From the President's Desk

Good morning all,

Our members have been up to such exciting things in the last few weeks! I have decided to reserve this report for all the awesome stories I keep reading about what everyone is up to, in case people have missed it.

For those who weren’t able to make it, we had a great night last Tuesday night at our Christmas Function/official DG visit. Bruce and Kathy Rogers were very welcoming hosts to an awesome evening, where we were lucky enough to be joined by DG Anne and Jeff Egan, our exchange student Illari, and tonnes of friends and family of the eClub. Thank you to everyone who was able to make it such a great night all around, most especially our hosts and chefs Bruce and Kathy Rogers, and Ingrid, Rick, and Lauren Jewson. Ingrid was also our photographer for the evening, meaning we now have many great photos which she has taken the time to publish to an album on Facebook, check out the link here.

 

It was even more special as the day following our Christmas function, one of our hosts was scheduled for surgery on a shoulder injury. Our thoughts are with friend of the eClub Kathy Rogers, as she recovers from her shoulder surgery at home.

Hopefully everyone is keeping up with Kaye Titmarsh’s America adventures on Facebook, it looks like she is having a great time. One of the greatest things about being an eClub is we are not limited by proximity, resulting in our members being located anywhere in the world and still being a part of our community. It was so nice to see this proven by Kaye who spent a few days out of her trip visiting Ray Pifer at his home in North Carolina. The photos looked amazing, and I’m sure Ray loved getting the chance to show off his home after visiting Australia last year.

I hope everyone saw the remarkable article about one of our newer members, Estelle McCabe, in the Gold Coast Bulletin. Estelle has had a massive achievement in being awarded a 2015 New Colombo Plan scholarship that will allow her to continue her university studies in Tokyo. She has previously had the opportunity with deliver a speech in Japanese at the 2013 World Peace Conference in Hiroshima where she represented Australian youth in an address to Rotarians and delegates from around the world. We are very lucky and proud to have Estelle as a member of the e-Club. For those of you who haven’t read the article, a version of it can be found here, or just log on tonight to hear from Estelle herself about what lies ahead for her.

We are also receiving regular updates from eClub member Alison Blomkamp in China. Due to time difference and a hectic work schedule Alison isn’t able to regularly join meetings, but she is keeping up with the achievements of the eClub and working with Rotary in Shanghai.

Rob McArthur is currently travelling in Budapest and was kind enough to post a picture of his family supporting the Rotary Club of Budapest-Center by purchasing some of their mulled wine at the markets.

Kristen Jewson is also giving back to Rotary by being a Rotexer in Germany and working to make sure the exchange students in District 1850 have a great time during their year. I am sure they all greatly appreciate having someone of Kristen’s energy and enthusiasm at their events, and the students would definitely benefit from Kristen’s experience as an ex-exchange student as well. Keep up the awesome work Kristen!

And I am sure I have missed some member’s adventures, but our Club just does too many exciting things that I can barely keep up with them all. If I have missed you, please let me know by logging on tonight and telling us all about your adventures yourself.

See you online for our second last meeting of the year.

Kind regards,

Tara

President, 2015-16

PS: Hopefully no-one minded me taking their photos off our Facebook page J