Completed Community Service Projects
Major Projects
We raised $733 from out 5th Annual Electronic Quiz Night in early 2006, which was donated to Young Carers WA in May to enable them to continue their great work!
Continuing our tradition of selecting beneficiaries who don't receive a lot of other support, our 2004 Electronic Quiz Night, held on April 3rd, raised the money needed by Parkinson's Western Australia to fund production of a pamphlet for doctors entitled "Drugs to be used with Caution for People with Parkinson's". The leaflet was released in Parkinson's Awareness week in September 2004.
Trained in the art of "Open Heart Surgery", the Humour Foundation, home to Australia's 20 Clown Doctors aims to bring fun and laughter to the patients, staff and families at Nursing Homes and Children's Wards by way of interactive performances. Their cause is completely community funded. Our 2003 Electronic Quiz Night, held on March 15th, raised $1000 to help them to continue their work in Western Australia.
Related Photos:
Cheque Presentation;
With Bhichai Rattakul & Clown Doctors;
2004 Christmas Party;
Clown Doctor Entertainment;
2005 Christmas Party.
The proceeds from our second Electronic Quiz Night in February 2002 - just under $1200 - were used to purchase a digital video camera, which will be used for staff training and safety education purposes by the Paraplegic Quadriplegic Association of WA. Read the article in the September 2002 issue of Voice acknowledging our donation.
The proceeds from our first Electronic Quiz Night in January 2001, along with some additional money from Cash for Cans to top it up to $1000, were used to become an Association for the Blind of WA Guide Dog Program Sponsor.
Smaller Projects (Hands-On Projects or Less than A$1000)
In July 2007, we provided $500 worth of sponsorship for the Students of Sustainability conference held at Murdoch University.
In 2005/06 we collected corks from wine bottles, which were then recycled to make cork products such as cork table mats. To make things more interesting, we had a little competition in the club to see who can bring in the most corks. A number of our members got family and friends on board to collect corks too, and some enterprising Rotaractors even approached restaurants to give us their used corks as well.
Having previously collected ringpulls for an international recycling project, in 2004 we were asked by a local Rotarian to start collecting them again, but this time they were apparently to be recycled locally by Alcoa into wheelchairs. But in mid 2005 we were advised by Alcoa that they didn't want the ring pulls at all, so we've stopped collecting them... again...
One of our main annual projects is to go tree planting every year. We usually do this around July or August every year, in conjunction with a Rotary Club or with another community group. We also took part in the Western Power Greening Challenge on a couple of occasions before it was completed in 2002. We last went tree planting in July 2004.
January 26th is Australia Day, a day that we celebrate our heritage and being Australian. It is also the most popular day for migrants to become nationalised Australians. Many suburbs in Perth hold a special ceremony to welcome new Australians, followed by an Australia Day Breakfast. Most years we help the Rotary Clubs of South Perth, Mill Point and Como serve the breakfast held in South Perth; we last assisted in 2004.
We collected old clothes for the Ngala Bargain Bazaar, an Op Shop run by volunteers which sells the second hand clothes to raise funds to help Ngala continue its services. Ngala is a non government organisation also located in the City of South Perth, which "assists parents with young children who need support and advice to confidently manage the challenges of early parenting."
In 2002 and 2003, the Rotaract Club of South Perth joined forces with the PMH Foundation to provide volunteers for Bluey Day. We assisted both off and on stage, by making sure fresh towels and warm water were always available, usering people on and off stage, spraying people's hair blue, selling raffle tickets, giving out stickers to children, and even doing the head shaving!
Handicamp is a Rotary project where 18 to 25 year old able bodied "buddies" are paired with disabled "awardees" for a week long camp of fun and learning about what it is like to live with a disability. Handicamp is held every January in District 9470, and our Rotaract club sponsored a disabled person to attend annually from 2001 to 2003. We only stopped sponsoring when they didn't need our money ($500 per person) the next year we offered it!
The City of South Perth Fiesta is an annual event, and in 2003 our Rotaract Club provided volunteers to help out at a number of the events. The aid we gave included car park marshalling (we could have earned some money charging for the parking, but felt uncomfortable asking for even $1, so we did it for free!), handing out programmes, and setting up tables and chairs. It was a great opportunithy to get to know people who work at the local council!
Upon our meeting relocation to Karawara in 2003, we took on the Karawara Community Project Fun Factory next door, Western Australia's only adventure / construction playground that provides a diverse range of challenging and adventurous play opportunities for children and their families. We helped with some of the paving in the playground, but had to withdraw from the project due to too few members available on Saturday mornings.
On the weekend of 13th & 14th April 2002, a team of fourteen of us took part in the 24 hour "Relay for Life". A major fundraising event for the Cancer Foundation, we were required to try to raise $100 each before the event, and then we took turns keeping a baton moving around the track for the full 24 hours. Though a very tiring event, it gave plenty of opportunities to get to talk with other members of the club!
Up until mid 2002 we donated blood at the Australian Red Cross Blood Service in Perth City every 3 months on one of the alternate Wednesday nights that we didn't have a club meeting (Wednesday night is pizza night!). While none of us particularly enjoyed the experience, the boys made of challenge of it by "racing" to see who would finish their donation first! We stopped organising it when too few people were able to attend.
Amber, Celine and Simone got up bright and early on the morning of Sunday 3rd March 2002 to take part in the annual Clean Up Australia Day. The South Perth Rotaract contingent joined up with the South Perth Youth Advisory Council and Millenium Kids to do a micro-clean up of the South Perth foreshore, which largely involved picking up cigarette butts and bottle tops.
In September 2001 we had the opportunity to participate in an historic event - the "Imagine Your Australia" National Conference of Youth. We provided half of the volunteers at this Conference of over 200 young Australian delegates aged between 18 and 25. Although we were volunteers rather than delegates, we still had the opportunity to participate in all of the sessions.
Up until the end of 2001, we ran a Cash for Cans depot in conjunction with the Rotaract Club of Thornlie. People brought us their empty cans, which we paid them for, then we filled our cage, we received payment too. As well as a great environmental project, Cash for Cans provided us with money that funded most of our other community projects. This project was shelved when the company that collected the cans from us went bankrupt.
Last updated on Monday 30th of June 2008 by Ian Ball © copyright 2000 - 2010 Rotaract Club of South Perth
Rotaract is a non-profit, non-political, non-religious international professional development and volunteer service organisation of students and young professionals aged between 18 and 30. The Rotaract Club of South Perth, District 9470, Western Australia, is sponsored by the Rotary Club of South Perth-Burswood. ~~ May Peace Prevail on Earth! ~~
