From the President's Desk

From the President's Desk

Good Morning all,

I wish to start by thanking my fellow management team for the very effective running of the e-Club while I have been distracted.  I am thinking the economy is improving ever so slowly as my roles with my Boards have just virtually exploded. On the good news front in one business of which I am the CEO we have increased our employees to over 400 field workers in this past six months, an increase of 60%.

This e-Club will be holding our AGM and Board Positions Election night on 2nd December on line at the usual time and we do encourage everyone to attend and participate.  We need to talk about our shutdown Christmas period and some other business decisions already on the agenda. The main story of this report now follows.

Rotary e-Club RFDS Birdsville Project 2014

I have enough information from the RFDS to now make probably the final presentation on the 2014 event. The RFDS have supplied more information but the BRC (Birdsville Race Club) takes some time to sort their affairs as they have other Government Departments overseeing their events. 

We do now have several ideas to improve next year's event as well which I will include in this report.

I am having regular meetings with the RFDS team at Head Office; the planning for next year has started.

The figures for 2014 show that the Rotary e-Club's monetary donation is very close to $5000 but the event to which Rotary e-Club Members contributed greatly has passed $50 000 to the RFDS.

The e-Club Members effort included the complete management of the RFDS food stall; which raised $3000; donations and collections $2000; donations of food to the Rotary e-Club Charleville RFDS Project Team; setting up of the Community Centre for the Black Tie Cocktail Party; supplying the waiters and waitresses for the Cocktail Party; assisting with the Fun Run plus many other Community Service roles.

The BRC donation is $10 000; Kangaroo Bus Lines support $8000+; money collected by the RFDS $13000+; Rotary Food $3000+; Fun Run $4000+; plus $13 000 approx for other activities from the Birdsville Hotel; water sales at the races; more BRC activities etc; plus other events we have no data on yet.  I have my own checklist to follow up on these late contributors so they have not been lost yet.

I believe we need a more pro-active Management Team to handle this event and whilst everybody involved except for RFDS staff is a volunteer, I believe we need a more supportive network to make this event the highlight of the Year it could be. We need to be working at a higher level in this community if we wish to provide quality Community Service to this region.

The Bush is still seriously drought affected, the people are struggling, times are hard out there and there is much more to this than money. We must always consider the human factor and any service to these communities will be well rewarded.  I am hoping we can do a Community Service Project for the Preschool Volunteer Group in Birdsville next September; I am just waiting on another conversation with their Director.

This year we had a new location and the Diamantina Shires Council Staff and Management were very good to this e-Club, we got many privileges and special prices that others did not get. We also got a lot of support from the individual business owners in Birdsville who came to thank the e-Clubs members for what we were doing for that Community. This was very encouraging and very humbling.

Going forward now with the confidence, we have the food operation well sorted; the donations section manageable and the logistical exercise is under control. Our opportunities now arise in a greater role in the overall management of the Birdsville Week Programme.

Our e-Club will have a greater RFDS representative management presence at next year's event as the RFDS staff will be limited to two team members and the e-Club Organiser will be the KEY person. The Fun Run has the potential to grow immensely and I am hoping to engage with the Lions Clubs who were present to co-ordinate the Services Community involvement with the showers and toilets for fundraising purposes.

We will have a greater presence in 2015 on Friday and Saturday at the race track and I believe the Fashions on the Field event at the Race Course really need volunteers from the Fashion World as this is another opportunity that has been brought to my attention.

There is also an opportunity to tap into the thousands of Caravaners and Tent specialist who set up on the outskirts of town for the week, as well as some form of Wednesday Night local entertainment function.

One thing we must be very aware of is that a small band of local volunteers have provided an excellent service to this Community and the RFDS in years past and we are not going there to take this event over. We are going there to ASSIST the volunteers of this Community, maximise the results of this event for the benefit of this far Western Queensland Community and the RFDS who provide them with a vital link to medical assistance.

I sincerely thank all our wonderful volunteers who gave some 10 days hard work to this event, who drove thousands of miles to help us, who never gave up and always had a smile even when the chips were down. Well done everyone. I am not naming names, you know who you are and I just hope you have the greatest Christmas ever with your families and friends. This event really epitomises the good will of Rotarians and non-Rotarians working together as a team with a common goal, to help our friends in the bush.

Regards,

Geoff

PS: 

With just four Fridays left before Christmas time is running out to order your Traditional Foundation Fruit Cakes and Puddings. Please email your orders to Geoff at president@rotaryeclubnextgen.org