Club that gives back calls for fresh faces

A ROTARY Club with a 50-year history of service is calling for new members to help secure its future and keep its community legacy alive.

The Bellarine North Rotary Club has dropped to just 24 members in recent years, as the average age of its membership approaches 70 years.

Despite this, the club continues to punch above its weight, putting about $40,000 back into the community each year, the vast majority of which supports local foodbanks and family services, as well as the Salvation Army, CFA and SES.

The club’s Ken Withers described the Bellarine North Rotary Club as more of a “social club” whose members try to “do good in their spare time”, and welcomed interest from anyone aged 18 to 85.

“Rotary used to be a business organisation, and over the last 20 years, it’s really become a retired person’s organisation,” he said. “We need to be getting in touch with the 50 and 60-year-olds to start taking over the club before it’s too late – otherwise, we’re just not going to exist in five years’ time.”

For Mr Withers and his wife Helen, who got involved with the club five years ago “accidentally” – he confessed he had once thought of Rotary as “a group of men that sit around a table and had a good time” – it has become a source of both friendship and fulfilment.

“We absolutely love it. We particularly like doing the barbecues at the markets. They’re hard work, but you just interact with people, and you earn money, and you know that money’s going somewhere good.

“The small amount that we do makes you feel good. I look at all the things I haven’t done around my home because I’ve been spending a phenomenal amount of time on Rotary, but I don’t resent it,” he added, laughing.

While supporting the local Bellarine North community has long been a key focus of the club’s members, the broader Rotary organisation boasts significant international impact, often teaming up on projects with bodies like the United Nations and individuals like Bill Gates to, for example, eradicate polio.

“Rotary does everything that’s good in this world … so, if people are interested, it’s an open platform where you get guidance from a big, international organisation,” Mr Withers said.

“If we got a whole heap of young people in that wanted to do something totally different, they would be encouraged … They could basically set their own agenda.

“There are no attendance records kept. There’s no obligation on anyone to do anything. Just come along. We have some guest speakers that I find highly entertaining; we have social nights. We have a huge amount of fun and while we do it, we try and chuck a couple of hours in on an absolutely voluntary basis.”

Those interested in dipping a “toe in the water” before committing to join the club, are encouraged to sign up for the Friends of Rotary group, which will allow them to attend meetings, get on the mailing list and give things a try.

For more information, email [email protected]