In a “post-Covid forum”, Rotary Club Airlie Beach invited the local community to have its say on the organisation’s potential future projects, as well as providing feedback on how the club itself can move into a new era.
The volunteer organisation opened the floor to groups and individuals to highlight small-scale projects that Rotary could support.
Rotary Club Airlie Beach President John Mol opened the meeting with a sobering reflection on the state of the club’s membership tally.
“As most of you know, there has been a slowdown in volunteerism across the country and in rural communities,” Mr Mol said.
“The pandemic made the decline not only more evident, but more concerning. Bodies like SES, VMR, and CWA are experiencing major downturns, especially in country towns. Service clubs such as ours have not been spared, and at the same time our existing members are ageing.
“The future sustainability of our club is now at stake, which is why we are all here tonight to listen to your projects to help create a better local community as we have always aimed to do.”
Assistant Rotary Coordinator Merewyn Wright highlighted the Airlie Beach club’s efforts in past years, including major projects like the raising of $100,000 dollars to contribute towards Volunteer Marine Rescue’s (VMR) very first vessel in years past.
Most salient was the club’s role in the construction of the Whitsunday PCYC where the meeting was held.
“It is one of the biggest local projects the club has been involved in,” Ms Wright said.
“We are still running a number of projects in the District, but tonight is an opportunity for us to learn how we can help even more.”
Other volunteer organisations like VMR and Zonta Club Of The Whitsundays attended, emphasising the idea of resource pooling and working together for the betterment of the region.
Potential projects raised from the night included completing the Bicentennial Boardwalk signage – a previous Rotary project – as well as joint scholarships with Zonta, sporting club grants, and projects to help the homeless.
Rotary Area Governor for District 9560, Trevor Hyatt said the idea was: how can the Rotary branding lend a voice or hand to issues or projects in the community.
“We might not be looking for active members, rather, we’re looking at what we can do with the age group and experience we have. It’s a very different world in volunteerism,” he said.
“The idea is to go to the community and ask: What is expected of a Rotary Club? And that can stir up interest in joining, too.”
Mr Hyatt said taking down the ideas of the community, addressing the small-scale projects that might not necessarily require a “workforce” and actioning them was the major plan of the meeting.
Rotary Area Governor for District 9560 Trevor Hyatt emceed a meeting of Rotarians, community, and volunteer groups at the Whitsunday PCYC on Monday evening on the future of the Club
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