August Club News

Alex Solstice Swim Sponsors and Supporters Thank You Breakfast

We were delighted to have some of the swim sponsors and supporters join us for breakfast at the Alex SLSC recently and hear from IFYS Inclusive Kids Paul Morton about how the funds raised from the swim are being used. Here's some pics, including Paul Morton presenting Club President Geoff East with a recognition award for our fundraising efforts.

Some of the great community supporters..

The wonderful Naomi..

Mayce and Rip Curl were just fantastic

Alex Rotary BBQ Breakfast Kicks Off the Sunshine Coast Walk to Defeat MND

Our wonderful Rotary volunteers were out bright and early on Sunday 14th July with our BBQ trailer at Parkyn Parade in Mooloolaba to support the Motor Neurone Disease Association of QLD Walk to Defeat MND. Delighted to say that the morning was a great success with more than 230 people participating in the walk. Our club donated all the profits from the BBQ and also gave a cash donation to this very worthy cause.

Membership corner

August is membership month. So now is your chance to spread the word, and encourage an acquaintance to "make a difference" to the community.

Getting to know each other better - Over the coming months the Membership team will work with members to gather short stories on WHY each member joined Rotary and these stories will be included in our monthly newsletters.

What is your WHY for joining Rotary?

Let’s get the message out to everybody that joining a service organization like a Rotary Club can offer many benefits:

Community Involvement: It provides an opportunity to give back to the community and make a positive impact through various service projects and initiatives. Rotarians provide community service to both local and international communities. This is perhaps the best reason for becoming a Rotarian: the chance to do something for somebody else and to sense the self-fulfilment that comes in the process and return of that satisfaction to one's own life. It is richly rewarding.
Networking: Rotary Clubs often consist of professionals and business leaders, offering a platform for networking and expanding one's social and professional circles. Becoming a Rotary member connects you with a diverse group of individuals who share your drive to give back. Through regular meetings and events, you discuss your community's needs and develop creative ways to meet them.
Personal Growth: Involvement in service organizations can help individuals develop leadership skills, improve communication abilities, and gain valuable experience in organizing and managing projects.
Global Reach: Rotary Clubs have an international presence, allowing members to participate in global initiatives and contribute to humanitarian efforts around the world.
Friendship and Fellowship: Being part of a service organization fosters friendships and a sense of camaraderie among members who share a common goal of serving others.

Overall, joining a service organization like a Rotary Club can be a fulfilling and enriching experience for individuals looking to make a difference in their community and beyond.

Neighbourhood Watch / Buderim matching donation

President Geoff received this in his mail. The club has responded with a matching donation of $2,000.

"Thanks for contacting us regarding our need to replace our commercial rangehood. We need to replace our rangehood in our commercial kitchen ASAP to comply with council regulations address OHS and ensure our One Roof project continues to provide support for some of the most vulnerable people in our community.

Thanks to supporters like Buderim Rotary, Mooloolaba Lions, and Community members we have raised $8,240 so far and require a further $14,260 to reach our goal. Maroochy Neighbourhood Centre Inc. is a registered charity with the ACNC and holds Deductible Gift Recipient Status with the Australian Tax Office.

Since its inception, the One Roof project has achieved incredible milestones, including providing free meals to 37,749 individuals and families, supporting and advocating for 102 chronically homeless people to obtain permanent and temporary housing options, and providing free wound care to 2,443 individuals receiving free wound care from our community nurses as well as referrals to professional healthcare professionals for our unhoused community and over 800 free haircuts by professional hairdressers have been provided to the community.

To continue this great work, we are in desperate need of a new canopy exhaust hood for our commercial kitchen. A new one is $22,592.27 and with no government funding, we can't replace it as the One Roof project relies solely on the generosity of the community.

Mark Ellis

Community Development Co-ordinator
Maroochy Neighbourhood Centre Inc

Trailer upgrade

Great work by Craig, Geoff and royal gigolo Dave in cleaning up the club BBQ Trailer for use by Blaze Aid. As you can see it's getting a LOT of use by Charmaine and her amazing team of volunteers.

Special Olympics donation

The club was very pleased to respond to a request from Special Olympics to help out with their sports uniform purchases. Thanks to members fundraising efforts the club was able to cover the $600 costs and goes with our best wishes.

Special Olympics Australia is part of a global inclusion movement using sport around the world to end discrimination against and empower people with intellectual disabilities. Our volunteers create accessible sports training, coaching and competition opportunities which are offered week-in and week-out in local communities throughout Australia.

Despite what many people think, we’re not the Paralympics.

The Paralympics is for elite athletes, mainly with physical disability. Special Olympics is for people with intellectual disability.

At Special Olympics Australia everyone with an intellectual disability is welcome. Some participants join to have fun, make friends and enjoy the warmth of a welcoming community, while others are focussed on winning and receiving medals.

On the Sunshine Coast there are approx 30 volunteers providing opportunities for 130 registered athletes to participate in weekly training in athletics, basketball, bocce, golf, football/soccer, swimming and ten pin bowling.

Mock Interviews

Great to see the club continuing our support of the staff and students at Maroochydore State High with providing support and coaching to their students.

RCAH support for NYSF

Graeme and Wendy have interviewed Sarah, a Year 11 student at Mountain Creek SHS as a prospective recipient of RCAH's 50% sponsorship of the cost of attending NYSF in January 2025. The cost to the club will be $1500 and believe Sarah to be a most worthy recipient of our sponsorship.

"She is certainly a high achiever in her science subjects - Maths, Chemistry and Biology - and displayed a strong passion for these subjects and is very much looking for a career in science and sees NYSF as a way of seeing what is available. In fact she has already been looking at this by attending university open days which is quite rare for a YR 11 student and is excited for NYSF to add to this information."

Bunnings

What? Bunnings on a Friday?

Well done everyone involved, a steady flow of customers and a handy income for the club. Now, who has an idea on what community cause we can help?

On further news we have another Bunnings date for Friday 16th August.

Got an idea for a Club Project.....Peter B has!

One of the things Alex Rotary promotes is for members to bring their ideas to "make a difference" to the community...here is a curated idea from Peter B...what d'ya think?

The GOOD FOLK OF ALEX is a program proposed by Peter Burton, a long standing resident of Alexandra Headland and a member of Alex Rotary Club. Peter is proposing that residents and businesses of Alexandra Headland come together for social, economic and recreational opportunities with the idea of being stronger together and growing a healthy community culture.

Umoja anniversary photo and donation

Recently the club made a donation to the Ummoja project in Kenya. We received a lovely email from Cathy Booth, letting us know that they are celebrating their 13 years of "making a difference"

As we celebrated the 13th birthday on July 30th, of our orphanage project in Kenya, we were filled with immense pride and gratitude. This journey has not been an easy path, and has been marked by determination, relentless commitment, and immense frustrations, but mostly the joy of knowing the difference we have made to our children's lives.

Together, we have created a legacy of compassion and change, proving that with determination and unity, we can achieve what seemed the impossible.

Rainbow House speaker request

Not forgetting that you also helped out with Rainbow House, and we are hoping that Alison Ray will be on the coast in the next short while and be able to come and speak to the club.

Letter of support - Alex Community Association

Alex Rotary Club supports ACA "Christmas in Alex" celebrations. On Sunday 15th December, we'll be looking for volunteers to help with set up, crowd control and with the BBQ.

Activities coming up in August - Brightwater Primary School Guest Speaker

This month we'll be hearing from Steve about the progress with "The Brightwater Project" as its known. A practical help to kids at the school who Steve leads in refurbishing bikes, that has been a great success and is now helping not only the kids with "hands on" experience but others by donating refurbished bikes.

Urban Angels newsletter - hot meals delivered to the homeless in Nambour

Many of us know Birgit from Urban Angels, and we are a supporter of the UA team and receive their newsletter. The donation made to the neighbourhood centre will also help UA as many of the amazing food kitchens around the coast share these resources from time to time. Here's a story from the UA July Newsletter....

Sunday hot meal deliveries to rough sleepers in Nambour has begun, with two deliveries already completed. Birgit gave the following debrief after the first week’s delivery.

Thank you to everyone involved in [the first Sunday] hot meal delivery in Nambour which was a great all round success.

We went to several locations and found that the rough sleepers were no longer living in the areas they had been late last year when Shona and I ran the pilot project. Most of the areas we visited last year had been completely cleared of all items that would indicate people were living there.

We were joined by Ellie and Paula from the IFYS Homeless Outreach team yesterday which was great. This team has a lot of collective knowledge in relation to the homeless community across the Coast so working with them will be invaluable. Julie B had the great idea of printing a small flyer which states where we will be and what time, and Ellie and Paula said that they would be happy to distribute the flyers within their team and to the rough sleepers they encounter on their shifts. This will expedite our goal of having rough sleepers coming to us in the one location...the aim is to go to the same place at the same time each week. I believe this will provide a platform to build community for some of the most vulnerable people amongst us. It will provide an opportunity for rough sleepers to connect with and have conversations with our volunteers, the IFYS Homeless Outreach team and each other. Being seen and heard is after all critical for every human being. I love what we do for very old fashioned reasons. Urban Angels provides nutrition, (the first step to a functional life), care and connection to some of the most broken, lost, lonely and intergenerationally traumatised people in our community. We have the time to listen to their stories...no KPI’s for us! We can stay and chat and we can see it in their eyes that this matters to them.

Special thanks again to Shona and Julie for kicking off the deliveries in Nambour yesterday...you were both awesome!

Birgit

Rotary and other community events in your area

The Rotary Club of Mooloolaba's Musical Fundraiser on Saturday 24th August

The Rotary Club of Caloundra are hosting "Broadway in the Hanger" on Saturday 19th October

and the Caloundra Golf club are hosting a golf day. (If you've got an hour or two to spare a certain scribe will tell you how Alex Rotary won this event a few years ago.)