Destiny Rescue’s  mission is to rescue children from sexual exploitation and human trafficking and help them stay free.

Friday’s presentation by Greg Bradley was confronting.

Greed and the brokenness of this world create a demand for the sale and purchase of human bodies. Socioeconomic, psychological and physical factors can expose vulnerabilities in an individual, family or community. Using force, fraud or coercion, traffickers take advantage of a child or community’s vulnerabilities to meet the demand for sold sex and profit off it.

Day and night, agents work relentlessly to search for children trapped in sex trafficking and exploitation and bring them to freedom. In the pursuit of children, the agents are often given the opportunity to rescue adults out of labor and sex trafficking situations too.

A child’s continued safety and healing journey is just as important as the act of rescue. The process of keeping her free starts immediately after her rescue by meeting whatever needs she has to allow her to take the first steps toward freedom. After rescue, a survivor’s next steps are determined based on his or her unique situation including the vulnerabilities that lead to exploitation and local legal procedure. A survivor’s next steps follow one of three paths:

Enrolment in an individualised Destiny Rescue Freedom Plan™  implemented in a Destiny Rescue-run residential home or through our Community Care program, which enables the child to live at home while participating in our services. Freedom Plans include health checks, trauma resilience training and economic empowerment solutions.

Reunification with family, which may include international travel, accommodation curation and assistance with legal documentation. In some cases, we can follow up with survivors in the months after reunification.

Entrusted to government agencies and their standard processes, or another local organisation offering appropriate services. Follow-up in these circumstances is limited as organisations and governments work to protect children and their privacy.

The work that Destiny Rescue does is impressive and we thank Greg for his informative presentation.

At Friday’s meeting our Club was happy to welcome back Chris Scott as our Guest Speaker. At his previous visit, as CEO of Volunteering Sunshine Coast, Chris told us about the organization and the role it plays here on the Coast. Chris is a great presenter and we were keen to have him return.

Since we saw him last, Chris has trekked the Kokoda Trail and gave a fascinating presentation on his adventure including a brief history of Kokoda. He had plenty of photos and our Members thoroughly enjoyed his presentation.

He has since visited Egypt and has committed to coming back to tell us about that adventure.

Thankyou Chris, we look forward to hearing about Egypt!

The recent publicity about Australia’s dismal literacy statistics has reinforced our commitment to supporting our local youth. From programs such as Story Dogs to providing driver awareness training, financial assistance to secondary students to enhance their career aspirations or develop their leadership potential, or support postgrad students to continue their studies. Our Youth Programs are designed to encourage & support young people to become responsible, successful adults.

The Rotary Club of Buderim has a proud history of supporting our local youth, and our ongoing support of the RYDA driver training program is valued highly by our members. This week our members headed to Nambour to once again help facilitate this very important workshop.

RYDA is a program that provides students with the tools, habits and motivation to take action and stay safe on our roads as both drivers and passengers throughout their lives.

RYDA features a highly engaging and memorable one-day workshop which front-loads students’ understanding of road safety. The workshop sessions are designed to be held in small classroom sized groups (approximately 25 students) and are led by a team of trained facilitators including Police, driving instructors and other community sector specialists such as Rotarians.

We were very lucky to have Dr Amanda Boyes BPsychSc/BCCJ (Hons) Griff., BSocSc(Psych)(Hons) Sunshine Coast, PhD Sunshine Coast Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Youth Mental Health) Thompson Institute from USC as our Guest Speaker on Friday.

A postdoctoral research fellow and team leader on the Longitudinal Adolescent Brain Study (LABS) at the Thompson Institute. Her PhD project investigated neurobiological markers of resilience in early adolescence, with a focus on the brain’s subcortical grey matter volume.

Amanda’s psychology honours project investigated the relationship between the brain’s cortical thickness, cognition and psychological distress in early adolescence.

She is involved in a range of research activities on LABS, including participant assessments, ethics, data analysis and writing journal articles. She is also active in LABS neuroimaging data auditing and processing.

Amanda has been recognised for her work with significant awards including the UniSC Vice-Chancellor and President’s Award for Excellence in Service.

A very interesting presentation enjoyed by all.

Whilst we have a lot of very interesting guest speakers at our meetings, it’s the recipients of our various Youth programs sponsorship that really make us proud. None more so than this week’s speaker, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth is a passionate STEM student with a focus on chemistry, and so was very keen to attend the National Youth Science Forum, and Buderim Rotary was proud to be able to sponsor her to attend.

While Elizabeth was able to attend some amazing workshops, some of which were relevant to her interest area of forensic science, she was particularly fascinated with the ‘Science Communication’ facility, an area in which she had not had previous exposure & now sparked a new interest.

The Club was particularly chuffed at the fact that Elizabeth has now broadened her ideas for her future studies having come to the realization that there is so many more interesting fields worthy of pursuing, and tertiary institutions further afield.

We wish her the best of luck with her future endeavors & are very proud to have been able to play a small part in her career aspirations.

Our History…

On the 7Th March 2024 Members, Family & Friends of Buderim Rotary came together to celebrate 30 years of ‘Service Above Self’. Four of the remaining original Members, Graeme Ensoll, Gloria Duce, Paul Tanner, Bob Acaster & Lynne Phillips did the honors of cutting the cake.

For more of our Club’s history, click on the flipbook above

And here’s to another 30 years!

Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children

Rotarians volunteer their time and expertise to run this Rotary project that includes all Districts in Rotary International Zone 8. This humanitarian project has provided life giving and/or dignity restoring surgery to over 500 children from more than 20 countries, with medical treatment not available to them in their own countries. It is assisted by many eminent Australian and New Zealand surgeons who generously donate their time for the treatment of patients.

The Team

ROMAC is quite a rare not-for-profit humanitarian organisation run entirely with volunteers. It has no paid staff and no leased offices and so, it has minimal fixed costs. Generally, every dollar donated goes to patient care and the small running expenses are recovered from the investments.

The process begins with a referral of a child from overseas (or visiting Australia/New Zealand doctors) directly into the ROMAC database on the website. From this single form, the Medical and Operation Directors evaluate whether the referred child meets the ROMAC guidelines and which Region may be able to provide the necessary surgery, in collaboration with specialist Regional Medical Consultants.

All in all, the team in Australia and New Zealand is nearly 200 totally voluntary individuals plus Rotarians and medical personnel who support ROMAC in the nations we serve. These are people who help with passport and visa applications, finding and communicating with the potential patients, organising medical checks and ensuring they are on time to board their plane.

ROMAC is a shining example of what can be achieved through the combined effort of selfless individuals. ‘Service Above Self’ at its best.

Our very most favorite thing to do at our club meeting is to induct a new member, and today we were thrilled to welcome newest Member, Mark Allen.

Every new member adds to the dynamic of the club, & Mark has already added a vibrant & enthusiastic element to our meetings & is a most welcome addition.

Mark’s wife, LJ, has already joined the ladies on one of their monthly lunch outings & we look forward to enjoying her company at many more.

Lynne Phillips has been appointed as Mark’s mentor, & as a long-standing member with a wealth of experience, will no doubt show him the ropes!

Welcome to Buderim Rotary, Mark!

Despite the horrible weather, thousands of locals flocked to the Buderim Village Park to share our love of Australia with others in our community. Around 6 months in the planning, but all paid off with a seamlessly run event. Our Club is so proud to be able to organize this celebration which brings so much joy to so many people. Good on you Buderimites for supporting it!

The kids had a ball! With Facepainters, Clowns, plenty of food & room to play.

No need to go hungry with delicious food vans & even a licensed bar for those after a cold beverage.

Fantastic entertainment with the likes of Frankie Rae, Fiona O’Shea, Sugarbag Blonde, M7 & a spine-chilling rendition of the national anthem by local soprano, Michelle Bull.

It’s been said that Buderim Aus Day fireworks are the best on The Coast due to the proximity to the audience. You literally feel that you are standing right under them. What a brilliant way to finish the night.

Our photographer ‘Images by Ellen’ did an amazing job capturing the spirit of the celebration, & there are plenty more wonderful images to see. Just follow this link:

ROTARY CLUB OF BUDERIM AUSTRALIA DAY PICNIC IN THE PARK ’24 IMAGES

If you would like to order high-res images for printing or publishing, Images by Ellen can be contacted at imagesbyellenenquires@gmail.com