The Rotary Club of The Hills-Kellyville – Flood Relief May 2022
In 2019/20 it was all about Bushfire relief. Rotary Club of the Hills Kellyville members assisted Blaze Aid and also assisted in Cobargo with recovery. In conjunction with Rheem Australia and Dural Men’s Shed, the Club organised two loads of water heaters for the bush fire rebuild on the South Coast.
So from bush fires to floods, the club shifted gears. Our small club worked with a much larger group – The Indian Hindu Community who had 60 young members from around Blacktown and Hills LGA, to reach out to the flood victims in the Hawkesbury LGA. The volunteers helped clean up affected households along with homeowners and provided survival kits containing essentials items such as fresh fruits, canned food items as well as cleaning equipment. The volunteers also helped clean up affected homes working alongside homeowners and arranged volunteers with removalist trucks to help transport large items. Above all, they demonstrated that the community cared in these most challenging times. The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International granted a Disaster Response grant used to purchase Bunnings and Woolworths gift cards and 20 of these cards were provided to families in need of immediate financial support. The Club recognised Pankaj Patel from the Indian Hindu Community on May 2nd with a Community Service Award for this work.
The Club also sprang into action using it’s connections to assist flood victims on the north coast of NSW. In conjunction with The Dural Men’s Shed and Rheem Australia, the Club managed to source water heaters for flood victims, but a new problem emerged – how to get a semi-trailer load of water heaters valued at around one hundred thousand dollars transported and into the Lismore Flood Relief Centre with all that was going on. A simple answer arrived via a group that the Club was introduced to – Turbans4Australia. This group has connections, transport, warehousing and is already active in flood relief. They also represent the values that Rotary holds …… in their own words “The practice of equality, respect, benevolence and help extended irrespective of caste & creed”.
On Saturday 14th May, The Rotary Club of The Hills-Kellyville was invited to a Turbans4Australia open day at their warehouse and office facility in the suburb of Clyde in Sydney. There, Ian Pascoe, Club President met with the founder of Turbans4Australia and many volunteers, along with dignitaries from Disaster Relief Australia, Ernst & Young and Rheem Australia who were there as part of the celebrations.
To cap off May, funds that were raised at “Jazz at The Pines” Community events run by the Club created a donation of over $2,000 to help the Wisemans Ferry Men’s Shed get re-established after losing everything in the floods.
The Rotary Club of The Hills-Kellyville has just 15 members but works with like minded organisations to “serve to change lives”. The Rotary Club of The Hills-Kellyville raises funds for numerous programs far and wide throughout parts of Australia as well as overseas communities with specific needs. Local programs include a local Australia Day Ceremony and Literacy Initiatives for students. Further afield the club continues its Bourke Public School Breakfast Club project, helping school attendance. The Children’s Hospital at Westmead purchased new state of the art equipment for their Eye Clinic with funds organised by the Club. On the international front, the Club is also involved in major humanitarian projects in Sri Lanka and India.