The Rotary Club of Cooroy celebrated the annual passing of the Presidents Charter to new president Chris Durie as well as celebrating 30 years of supporting the Cooroy and District community on Monday 26 June.
Guests included local politicians, honorary members, past presidents and members of neighbouring clubs.
Reflecting on his year as president, outgoing president Andrew Aves said:
“Over the past 30 years the Rotary Club of Cooroy has enjoyed great fellowship while raising thousands of dollars and helping people less fortunate locally, regionally and nationally and contributing to projects to make our world a better place to live, work and play.“
“It has been a honour to lead the Club for the past 12 months and I am looking forward to another great year of Rotary with president Chris.“
President Andrews presented three awards – the Reg and Una Bryant Award for outstanding community service to Joan Alexander who was unable to attend, the Col Stevens Award for outstanding Rotary service to David Cramb and the very prestigious Paul Harris Fellowship award to Past President David Bell.
On accepting the charter president Chris said:
“I have been a Rotarian for a long time, and I would like to tell why I am still a part of this wonderful organisation. There is service to the community but much more than that and the unique fellowship we share. We are part of the world of Rotary who do amazing things throughout the world such as supporting refugees in Ukraine and throughout the world. Rotary is also there ready with diplomatic and peace initiatives when the opportunity arises.“
Chris also outlined the unique collaborations with other area clubs to make our district a better and safer place through Rotary Youth Driver Awareness and more recently the Rotary 4 Mental Health Initiatives which aim to reduce the alarming incidence of suicide in the Noosa District.
“In this unique collaboration we are bringing expertise and influence to try and ’normalise’ discussion on mental health by making it normal to be able to speak up and reach out to people when they are struggling to cope,” Chris said.
Chris outlined some of his plans for the coming year which include partnering with Nambour Rotary Club.
“We are changing and adapting as a club and we will probably have to move away from staging the annual Spring Festival next year due to conservation considerations, which will have an impact on fundraising,” he said. “Cooroy Rotary has had challenges before and has risen to the occasion.“
For more information visit cooroyrotary.org.au/
