Rotary Club inducts new president

GEORGE NEWS - Di Kershaw was inducted as president of George Rotary Club for a second term for 2023/2024. The induction was handled by District Governor Ann Wright at a function on Sunday 9 July.

In attendance were assistant district governor Claire du Plessis, George Councillor Marlene Barnardt and Rotarians, their partners and guests from various Garden Route Rotary clubs.

After enjoying a sumptuous buffet lunch, Kershaw handed out club awards to members who have excelled in service to the community and club activities.

DG Wright then assisted in awarding a Paul Harris Award (Rotary's highest honour) to Christine Jeffery for her dedicated work with the Up with Downs School.

Lana Auer was inducted as a new member of the club and members enjoyed fellowship to end a wonderful occasion.

Christine Jeffery (right) earned Rotary International's highest award - the Paul Harris award. George club president Di Kershaw did the handover.

Martin Reimann receives the Service above Self award from Rotary George president Di Kershaw.

Projects of Rotary George

The Rotary Club of George was established in 1951 and has been serving the broader George community ever since. It has a total of 41 members.

Kershaw highlighted a few of the projects the club is involved in. One of them entailed the repair of a leaking roof and facilitating the installation of an inverter and batteries at the George Night Shelter.

Another project is the establishment of a vegetable garden at Carpe Diem with shade netting, tunnels, an irrigation spray system and water harvesting. This produced excellent crops, not only feeding the children at school, but also excess that was sold to local supermarkets.

The club has been supported in this regard by the Breede Gouritz Catchment Management Agency with a donation of R200 000.

The club has also been involved in funding a number of cataract operations for those unable to finance such a life-changing intervention.

George Rotary has furthermore been active in the OCC wheelchair race, Rotary Health Outreach on farms surrounding George, a pensioners' braai at RLR Retirement Village, and Santa Flights, a joint club services project where less privileged children are taken on short aircraft trips in fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and micro-lights, driven in fast cars and entertained with food, drinks and jumping castles. Presents are handed out by Father Christmas.

Currently the club is investigating supporting the Rosemoor Old Age Home by replacing old laundry equipment, replacing geysers with heat pumps for the kitchen and all showers, and collecting rain water from the roofs for the laundry.

With an estimated cost of R1,7m, the project will require a concerted fundraising drive and international support.

In terms of working with the youth, the club has two school-based Interact Clubs - at York High and Rundle College. An Early Act Club operates at Outeniqua Primary. All these are guided by Rotary and are fully supported by the staff at the schools. They are involved in many community projects.

The club is also involved in a short-term exchange programme where eligible high school students spend about six weeks overseas with host families and George families host students from overseas.

In 2022, a student from Switzerland spent time in George and in July 2023, a student from George has gone to Germany.

The George Rotary Club board, from left: Donald Goldfain, Dave Hill, Ann Wright (district governor), re-elected president Di Kershaw, Andrew Jeffery, Claire du Plessis (assistant president), Charles Rowe, Annetia Heckroodt, Gerhard Eggers, Michael Tacke, Allan Ingham-Brown, Willie Goldblatt and Simon Swan.