The Centurion Club is a vehicle for Rotarians to make a personal donation to the Rotary Foundation.

A Rotarian or anyone really, donates $100 aud to the Foundation, and so becomes a Centurion.

In the case of Wollundry members, we already donate $50 via our subs. So for us to become a Centurion we only need to add another $50.

You can do this by paying it to treasurer David, or by going on line and doing it that way. So far there are several Centurions in our club, and I would really like to see that grow to 100% of members.

 It's really just an extra $1 per week for us, but the work it can do is enormous.

Kurrajong Waratah operates a very large and sophisticated recycling centre in the heart of the city. Very ably managed by Tim Magillicuddy, the centre employs some 65 persons with disabilities and 35 able bodied people.

Kurrajong receives upwards of six trucks per day from Wagga Wagga and three from out of town on average, and each truck holds 500 “wheelie” recycle bins!

At the present moment they can process 8 tonnes per hour and this is going to increase to 10 tonnes with the acquisition of  some new equipment.

At the moment they ship around 1000 tonnes of recycled material each month.

The club was split into two large groups and we were taken on a tour of the facility. Firstly we saw the electronic, electrical reclaiming shed. Here old computers, TVs, printers and other household goods are stripped and the plastics, the wiring and the metal are all reclaimed. Electronic parts are also rescued. Some 30 tonnes per month of are sold from this section alone, and they are pleased to say that they can use 98% of the items. Only 2% becomes rubbish.

The glass processing plant was also interesting in that they now can handle 100% of all the glass they receive. The glass is ground to aggregate size and is used extensively in road base and other high impact areas.

Plastics are collected and sent to be re-manufactured by pipe makes and other sources. WASH YOUR OLD MILK CARTONS before you send them in. They get pretty high sitting in the sun.

Paper of course is a big item and we saw bales of paper ready to be loaded and sold to remanufactures to be made into cartons, and sometimes speciality papers. This is a huge part of the business.

Once again our meal was a highly prized barbecue , cooked he way we like it by Michael Knight and his crew, Mal Roberson, Wal Paton and Craig Bromley. Sandra Legg and Michael supplied a great potato bake and salads.

John and Maria Egan hosted a breakfast for the Meal Deal, with John and Sandi Hawkins, Jonty and Louise Shuter, and Graeme Burmeister.

A very pleasant morning at Uneke.

As John and Maria are in the throes of moving with boxes and bags everywhere, a popular restaurant was the ideal choice.

The Meal Deal is a great way to get to know your fellow members just that little bit more, and to meet the "significant others" as well and get to enjoy some real friendship. If you haven't signed up, see Paul Murray who will arrange to have you included.

This year we have a wonderful line up of Guest Speakers, and two are both Past World Presidents.

Firstly we have PRID Bill Boyd who is a relaxed easy to listen to speaker with a great message. He is famous for his relaxed approach. 

As well we have PRID Kaylan Banerjee from India who has a unique approach to Peace and what it can mean to individuals and countries.

Just these two will be worth the entry fee.

But that is not the full line up by any means. We have Fran Raymond,of the Australian Reinsurance Pool, Steve Killelea, from the Institute for Economics and Peace, Gary Brown, marketer for confectionary, food and beverages, and Sarah Yahya who was 2105 Young Citizen of the Year.

 

As President Geoff said, this will be the easiest for Wollundry to attend, and it is a great experience. Put it in your Diary. April 22 to 24.Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre.

Category-5 Tropical Cyclone Winston, the strongest storm ever recorded to make landfall on the Southern Hemisphere, hit Fiji on Saturday, Feb. 20, killing at least 42 people and leaving thousands homeless. Fiji is a popular tourist destination, has a population of about 900,000 people and includes more than 320 islands, volcanic outcrops and coral atolls. Many are inhabited, but inaccessible and very vulnerable to high tides.



UNOCHA has provided the following statistics:

•    The Fiji Government estimates almost 350,000 people living in the cyclone’s path            could have been affected – 180,000 men and 170 000 women. 

•    41 people have been confirmed dead. 

•    131 people are injured.

•    Aid has begun arriving in cyclone affected communities, especially the hard hit outer        islands and Rakiraki in the West. 

•    Almost 50,000 people are currently sheltering in nearly 800 evacuation centres.

•    Damage to agriculture is estimated to be US$61 million with 100 per cent of crops destroyed in the worst affected areas.

•    At least 117 schools have been damaged

•    A 30 day State of Natural Disaster has been declared. 



A ShelterBox Response Team has already deployed aid for a medical centre on the island of Makogai and has called in pre-postioned stock from Aukland and Melbourne. The team is coordinating with the Fijian Government, who are leading the emergency response. Shelterbox is also working with Rotary and Sea Mercy, a charity that provides volunteer fleets of vessels and yachts that are already stationed in the South Pacific. Sea Mercy is ready to facilitate needs assessments and deliver much-needed emergency aid to the affected islands.

The specific aid that ShelterBox supplies is likely to be some of the most needed items in this type of emergency. Winds of the magnitude (300 km/hour) experienced in Cyclone Winston will tear apart homes, strip edible coconuts and fruit from trees, uproot any crops, and contaminate drinking supply with ocean water. What the wind did not destroy, the storm surge of waves being pushed inland will carry everything back out to sea once the storm has passed. This leaves those living on the remote islands without shelter, food, safe drinking water and even the tools and materials to rebuild their shattered lives.  The ShelterBox Response team has already requested luminAID solar lights and additional water purification units because the ground water is contaminated and water collection devices have been destroyed.

 

Our AustralianDistricts have combined to evaluate ongoing aide that we might give, and DG Gary will be in touch shortly with requests. In the meantime, donations to ShelterBox will go a long way to help.

Visitors Today:  Brent Pickard, Joy McGregor, Sandra Legg, Chris Fox, Kat

Makeups: None today.

Apologies : Tim Barter, Geoff Breust, Graham Burmeister, Ken Cook, Peter Crozier, Travis Downie, John Ferguson, Gerry Gerlach, Jim Gibson, John Gray, David Hodge, Andrew Irvine,

John Mason, Phil McIntosh, Paul Murray, Richard Rossiter, Jonty Shuter, Bob Willis, David Wishart, Nick Leywood

Mark Hillis thanked those who were able to attend the Ball for "Help Cambodia." It was a great night, the food was good, the music great, the wine was fine....

And they raised over $30000!! Enough to build a school, which is amazing. This effort deserves our full support.

 

Frank Fuller had a good team supporting the Science Challenge.

This event sets teams of young minds scientific challenges, which can lead to a trip to the finals. A really good day which you are urged to attend if you can in the future. It's a very interesting event.

The team were Paul Milde, John Flynn, Peter Green, Travis Downey and Ric Priest.

 

Wagga Wagga has a new Rotaract club. It was formed at a meeting at the Vic last Friday, and thanks to Geoff Breust, Kat and Paul Milde who attended and facilitated that on our behalf.

 

Northcott began life as the Crippled Children's Society with the Rotary Club of Sydney, and does great work here in Wagga offering respite and accommodation for young people.

 

Thanks to all those members that were able to attend the Cambodia Ball.

All reported it was a great night .

Heard Kat mention yesterday that she enjoyed the night and got all "Frocked up". Well done Kat.

 

Thanks to Tim Macgillycuddy and his team at Kurrajong Waratah Recycle Center for an interesting visit . Can't believe I couldn't find a left thong size 9 . Keep your eyes out please Tim.