President Peter Smith's Column

Information Evening:

To our invited guests, a sincere Strathfield Rotary welcome to ours information evening.

The meeting tonight is devoted to providing information about Rotary that we hope will assist you in deciding whether you wish to join Strathfield Rotary.

My personal thanks to PP Rod McDougall and Ray Wilson - and their committee -for their efforts in arranging this evening.

Nearly 100 years ago – 1912-13 RI President Glenn C. Mead in the National Rotarian, January 1912 wrote:

“A Rotary club gives us an opportunity that no social, political, or specialised business club can do. It is strong on the human side; it stands for the individual, unfetters him, appeals to his originality, brings out his latent powers, and puts him at his best by extending him the full measure of his confidence and appealing to the best that is in him – ‘service, not self.’”

NB: The mention (above) of the male gender in Rotary has been redundant for over 21 years. In Australia there are now over 6,000 female Rotarians.

Last week we were pleased to welcome Amanda Woods – who is the District’s Rotaract Representative (18-30 year olds) – as our guest speaker. Amanda is an enthusiastic and articulate Rotaractor – who spoke passionately about not only Rotaract but her club’s involvement in the Kathleen Keegel Children’s Fund/orphanage in Sri Lanka.

Kathleen Keegel was Amanda’s paternal grandmother – whose 10 children used their inheritance to establish the orphanage/school/library in Sri Lanka. Amanda was accompanied last week by her father, Lucian Keegel – a member of Katoomba Rotary – and one of the 10 children of Kathleen Keegel.

Four Rotary clubs within District 9690 are financially supporting the orphanage project – and Amanda is hoping that Strathfield Rotary, or our members, will also offer support. Please also read Ian Johnson’s excellent report on Amanda’s presentation.

Next week – Our own Strathfield Rotarian, Suzanne Freund, will talk to us about Australian Rotary Health and in particular mental health and the too often final step – suicide. Australian Rotary Health (ARH) is Australia's largest non-government funding body of mental illness research. Suzanne, who is active on a District level with ARH, will no doubt give us much to think about next week.

President Pete