ROTARY CLUB OF BUDERIM
WATER & SANITATION MONTH
I met a recently retired lady a few weeks ago who had just moved into a local retirement resort with all the bells & whistles. After commenting on how she must be loving the myriad of activities available and the wonderful facilities, she surprised me by commenting that she felt like she “lacked a sense of purpose.”
One possible reason why it’s a constant struggle to recruit members from the ‘retired’ fraternity, is that, in many cases, they’ve downsized into very well catered for lifestyles at one of the many, local ‘over 50s’ resorts. They have wonderful facilities available, an array of activities to participate in, and they can socialize to their hearts content. The need to go out into the community and join a group, or a team, to socialize is waning.
So when my friend commented on the absence of ‘a purpose’ in her life, it made me reflect on how important that need is, and how it is one of the commonalities in Rotary. As March is Rotary’s ‘Water & Sanitation’ month, the members of Buderim Rotary have reflected on how they have contributed to this particular ‘purpose’.
Our club has contributed considerably over the years towards assisting those communities where clean drinking water is problematic. In the wake of typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, the club arranged to send over Lifestraws valued at over $90,000. As part of the Fiji & Nauru project we sent Lifestraws worth approximately $50,000 over the years. A further $3,000 has been pledged to Rotary’s Benga water supply project in PNG to facilitate the delivery of WASH training to the entire population, upgrade of WASH facilities minimising water borne diseases, eliminating the need for women and children spending time to fetch water (this will allow children more time to obtain a basic education and women to allocate time to other practices), improve community health & improvement of the local economy with a sustainable water supply.
Many locals may have also seen us ‘rattling the tins’ in Buderim Village early last year in support of the major flooding down south.
The Rotary Club of Buderim will proudly continue to fulfill our ‘sense of purpose’ by enacting the Rotary ethos of ‘Service Above Self’ both in our local community, nationally & internationally.
If this sounds like something you’d like to be part of, go to our website, www.rotaryclubofbuderim.com to find out more.