So many people to thank this week as we held our inaugural bicycle sale- a whopping $3,900 raised from the sale of bicycles, direct donations to the Trust, Sausage Sizzle and the raffle.
The money is a great thing of course, but as I often say, our Club performs best when we have work to do and the fellowship in the build up to the day, as well as on the day was sensational. The clean up over four weeks took a lot of time and effort, there were hundreds of phone calls, skip deliveries, tents to collect, bikes to restore and wash, PR to organise, leaflets to distribute, signs to design. Thank you to everyone – too many to mention. I will however, call out Larry who, when no one would put up their hands to own this project, took it on cheerfully and graciously and did a fabulous job. Outside of the general labour provided by so many, Id also like to acknowledge our Raffle Sponsors Mick Ellison from Manos for a $200 voucher, D’Arcy Arms for a $50 voucher, Draculas for 4 x Cabaret and Dinner Tickets and to Graeme Isaacson, Al Sirovs, Darrell Brown, Ian Mayberry, Mitch Brown and other donors of wine and goodies for the raffle. A special thank you to the enormous generosity of Mario Fairlie for the donation of 60 baseball caps (which are now on sale to club members for the ridiculous price of $5 and Neil Thurlow, who has again, done a huge amount of printing gratis, including two swish new pull up banners for use at the Surf Club.
Another by-product - community goodwill: so many people congratulating us on what we do – Des and Daryl were fabulous tour guides and managed to rustle up a couple of large donations to the Project and a couple of potential new recruits too. Just as important is the great feedback from many of the Associates who can see that the Club is keen to work with them at the Shed and many of them are enjoying our help in cleaning up the Shed and selling the bicycles. I have a letter from one of the Associates to share at the meeting on Wednesday.
While that’s all going on, there are other people working behind the scenes on our (and Rotary's) behalf. This weekend Gerald and Chris spent most of their weekend with the outgoing Youth Exchange Program kids of which we are sponsoring Lucy Thorburn – I hear this group of nine are very impressive and Simon and Darrell saw the completion of the RYTS program- where we supported Jasper and Caleb through the program. completed the RYTS camp. Another quiet achiever is George Keily – who has started on the next Apple Marketing campaign which on the first day received $2,425 “promises’' and banked on that day $ 1,505, with a very generous donor contributing $1,000 for the second time this year. George connects with all the major donors on our behalf to thank them. He has also provided a few hundred pairs of glasses to DIK. I was lucky enough to attend a fundraising seminar with George this week, hosted by Apple and the Fundraising institute of Australia and we are going to do a bit of a refresh on our fundraisers with Apple- they have some great ideas and want to revamp our approach.
A few dates to look at out for in the Bulletin – AGM, Bob’s farewell, Xmas Breakfast, Associates’ Xmas Party – its all happening round here ….
This coming Wednesday we'll have our Annual General Meeting. Usual location at the Surfers Paradise SLSC - get your meal downstairs and take it upstairs to enjoy some good ol' fellowship. Note: being absent does not prevent you being elected! So, be there to ensure you are getting elected to a position you actually want!☺
The inaugural Annual Bike Sale on Saturday was a roaring success, with about 3/4 of bikes sold! 5 weeks of preparation by our volunteers and members of Surfers Sunrise to get the bikes in shape, tidy up the shed and its surrounds was all very worthwhile. In total, just a little below $4,000 was raised, including some $320.00 in direct donations to the Wheelchair Trust.
Picture above shows Abigail, the proud new owner of the Cervélo Super Racing Bike, with (from left) PDG Darrell Brown, Andy Bell, Abigail's partner Ben, Chief organizer Larry Murray, Paul Seymour.
Picture on right: visitors Kaye & Ray Drowley happily handing over the funds to finance two wheelchairs to Des La Rance, who is not only the man who came up with the original design back in the mid 90's, but is a tireless worker at the Project Shed. Thank you, Kaye & Ray and to all the others who donated, to the people who bought the bikes and to all the volunteers and members who helped to make the day such a success!
See more photos in the Photo Album section on the right.
As was previously announced, our Charter Member Bob Harrison passed away on Friday 16th November. The family opted to have a private, immediate family only funeral. A memorial celebration of his life relating to Rotary will be held at the Project Shed this coming Saturday 15th December - Gloria, as well as their sons John and Andy will come to the Project Shed at 10:00 am with a load of food. Gloria is looking forward to meeting you all.
Bob joined Surfers Sunrise at its Charter in February 1987, with the Classification ‘Land Surveying’. How would we all remember Bob? My description, and that of just about everyone I spoke to, came up with “the proverbial quiet achiever”, “Mr Reliable” and honorifics of similarly highly complimentary and very much deserved type.
So we knew that Bob was the Club’s Treasurer for over 20 years. We knew that he was the Wheelchair Trust’s Treasurer since its inception in 1997, when the first batch of 10 wheelchairs was delivered to crippled children in Fiji. We knew that Bob would unfailingly roll up on Saturday morning at the Project Shed to work hands-on. We knew that Bob was the hardest man for the Sergeant to fine.... Bob's contribution to Rotary and to the community is too extensive to fit onto the Home Page. I have written a full article about Bob; please download it from the Download Pages on the right. Ed.]
We have again organized our traditional Christmas Breakfast, this year at the QT Hotel - see details below:
QT Hotel (formerly Gold Coast International)
7 Staghorn Avenue,
Surfers Paradise QLD
Wednesday 19th December 2018, 07:00 am
Very special price: Just $32.00 per person for a super-sumptuous buffet. Please pre-pay by direct deposit to our bank account:
Rotary Club of Surfers Sunrise Inc
BSB: 484-799 Account No: 047306431
Don't forget to put your name into the Reference section!
We again will support the St John's Centre to provide presents for disadvantaged children. Please DO NOT wrap them. Bring them along to either the meeting of 12th December or to the QT Hotel breakfast.
Duty Roster - note: subject to change. Please check every week:
New duty: Fellowship. What does it entail? Your job is to ensure that all members, in particular new members, visitors and guests, and in particular the Guest Speaker, are welcomed, are introduced to other members and are comfortable. If required, explain the usual procedures, e.g. when we have our meal, when the speaker is expected to be at the rostrum etc.
The majority of meetings should be discussions that lead to decisions. Patrick Lencioni, 'The Five Dysfunctions of a Team'
"Youth Groups are very useful engines: young people have energy and sincerity and ignorance. They have all the qualities that would make them valuable to the professional agitators who want to bring in Ingsoc."Anthony Burgess, in his novel '1985' - a tribute to George Orwell's '1984' originally published in 1978. And, considering the current protests, where very vulnerable primary school children are dragged along, 40 years later: plusçachange, plusc'estlamêmechose
This coming Wednesday we'll have our Annual General Meeting. Usual location at the Surfers Paradise SLSC - get your meal downstairs and take it upstairs to enjoy some good ol' fellowship. Note: being absent does not prevent you being elected! So, be there to ensure you are getting elected to a position you actually want!☺
Picture on right: visitors Kaye & Ray Drowley happily handing over the funds to finance two wheelchairs to Des La Rance, who is not only the man who came up with the original design back in the mid 90's, but is a tireless worker at the Project Shed. Thank you, Kaye & Ray and to all the others who donated, to the people who bought the bikes and to all the volunteers and members who helped to make the day such a success!
