A leading light in Noosa’s vibrant community and president of the Noosa Heads Rotary Club, Geoff Bone, was celebrated for his work by gas and engineering company BOC last week.
BOC’s general manager, industrial, Troy Harris presented Mr Bone with the BOC RYDA champion award in a ceremony in Doonan.
The award commemorated Mr Bone’s 13 years as chairman of the Noosa RYDA Committee.
RYDA, provided by Road Safety Education Limited (RSE), has been developed for senior high school students, giving them the tools they need to make good decisions from any seat in the car.
Mr Harris congratulated Mr Bone, who founded the Noosa RYDA program in 2009 as a commitment to youth road safety in and around Noosa.
“Geoff has served his community with passion and conviction, first joining Rotary in Darwin in 1969 where he was president in 1974 and 1975. He’s been a Noosa member since 1992 and has successfully applied for many grants and local sponsorships for Noosa RYDA,” he said.
“It’s heartening to see a community come together with a common goal of saving lives through evidence-led education like RYDA” Mr Harris said.
The success of the Noosa RYDA program was helped by its collaboration with the Rotary Clubs of Noosa, Noosa Heads, Noosa Daybreak and Cooroy which signed an agreement to work together to stage events for students at local schools and colleges.
During Mr Bone’s 13 years as chairman, 7209 students from 11 local schools and colleges have been through the program.
Although Mr Bone has now stepped down in his presidential role at RYDA, he is still an active member of the committee.
He continues to work hard as president of the Noosa Heads Rotary Club and recently coordinated two major flood relief programs, raising over $50,000 for flood victims.
BOC became a founding partner of RSE and the RYDA program in 2004.
Through the sponsorship contribution of partners like BOC, RSE has been able to expand the program from being a local NSW initiative to venues across Australia and New Zealand.
