Tuesday 27 November 2018

On Friday night I had the privilege of representing the Wanaka Rotary club at MAC prize giving. Every year we give a scholarship valued at $3000 to a deserving student. This is paid out at $1000 a year over 3 years. This year’s recipient was Simone Johnson. She also received a number of other awards for her involvement in the school and community and is a worthy recipient. I will leave her to tell a little more about herself when she attends a meeting sometime in the future. Thank you to those on the committee for your work interviewing the students and making the final choice.

On Thursday night along with a number of Rotarians I went along to the Old Geezers evening at the Warbirds and Wheels museum to serve drinks and the meal. A great night which raises money for the Upper Clutha Children’s Medical Trust. Thank you to the Rotarians who helped out.

On Saturday a number of Rotarians went out to Rotary Park and did a tidy up. I had planned to go but got called into drive at the last minute. It was good to see them all hard at work while I was there with a group of Taiwanese tourists.

We had a great night last Tuesday, firstly giving away a Paul Harris award to Peter Barrow. We also had Janice Hughes update us on Aspiring Rotary. We then went down to Land Sars and they told us a little about what they do and how they operate. They are a great group of volunteers who put their lives at risk at times in unpleasant weather conditions and in dangerous situations.

Over the past few months we have had difficulty getting the numbers correct for the Golf Club for catering. While there have been some problems with the new system there have been a number who have just plain forgot or have put in there apology to late. The directors will be discussing this at a directors meeting on the 4th December as to what we do going forward. We may have to start billing people who forget to apologise because the golf club are not happy with the present situation. They have also asked that we let them know the numbers much earlier. If you have any comments to make concerning this situation please contact me

Maddi Frazer is the daughter of Rotarian, Jarrod Frazer. She has been volunteering in the Upper Clutha since the age of 6 and is well

known to the members of the Wanaka Rotary club as she has helped us at lots of times at different events over several years.

Maddi was recently awarded the Supreme Winner’ at the Upper Clutha Kahu Youth Volunteer awards.

These awards are given out each year based on nominations for youth aged up to 18 years old, recognising

their contribution to the area. This is the fourth time Maddi has been the supreme winner since its inception in 2013.

The category and supreme winners are picked by other youth in the community who are on the Kahu Youth committee. All Nominee’s

have the name and gender deleted so the youth panel do not know who they are awarding each prize to and is overseen by Richard at Kahu Youth..

Maddi is now a Corporal at the Wanaka St John Youth division and  also teaches the younger

cadets at St. John’s each Tuesday night to help gain her Sergeant stripes.

Maddi has recently has completed her bronze Duke of Edinburgh where she baked for the food-bank drive at least once a week for her

service component. She has completed over 740 hours of voluntary service around the community helping at various community,

St John, Rotary and school events. Maddi's goal is now to try to reach 800 hours of service before the end of the year.

She is well on her way with a lot of events booked in over the next couple of months. Her dedication to volunteering locally amazes me as

she enjoys it so much, never asking for recognition.