We devoted the first part of our meeting on Monday on 26 March 2018 to a group of very special individuals along from the Willetton Senior High School (WSHS) to be recognised as leaders in their school community. They were Head Boy Nikita Tcherkashnev and Head Girl Josephine Santosa and the WSHS Interact Club 2018 leadership team comprising: President Mihan De Silva; Vice President 1st Semester Kaylee Wong; Vice President 2nd Semester Duli Jayalath; Co-Secretaries Jae Brieffies and Aditya Gupta; Co-Treasurers Kelvin Poulraj and Xin Yi Hong; and the Publicity Team Araan Kousari; Hojeswinee Kanagarajah and Mutia Daruso; along with the Coordinators of Years 11 and 12, Andrea Wheeler and Stefan Brand respectively; and Interact Facilitators Deb Lievense, Helen Wong and Sue Thorp; plus proud parents and friends. See the report below.
Cole was also there to tell of the very interesting Saturday night birthday party for his host Dad (his 50th) for which, during the afternoon, Cole helped to prepare and from which he finally fell into bed at 2am only to rise again at 9am (very early for Cole!) before he repaired back to bed for a nap after lunch which enabled him to "enjoy" the cricket later in the day before (you guessed it) heading off to the cot again. At least he would have been well rested for school on Monday!
One member of the Interact Team, Jae Brieffies had another mission......to sacrifice her hair to raise funds for Variety's Hair With Heart Project. She submitted to a haircut in the name of the charity with moral support (and more) from Simon Cubitt who also went under the blade and took a number three for the team! It was good for a few laughs at Simon's expense but as you'll see from the story below raised far more than Jae's target of $1,000.
With the entertainment out of the way it was down to the business of the Community Fair. With just under two weeks to go, roles and responsibilities are now pretty much finalised and the Fair committee is in the final stages of planning. But right up to the day there's still scope to contribute to our own fund raising efforts including items for the Silent Auction (managed by Ric Davies); Books (managed by Maureen Websterand Jill Cubitt); Plants (managed byDavid Coldwell); or Home Goods (managed by Mary Henderson). From 10am on Saturday morning we need all hands on deck to help set up and it's vital that on the day, as many people are at the Burrendah Reserve by 6am to deal with all the last minute details and the rush of stall holders.
During April while Secretary John is in Europe, Stuart Diggins will be holding the fort and dealing with all things Secretarial including Club duties.
Stuart Diggins proposed the international toast to a Club in the city he visited in February, 1990, when on a work trip to Pitney Bowes Head Office in Connecticut. Stuart's sister and brother-in-law were living there at that time – and enjoyed snow on the ground from October to March each year.
The Rotary Club of Rochester was chartered in 1954, is in District 6380 and currently has more than 100 members.
The Club President is Ronald Diliddo and they meet on Tuesdays at 12.10pm at the River Crest Banquet Centre, in Rochester Hills.
Their projects include part funding of an annual medical mission to Guatemala; sponsoring Interact Clubs in four high schools ; and supporting the Rochester Area Neighbourhood House and the Rochester Community House.