Having been a member of Rotary for a decade already, Garth Smithard has risen to president of the Rotary Club of Benoni Aurora.
He was inducted on July 12 at Clearwater Estate in Boksburg where distinguished guests, including the District Governor of District 9400 Dr George Senosha, attended the event.
It was a sad yet exciting moment for Rotarians to bid farewell to past president and long-standing club member Sylvia Knoop, who was described as an ambitious, appreciative and caring member.
Highlighting the theme set by Rotary International President Stephanie Urchick for 2024-2025, ‘The Magic of Rotary’, Smithard said he aimed to break new grounds as well as prioritising peace, continuity and change.
“It is with great enthusiasm that I look forward to continuing and expanding upon this legacy of service. I am committed to building upon a strong foundation and striving for greater heights,” said Smithard.
He thanked his wife for her continued support and also thanked his fellow Rotarians for their hard work and commitment.
Rotary Anns
Janice Carter was again this year inducted as the Anns’ president.
Presenting her report, Carter said over the past 12 months, the Anns’ have worked incredible hard with just nine women in her team.
“We managed to collect 32 trollies of groceries and we participated in two golf days. Eight ladies marshalled at Ride for Sight while six team members volunteered at Toy Run 2024. We have also been blessed with a standing monthly donation from the Heckers Garden Club family of R3 400 to date.
“Our Christmas Drive saw 300 adults get Christmas Hampers while 130 children got toys from the toy run and stationery from our Stationery Drive. Over Easter, we donated 600 Easter eggs to various projects including old age homes.
“Last year on Mandela Day, we distributed 300 smart meals to our projects. We recently started donating R2000 worth of groceries every second month to Protea Park informal settlement.”
Carter said their knitting project was again this year’s success.
“We made over 100 beanies which we donated to the Matthew 25 Project. Thirty-six handbags were donated to the Handbags of Hope projects while 44 scarves were donated to the Rotary Club of Vanderbijlpark for their world record attempt. Our fundraising efforts were amazing as we managed to raise R43 110 for the 2023/24 Rotary year,” said Carter.
Jimmy Matsho has bestowed the highest award in Rotary, the Paul Harris Fellowship. Such recognition entails that the club makes a donation of $1 000 (approximately R13 500) in the new fellow’s name to the Rotary Foundation to use in humanitarian programmes and other Rotary-approved projects worldwide.
Isaac Mokori was inducted as the president of Daveyton Rotary Community Corp (DRCC) while Benoni Aurora’s environmental chairperson, Charles van Rooyen was honoured as a Rotarian of the year for his service above self actions.
Eight Rotarians, who headed various departments in the club, received Rotary Service Awards.
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Also Read: Rotary reaches out to Daveyton organisation
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