THE past year saw a number of notable achievements for the Richards Bay Rotary Club.
Speaking at the induction of Leon and Zelda Willemse on Friday evening, outgoing President Arthur Gray, said: ‘By engaging Rotarians we were able to change lives and by so doing, we were able to make a difference to those so much less fortunate than ourselves.
‘Our marketing was especially effective, as was our fund-raising which included the RBCT Relay, Music Trivia, golf day, wine tasting and the Ngwenya mountain bike race.
‘Over 200 wheelchairs were handed out to the community and we were also able to donate R15 000 to the NSRI for fuel for their rescue craft.
‘The Wildlands Trust Tree Project saw us plant 1 500 trees on Pelican Island and we joined the Zululand Observer for their ‘Hang out with Mandela’ clothing collection.
‘We were able to supply and install jungle gyms at three crèches and raised funds to assist cancer sufferers who cannot afford consultation fees.
‘We also contributed significantly to the global End Polio now campaign and sourced 6 800 pairs of shoes from America, while our Annes raised R10 000 at the CANSA breakfast.
Among all the hard work was plenty of play, with a number of social events during the year.
Gray named Bruce Edwards as his Rotarian of the Year, both for his general commitment as well as his specific involvement with youth, wheelchair distribution and hosting of Canadian visitors.
Highlight of the evening was the bestowing of the Paul Harris Fellow award to Don Voysey who ‘sacrificed a lot of his business time to Rotary and the community, especially the less fortunate’.
Diane Gray named Iris Valentine as Rotary Anne of the Year, always willing to serve and to make her business available to the organisation for meetings and fundraisers.
Incoming president Leon Willemse said his goals for 2014/15 included building alliances and co-operation with neighbouring clubs, informing the community on what rotary does, membership growth and building on friendship and fellowship.
