Janee Hong
As I sit here reflecting on my first few months as President of the Rotary Club of Beenleigh, I am watching us all grow, evolve and shift with the many incredible needs and opportunities presented to us.
In the last few months, we’ve seen our members establish new key sub committees, all of whom are already kicking goals in their spaces. We’ve welcomed and mentored new members and have established new a Corporate Partnership package along with relaunching our Corporate Membership offering. Excitingly we also have 3 new members waiting to be inducted.
Our members are becoming even more engaged with our community, with many organisations now reaching out to us to assist them. Locally, we have been providing clothing through our Operation WatchHouse project, hygiene packs for the Family & Kids Care Foundation, BBQ goods for Accord Outreach and much more. Internationally we partnered with the Rotary Clubs of Logan & Loganholme to put together education supply kits to be sent to classrooms in Papua New Guinea in an upcoming shipping container.
In Mid-August we hosted (combined with Rotary Browns Plains, Logan & Loganholme) a Music Bingo fundraising night which was just so much fun and raised funds for the Rotary Foundations End Polio Now Campaign. This evening also doubled as a membership interest night, and it was great to see so many new faces all asking more about Rotary and what we achieve.
As part of our regular weekly meetings, we’ve hosted some excellent speakers including; Eagleby Giants JRLFC, Gillian Myles from the Palliative Care Unit at Logan Hospital, the Papua New Guinea Federation QLD Inc, Author Karen Tyrrell & Illustrator Megan Forward.
Working together with other Rotary Clubs is something we do and do well, and we were proudly involved with the successful Southside Rotary Foundation Dinner held at the end of August, which hosted Past Rotary International President and current trustee of The Rotary Foundation, Mr Ian Riseley OAM as the key guest speaker. The committee organised a fabulous performance from the Vodorai dancers and also a moving account from a Ukrainian refugee of life in a town under siege and fleeing with her children leaving her husband and parent travelling via 5 countries to arrive in Australia. The event raised over $16,000 to go toward supporting Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees.
Along with many fundraising efforts in the last few months, we’ve continued our support of the Mini Farm Project at Loganlea State High School, and it is fabulous to see this project moving forward in leaps and bounds as it will be key to bringing food security to those in need in our area.
Coming up we have the Beenleigh Cane Gala Ball being held on the 15th October 2022, and we’d love to see our tickets sell out as we official launch book one of the Sugar Sweet Stories Youth Literacy Project. This project, in conjunction with Quota Beenleigh and Soroptimist International Beenleigh saw us raise funds at last year’s Beenleigh Cane Gala ball to publish this book, and we’re so excited to see it all coming to fruition. Community support is so important in keeping projects like these running, so please come and join us for a fabulous evening at the Beenleigh Events Centre. Our teams are working hard to truly putting on something special.
As we continue into the year, our members and sub-committees will be working to continue taking out club to the next level. Plans for the 2023 Cane Parade and Gala events will soon. We’re always looking for more great members and new opportunities, so please get in touch if you’re interested in joining with us, as People of Action.
Yours in Rotary Service,
