Rotary District 9800 governor-elect Peter Shepheard (left) with Echuca Rotary secretary Kaye Miller and president Rob Foran at the Rotary Club of Rochester’s 60th anniversary dinner. Photo: Supplied.
Echuca-Moama is a thriving community that is only growing. One of the many reasons people love the region is the multitude of groups they can be a part of.
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To help you find the right group, check out our ‘Why not join...’ series each week, where we focus on a community group.
In today’s edition, Emily Donohoe speaks to the Rotary Club of Echuca-Moama.
A staple in the region for 76 years, the Rotary Club of Echuca-Moama has provided opportunities for service in the community and beyond.
Projects championed by the group include the operations of Rotary Park for more than 50 years, shop local nights, international exchange opportunities, Christmas appeals and overseas fundraisers.
For president Rob Foran and secretary Kate Miller, initiatives driven by the club are based on where they see the community’s needs and interest.
“It’s as much effort as it is putting money into the community, too,” Mr Foran said.
“It’s about finding something where we can link in with the community to do good stuff.
“I think that’s always been the philosophy of the club.”
Earlier in the year, they co-ordinated a group of special education teachers to come out from Malaysia to observe the practices used here so they could implement them back home.
In exchange, two local teachers will be heading over to Malaysia to have a similar experience and present at a conference.
“The teachers have gone home and they’ve already run seminars,” Mr Foran said.
“They’ve run stuff for fellow teachers, as well as for parents and student groups.
“They’ve been liaising with the ministry of education there to start putting some of the practices (in place).”
In April, the Rotary Club of Echuca-Moama helped organise an international exchange of special education teachers from Malaysia. Photo: Supplied.
Closer to home, Rotary’s annual Shop Local Night has seen direct economic benefit to businesses around Echuca while also fundraising for local groups.
The fourth edition of the event involved 17 stores, with more than 100 shoppers generating about $15,000.
“Each of the stores usually provides us with a voucher that goes into a raffle,” Ms Miller said.
“The funding from that always goes into a local community project.
“In the past we’ve supported the Rockets ... just last week we donated about $680 we donated to the Echcua Moama Projects Christmas appeal.”
As a global service organisation, Rotary’s members have the capacity to help not only locally, but during national crises.
The structure of Rotary’s charitable arm and its almost fully volunteer-run operations mean that 100 per cent of funds support the cause in need.
“If you donate to our foundation directly, (the money) will sit there for three years, so the interest is used to pay the staff within Rotary,” Mr Foran said.
“Say if I’m donating in 2025, it will get spent in 2028, for example.”
The group is flexible, with opportunities to provide service wherever they can or want to.
If a member wants to travel overseas to take part in a Rotary project, the club can help to support that. If they simply want to lend a hand once a year on Shop Local Night, this is also encouraged.
“It just goes to show the depth and breadth of what someone can join us and do,” Mr Foran said.
Rotating between the roles of secretary and president, Ms Miller and Mr Foran, like all of their members, come from different backgrounds, but all find a place in the club.
“It’s totally open to everybody,” Ms Miller said.
“(It is) open to people of all religions, nationalities, identifications, genders ... you know that everybody that is there for a purpose of wanting to do something good, whatever form that takes.”
The group meets fortnightly on Tuesday nights at 6.30pm.
Generally, it meets at its clubhouse at Rotary Park, but sometimes it has vocational dinners or social events.
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