines an emerging leader?", check the list of Louis' record:
  • 2023/2024 Nipper Club Captain
  • 2023/2024 U14 Male Club Champion
  • Obtained his Surf Rescue Certificate in November 2023
  • Completed First Aid Certificate
  • Completed 263.25 patrol hours and 14 water safety hours
  • 2023/2024 Point Danger Branch & South Coast Branch Top Patrol Hours Winner at the Youth Gala Ball
  • 2023/2024 Top Patrol Hours Runner Up
  • 2023/2024 U14 Junior Life Saver of the Year @ Club and Branch Level
So, if ever there was proof that "you've got to be in it to win it", see above. The logical follow-on question then would be "what do you do in your spare time?" Yes, he is also learning to play the violin...
 
Photo, from left: David 'Orchy' Orchard, Jan Lutz, Louis van Drunen, Past President Doug Lipp (on behalf of President Andy), Louis with his mum, Sophie van Drunen. More photos on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/rcsurferssunrise
At the last meeting, our freshly baked President Andy emphasised that he wanted to put the Four-Way Test back into the forefront of our consciousness. So, I did a bit of digging into old records, and here is what I dug up out of the archives of 1997-98 from one of my (then) President's Messages. Today, 27 years later, it's still as relevant as ever:
 
“Rotary is a miniature model of a world at peace, one which might advantageously be studied by nations.  Rotarians believe that the universal application of tolerance and friendliness would bring about the international peace so earnestly desired by everyone. “  Words spoken over 50 years ago, on the 36th anniversary of Rotary, by its founder Paul Harris.  Words still as relevant today as they were in 1941:  Imagine, just for a moment, the effect of all world leaders truly applying the Four Way Test, at ALL TIMES… 
 
Whilst this may seem to be highly desirable, this might be just as impossible to achieve as Karl Marx’s model of communism or Ayn Rand’s ideal of capitalism, outlined in her work ‘Atlas Shrugged’.  Both models (and numerous others in between the two spectrums) work on the concept of everyone wanting to participate in the same ideal.  Yet, some people want always to be influencing and leading, some people want just to be left alone, and some will always perceive the world to owe them a living.
 
When you joined Rotary, your welcome kit should have included a certificate of The Four Way Test, to display above your desk. Just make sure that it faces YOU.
 
At last Sunday's District Changeover, Surfers Sunrise, together with the two other participating Rotary clubs of Broadbeach and Gold Coast, were jointly declared winners of the most prestigious District Award, the Significant Achievement Award. The three clubs that were instrumental in the implementation of an X-Ray Unit at Mauna Health Centre on Pentecost Island, Vanuatu. 
 
This project started in 2019, but then COVID caused serious disruption, ultimately completed towards the end of last year. More details to follow shortly. Meanwhile, you can download our club's Changeover Report (in the Download Section on the right), where you will find an excellent report of this project, written by Mario Fairlie.
 
Photo (by Andy Bell): Immediate Past President Doug Lipp (centre), accepting the award on behalf of our club.
Congratulation, Geoff Croad, on winning (yet once again) our club's top award! Well done, and well deserved. (For those of you who are not familiar with our system: This award is voted on via a silent ballot by all members of the club. Geoff won it this year with a clear majority).
 
We had again an excellent Changeover Luncheon at Braeside Estate on Sunday 16th June, well organised by Graeme Isaacson. President Doug Lipp officially handed his collar to President Elect Andy Bell (Doug still has another two weeks to go though...☺). The speeches were short and to the point (as Surfers Sunrise events are well known for). As a very pleasant, unexpected surprise, Angie Bell MP, the local member for Moncrieff, joined us as well and gave a brief address. Angie is a great friend of our club, having been instrumental in helping us numerous times, including to obtain a grant which allowed us to purchase a ute for the project shed.  Did you know that she was a Rotary Youth Exchange Student to Denmark?
 
In addition to Geoff's Rotarian of the Year award, Doug also presented the other awards
  • Franz Huber - Quiet Achiever Award
  • Charles Thomasson - Doug Waller Trophy
  • Rock O'Keefe - Fellowship Cup
  • John Groves and Matt Hayward both were bestowed a Paul Harris Fellowship (the second one for Matt), in recognition of the enormous amount both have done with the Pentecost Island X-Ray Unit project. John was the registered builder, Matt not only was active in the building phase but also is instrumental of making the electronics work. He'll go up again, now power has been re-established.
In the Photo Album section on the right you'll find a swag of pictures, mostly taken by our new member Dr Elizabeth Celi. Check it out!
 
(from left): Matt Hayward, Kristen 'KJ' Jewson, John Groves (the master builder), Mitch Brown, Ava Pearson, Hudson Sirovs, Al Sirovs and (front) Dan Snart.
Not your average meeting last Wednesday: Not only did we welcome a new member (see separate article above), but the team that went to Pentecost Island, Vanuatu to erect the X-Ray Unit at Mauna Health Centre fronted the club.
 
This wasn’t a simple task by any means: Master Builder John Groves eloquently outlined the enormous task of getting the X-Ray and Pathology Lab Unit built. After a two day trip, by Air to Port Vila, then by ‘Rock Hopper’ plane to Lonorore and a three-hour boat trip to the Mauna Health Centre, the task was to unpack the “flat pack” building which was shipped in two containers from our project shed in Arundel in February this year. There isn't much flat space there! To get it up the hill and re-erect it was a massive task. “Without the huge work of locals, it would never have happened”, John said.

Hard work it might have been, but the team was unanimous in declaring the exercise as a “once in a lifetime experience”. Twelve days of basic accommodation in a guest house, no electrical power (except in the Medical Centre), locally cooked
 
Last week, the project shed sent off the 11,015th wheelchair. Just on 3 years since we celebrated the 10,000th wheelchair in September 2013. The Photo on the right is our regular project shed worker Al Sirovs pointing out the number on the world map. The photo above shows some of the regulars, taken this morning. The wheelchair displayed is not exactly the 11,000th (that one is already on the way), but nobody needs to know... Third from left is Des La Rance OAM, who invented the concept and delivered the first 10 to Fiji in August 1997, 20 years ago! - See report in the Download Section on the right.
As per President Mitch's message above, these photos were sent to to Bryan Tuesley, our wheelchair "foreman", from PNG, where they were deployed by Del Cole ('Someone Who Cares' Gold Coast based charity). Good to see that our work is doing good. Give yourselves a pat on the back!
 
In view of the Wheelchair Trust Deed's fairly strict limitations (money donated can only be spent on materials for wheelchairs and nothing else, not even for the shipment to their destination), we have registered an alternative account for Containers for Change.  If you deposit your empties directly, and wish to donate the proceeds to the Surfers Sunrise Rotary Club - General Account, please use this account code: 
 
C10262571
(The account for the Wheelchair Trust is also still active: use C10199443 instead).
 
So, keep your soft drink bottles, stubby bottles, aluminium cans, milk cartons etc.  As a general rule, most drink containers between 150ml and 3L can be returned for a refund under Queensland's container deposit scheme. Containers should be empty, unbroken, the lid removed and display a 10-cent refund marking on the label. Something like the image (right), but many others are simply marked as suitable for recycling. Note: they must NOT be crushed. See image above what is and what is not accepted. For details of what can / cannot be returned for cash, and where the locations are, click on this link
 
In the olden days, for a new member to join a Rotary club the unofficial rule was, expressed in simple terms, he should be "somebody who is in a position to hire and fire". Yes, 'he'. Thankfully, around 1987, the 'he' was expanded to also include the fairer sex. There were lots of other rules too, for example, weekly attendance at our meetings was considered to be just about essential.  
 
These days, the rules are very simple and straightforward.  Here is an extract from the Membership section of our Club Consitution of 2019 (1):
 
Section 1 — General Qualifications.
This club shall be composed of adult persons who demonstrate good character, integrity, and leadership; possess a good reputation within their business, profession, and/or community; and are willing to serve in their community and/or around the world.
 
That should be simple enough. In other words, the majority of people in your circle of friends, in business, your suppliers, your customers qualify. Rotary is absolutely non-denominational, absolutely gender-neutral. All we ask for is of good character, has integrity, and a good reputation.  Start making a list and invite them to come to one of our meetings.
 
(1) Members can download the Club Constitution from our website: (you need to login to the Member Area, top right of home page), then select Organisation, Documents and search for Constitution.
 
 
What a superb morning last Saturday at our Project Shed, where we celebrated the 10,000th Wheelchair manufactured. For any of our readers who are not familiar with the concept: parts from recycled bicycles, marine plywood, solid rubber BMX wheels and... LOTS OF VOLUNTEER HOURS equal a wheelchair which can be manufactured for $100! Give yourself a pat on the back, but particular recognition must go to the principal movers and shakers who started and carried this project through: Des La Rance, Daryl Sanderson and the late Keith Lutz and Bob Harrison. Jan Lutz was there, but regrettably, Gloria Harrison was unable to join us, but for a good reason: her grandson debuted on that same day, playing Grade 1 Cricket in the Queensland Premier League. Howzat! Bob would be proud on both accounts.
 
We had the bulk of our members and volunteers present from an early hour, setting up the various marquees, putting the last touch to the refurbished bikes we had for sale, setting up the stage, the videos...  The Rotaractors from Burleigh Heads were there in force, the Rotary Club of Parkwood ran a sausage sizzle and the Rotary Club of Broadbeach ran a raffle, our soon to be inducted new corporate members Adam  and Tash from Invincable had a stand and so did the Pimpama State School with their version of the wheelchair design.  We were honoured by visits from District Governor Andy Rajapakse, State MPs Rob Molhoek and Sam O'Connor (he has done a nice write up on his Facebook page too) as well as Councillors Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden and Brooke Patterson.  
 
President Charles Thomasson opened the formal part of the celebrations welcoming our dignitaries, which was followed by a brief address by DG Andy Rajapakse, in which he referred to his own efforts of taking well over 500 wheelchairs for distribution in his country of origin, Sri Lanka. Following our DG, the inventor of the wheelchairs from bicycles, Des La Rance, outlined the project from early times in the mid 1990's, the breakthrough when Ray Martin's A Current Affair broadcast the delivery of the first 10 wheelchairs to Fiji in 1997, the building of schools for the tsunami affected regions of Thailand and Samoa, the House of Hope in Apia, leading to the current project of the X-Ray Unit for Vanuatu. 
 
But of course, the culmination of the morning was the presentation of a commemorative collage to Des La Rance (see picture). This was designed and made by Neil Thurlow and his graphic wizards of Accent Print and Copy.
 
Photo shows (from left) Jan La Rance, Daryl Sanderson, Des La Rance, Jan Lutz. More photos are in the Photo Album, videos coming up shortly.
Our super generous printer, Neil Thurlow and his very talented design artists at Accent Print & Copy have created a new flyer for our wheelchairs project.  He has also provided some 2000 printed copies, which will be sent out by Apple Marketing to their mailing list of previous donors.  It is uploaded to our Download Section (see right side), where you can download it and send it on to anyone whom you consider could be interested.
 
Thank you, Neil and your team!
I've uploaded a video which beautifully outlines what Rotary is all about. Go on, have a look at it. It's only a bit over 2 minutes, but very well done. Go to this link to view it:
 
 
August is Membership Development and Extentions Month. Can you remember when you were inducted into Rotary?  Have you considered why you were proposed by your sponsor? What made you to decide to join?  Did you feel a sense of pride, of achievement, to be invited to join an organization of the highest international repute?  Did you feel that your sponsor did “The right thing” by considering you to be potentially a good Rotarian ? Did you feel a little bit overwhelmed, sort of “am I really up to this?” You did? 
 
“The more hands Rotary has, the better and more effectively the ideal of service will be achieved.  Hence the importance of membership.”  These words, spoken by one of Japans foremost Rotarians, Kanejiro Matsumoto put the point very straight.   I put it even straighter: If we are to spread the workload of running this club, if we are to achieve our aims on the local scene (Youth Service, Vocational Service, Community Service), if we are to pull our weight on the International cart, we have an obligation to not only maintain, but increase membership. Whom have you asked lately to come along to one of our meetings?
Club Executives & Directors
President
Immediate Past President
President Elect
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Executive Secretary
Director - Club Administration
Director - Fundraising
Director - Service Projects
Chair - Wheelchairs Trust
Public Relations
Director - Membership
Director, Youth Services
Director -The Rotary Foundation
Coordinator Golf Day
Fellowship and Social Program
Liaison - Wheelchair Trust
Program Manager-Guest Speakers
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