Bellarine North Rotary celebrate a year of success

BELLARINE NORTH Rotary Club celebrated the successes of its 2023-24 season at its executive changeover meeting last week.

More than 50 members of the club came together at the Portarlington Golf Club to thank outgoing committee members and acknowledge the achievements of serving members.

This year, the club was able to distribute more than $40,000 to causes both locally and internationally.

Abroad, funds went towards developing a chicken farm in Nepal, dismantling playgrounds to send to third world countries and improving the learning outcomes of students in Cambodia.

Closer to home, the club assisted local organisations such as Kinship Carers, Feed Me Bellarine, and Drysdale and Portarlington Food Banks.

Outgoing president Leila Stecher and her board were thanked for leading the charge.

The Clifton Springs resident has been a Rotarian for 17 years and was lauded by committee for her positive impact on the local community.

“We thank Leila for her tireless work of leading this fun filled, busy club,” committee member Caroline Rickard said.

“We now induct new president Ken Withers to lead us into the future.

“The future is looking bright for the year ahead and we would love some more people to join us to be able to share the workload around.”

Mr Withers served on the general committee in 2023 and is excited to be making the step into the presidency role.

He will be joined by Terry Baker (vice-president), Bruce Van Every (secretary), Sue Riminton (president elect), Caroline Rickard (director), Glynis Jones (director) and Alex Jeffrey (director) on the 2024-25 board.

The club encourages any interested residents to attend one of its weekly Monday meetings held at Portarlington Golf Club at 6pm.