It was a great privilege to have Angie Bell as a guest speaker at the club last week. That makes it four years in a row now. Next time she comes along she will have to bring her saxophone and show us her talents (I have heard her play and her playing is exceptional).
This week is a busy week with the Rotary Friendship Exchange (RFE) team from Pennsylvania visiting. Special thanks to Mario Fairlie and Paul Seymour for arranging certain events for them. This Wednesday, instead of a social meeting, we'll have a regular meeting upstairs. We will welcome the RFE team, together with members of the Rotary Club of Mermaid Beach, who are co-hosting with us.
Great to hear Ian Mayberry’s story about the young lad who had his bicycle stolen from school and how the men from the shed did up a bike from the shed and presented it to him.
Thought for the Week: A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there: Gina Milicia
This coming Wednesday 13th March 2024, our club will host the Rotary Friendship Exchange Team from Pennsylvania. We will be joined by members of the Rotary Club of Mermaid Beach, who are joint hosts of our visitors. (The team actually arrives on the Gold Coast on Monday 11th March, and will leave on Friday morning). There is plenty of opportunity to meet and greet our visitors - see Paul Seymour for more details.
Here is an opportunity to meet some interesting people! Join us at the Surfers Paradise Surf Life Saving Club, from 07:00 am. The "formal" part of the meeting starts at the usual time, 07:30 am and concludes at 08:30. The team will then proceed to our wheelchair shed (approx 1 hour), then drive up to Mt Tamborine. Depending on the weather, we'll visit to the National Park and/or the Tamborine Mountain Regional Botanic Gardens. All members and friends are welcome to join.
There are various other events relating to the RFE team - please refer to the Events Section for more details. Some events are restricted; please see Paul Seymour to book.
“I am a product of Rotary” Angie stated, opening her talk. Why? In her teenage years, she was selected to participate in the Rotary Youth Exchange program, and sent off to Denmark for 12 months. In her considered opinion, this had a profound impact on her future life and career. Today, she is the Shadow Minister for Youth, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, and co-chairs delegations to foreign countries, including Malaysia and Taiwan. She recently was part of an international delegation to Indonesia to supervise their national elections. Imagine: a country of almost 205 Million voters, 800,000 polling booths, and the total time when people can vote is… just 6 hours!
Naturally, as a member of the Liberal Party, Angie touched on her party's policies, including the distinct difference of wanting to open the conversation to consider nuclear energy (note: energy, not weapons) to provide stable and secure electricity for our households and for industry. On the local scene, Angie formed the ‘Moncrief Community Cabinet’ and the ‘Gold Coast Youth Cabinet’. Both are designed for a simple and straight purpose: to hear the views of representatives, “real” representatives, of her community. Last March, she organised ‘Impact Gold Coast’, a Youth Summit, which brought together 200 young people, representing various demographics from across the Gold Coast.
For our club, Angie was instrumental in helping us to obtain several grants; the most recent one was to enable the purchase of a new electric forklift for our project shed. Thank you, Angie, for the work you do for our community and the nation at large.
(Photo: Angie Bell MP with the meeting chairman, Adrian Crowe. PS: When somebody quipped "are you dressed up for a job interview?" her answer was that "in my job, every day is a job interview!" ☺)
In view of our Rotary Friendship Exchange Team from Pennsylvania arriving at Surfers Sunrise this week, it would be opportune to mention that the Rotary International President Elect for 2024-25, Stephanie Urchick, is a member of the Rotary Club of McMurray, Pennsylvania. She has chosen her presidential theme to be 'The Magic of Rotary' (see logo on right). Stephanie, who will be the second female RI President (after Jennifer Jones, 2022-23), is a partner and chief operating officer of Doctors at Work LLC, a consulting and training company. She holds a doctorate in leadership studies from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She is active on numerous community boards and committees. In Rotary, she has served in many roles, including as a director, Foundation trustee, and chair of the RI Strategic Planning Committee and the Foundation’s Centennial Celebration Committee.
Duty Roster - note: subject to change - please check every week. Note: Fellowship duty also is expected to be at the Project Shed on the Saturday following the meeting
My favorite childhood memory is my parents paying for my holidays
It is good to have an end to journey toward., but it is the journey that matters, in the end. Ursula LeGuin, 'The Left Hand of Darkness'
"I'm sorry, Captain, but we have a bad problem with an obstinate passenger in business class""Oh, bummer. Do you know how many Twitter followers he has??
“I am a product of Rotary” Angie stated, opening her talk. Why? In her teenage years, she was selected to participate in the 
Stephanie Urchick, is a member of the 
