The Rotary Club of Samford Valley Inc
ABN 93 585 159 023
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The Rotary Club of Samford Valley Inc ABN 93 585 159 023
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As of March, 2009, there were an estimated 11,695 Interact clubs worldwide, with nearly 270,000 members. Well now, there’s one more. Wayne Morris, District Governor, Rotary District 9600, chartered a new Interact club at the Ferny Grove State High School on Monday 23 March, 2009. The new club has 20 members. President, Hannah Konecny, confidently explained the club’s aspirations to a bevy of Rotarians and teachers and about 200 students seated on the polished boards of the indoor volley ball courts. Interact is a Junior Service Club sponsored by Rotary. Its members are high school students between the ages of 14 and 18 (Year 8 to Year 12) who work to raise money to meet many service requirements in their community. One Interact club paid for the complete training of a guide dog, another raised money to buy a Shelterbox. Rotary Shelterboxes are used in disaster areas. Each Shelterbox contains a self-supporting tent that will house 10 people, basic cooking utensils, blankets and/or mosquito nets and other essential items. Another Interact club joined Rotary’s ‘Adopt-a-Village’ program, which aims to supply enough mosquito nets to villages in developing countries to make sure that everyone in the village has one. This simple program has reduced the incidence of malaria in those villages by up to 80% and maternal deaths by up to 30%. The main thrust of Interact fund raising at the moment is to support Rotary’s ‘Polio Plus’ initiative, which hopes to eradicate polio from the world within the next few years. However, armed conflict in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nigeria, is increasing the difficulty of completing inoculation programs in cooperation with Rotary volunteers, WHO, US Centres for Disease Control, UNICEF, many governments and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  Governor, Rotary District 9600, Wayne Morris, places the Chain-of-Office on Interact Club President, Hannah Konecny. FERNY GROVE STATE HIGH SCHOOL – INTERACT CLUB The rotary Clubs of Samford Valley, Mitchelton and Ashgrove/The Gap have each from time to time attempted to start an Interact Club at the Ferny Grove State High School (FGSHS) with no success until early in 2009. The School Principal (Kaye Gardner) and Deputy (Dr. Judy Nielsen) agreed that a club could be established. On the March 23, 2009, a ceremony was held in the school assembly to charter the club. This ceremony was attended by the School Principal, Deputy Principal, Rotary District 9600 Governor (Wayne Morris from Honiara), Interact Committee Chair (Tino Babao), Samford Valley Rotary Club President, Kaye Mills, and a number of other Rotarians from the Rotary club of Samford Valley. Twenty students were enrolled into the club. The Club’s Board consisted of Hannah Konecny – President Rachel Lyell – Vice President Zoe Konecny – Secretary Jun Suzuki – Treasurer Emma Brown – Community service Joseph Murray – International Director. Meetings were held in the school during lunch breaks on Mondays and Mrs. Josephine Newey and Chaplain Damon Millard took the club under day to day supervision. Assistance from the Rotary Club of Samford Valley was provided by Mr. Chris Ellis (Youth Director) and several other members as required for specific purposes, eg. conducting training on the "ins and outs" of managing a Board and Club of this nature with appropriate financial control. Over a short period the club settled into a routine and decided to raise funds for several projects. The first would be to provide a “Tales From a Dilly Bag” kit to a worthy school in the local area. The next project was to raise funds for the Polio eradication program. In practice the funds for the first project were not fully raised, however early in 2010, a barbeque was conducted and the funds are all but in the bank. During the course of the year the club accepted the invitation to use a District Simplified Grant to obtain a new lockable notice board for the Resource Centre. This was achieved with some assistance from Rotary and school funds. Rotarian Ian Spiller mounted the cabinet and a formal opening was conducted by the Principal. The President and Treasurer visited the Rotary Club as guests to report on the progress of the club in February, 2010. The Club's Annual General Meeting was held in March, 2010, and a new board was elected. These positions are President: Hannah Konecny Vice President: Christy Hodson-Cornford Secretary: Rachel Lyell Treasurer: Jun Suzuki International Director: Suresh Seniveratne 'Fun' Director: Julian Lawrence (a non-board position) The Rotary Club has a roster of members to visit the Interact meetings each week to assist where needed and to report to the club with any interesting aspects. NAMES OF CHARTER MEMBERS
INTERACT CLUB OF FERNY GROVE STATE HIGH SCHOOL MONDAY MARCH 23, 2009 Hannah Konecny - President Rachel Lyell – Vice President Zoe Konecny - Secretary Jun Suzuki - Treasurer Emma Brown – Community Service Director Joseph Murray – International Service Director Christy Hodson-Cornford David Chamberlain Mitchell Eckert Katie Robinson Riley McNamara Sam Neil Mikaely Turner Sarah Pedwell Rebecca Hocken Amy Foster Breanna Davis Kelsie Davis Hannah Hayden Soibhan Crawford  Members of the Ferny Grove State High School Interact Club |
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