Welcome to the Alexandra Headland Rotary Club

Are you an local community minded person who wants to make positive changes in your neighbourhood and the world? Our club members are dedicated people who share a passion for community service and friendship. Becoming a Rotarian connects you with a diverse group who share your drive to give back.

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Kombi People Choice and Kombi of Year 2021

Surf Show and Shine 2021 is over for another year

2021 Surf Show and Shine over for another year

So many good stories about this years Surf Show and Shine. A big thank you to our wonderful Kombis who took part in the Kombi Parade on Saturday night, where for an hour the Kombis paraded around Alex, Mooloolaba, Kawana, Maroochydore and Cotton Tree.

A special bonus was that this year the Sunset markets were on at Mooloolaba and the folks at the market were treated to an amazing display of Kombis past the markets. Here's Dean and Cricks Volkswagen van leading the parade through the Mooloolaba sunset markets..

Then on early Sunday the folks at East Coast Traffic services had the car park all ready to receive and show off the Kombis. Here's a little pug getting into the spirit of Surf Show and Shine

This was our 6th show the club has put on and in that time had a load of fun, and brought some smiles to the community and our amazing beneficieries who do so much for the Sunshine folks who are "doing it tough" all year round. We were delighted to see Bill and Melissa Close from Care Outreach who have been with the Show since the start. Here's a walk around video on the morning set up on Facebook for you..

We had some amazing trophies (courtesy of Shannon) for our People's choice and Kombi of the Year. Deano from Cricks and Ashley from the Alex SLSC did the honours..

Music was provided by Nana's Pie Band and Artis displays by Owen Cavanagh, Terry Cooper, Amanda Davidson, Deb Baker, Julie Chizzoni, Naomi Pettenuzzo, Owen Cavanagh, Suzanne Riley...some fantastic displays, as also from Ross Wilson Surfboards who has signed up to be a regular at future Surf Show and Shine events.

Big thanks to everyone who have helped out with the raffle prizes, musicians, artists, and event etc. etc. and a special BIG THANKYOU to East Coast Traffic who were amazing..BIG shout out to Ian aka "Smurfy" and his team who were there at the start and last to leave.

Your District Rotary News

Here's your district news...

Whale Watching

Sunday jaunt on Mooloolaba Bay

Yesterday on a beautiful Sunshine Coast morning the club members set off on Whale 1 to do some whale watching. A big thanks to Steve for organising the trip and the weather. All was fine until we left the river entrance when is became a wee bit bumpy. Nevertheless, we did manage to see a few whales, and we had a brilliant end to the trip. As we were heading back to shore after witnessing a few docile whales, we caught sight of an overactive juvenile doing a lot of tail slapping and breaching in front of the boat. This juvenile put on a bit of a show which Bryce Newton managed to catch on his camera below. Incredible photo's Bryce, thank you and well done.

and here's a few snaps of teh brave mariners and our amazing whale photographer....

Beautiful Shannon and landlubber Craig hanging on...

Chloe Silva - Alex SLSC Surf Woman of Year

Club donates $1,000 to Chloe Silva - Alex SLSC Surf Woman of Year

The club was very pleased to invite Chloe to com eto the Rotary meeting and talk to the club about her Surf Woman of the Year program. We were pleased to donate $1,000 towards the program, and hear from Chloe on her many Surf and Community activities. It is always great know that there are amazing young citizens on the Sunshine Coast and Chloe is surely a community leader of the future.

Several at the meeting were impressed with Chloe's surfing, educational studies and community work - and all with an amazing can do attitude and sunny personality.

President Wendy and Chloe.

What was the club doing in 2013?

Sue brings in some of the clubs history

In 2013 the club president was our very own Sue Quinn, ably assisted by secretary Carmel Hulett. On Friday Sue brought in a printed copy of the year in review. All 52 pages of it, one newsletter for every week. (Sue is very professional.) That year the club received the Rotary International Presidential Citation. Well done the club. What else was the club up to, turns out the usual Bunnings BBQ, trying to get a President Elect, (nothing new there) and doing some great work with the Coast Guard, November moustache fund-raising, some very fetching photo's of a young Alan Walter and Bob Thompson and lots of community support and guest speakers.

Club Bio

Alex Rotary wins "best small charity group" award

Alex Rotary has 28 friendly, community minded members and club friends aged from 28 to 83 who try and practice the Rotary motto of “Service above Self”.

Activities include.

Organising Winter Solstice Swim with Alex Surf Club attracting 200 open water swimmers raising around $12,000 for Salty Souls Legacy programme for disadvantaged kids. Previous beneficiaries include Young Vets, White Ribbon.
Organising the Surf Show and Shine surfboard and Kombi fun day attracting 4,000 to the coast raising funds for a 4WD and around $80,000 since beginning a few years ago. Beneficiaries include Sunshine Coast based Care Outreach for drought affected farmers, Nambour’s “The Shack”, Salty Souls Legacy and the “ The Board Meeting” Surf charity.
Promoting personal development of young community leaders through Rotary educational and international youth exchange programs. (Mark Jamieson and Fiona Simpson are past Rotary youth exchange students).
Developing and mentoring youth at other end of the social spectrum though the club’s “WorkLife program” and supporting local troubled kids programs such as Salty Souls Legacy.
Creating a $100,000 “Care Garden” for the IFYS safety house at Landsborough and smaller one at Maroochydore, Kids kindergarten makeover, and helped with “Casey’s backyard”.
Conducting “mock interviews” day at Maroochydore High School, preparing kids for that all important first job interview.
Supporting the Australian Golfing Fellowship of Rotarians annual golf tournament on the Sunshine Coast which raised $20,000 for Wishlist and brought Rotarians from all over Australia.
Working closely with IFYS on the “homeless” hub programme at the sportsman hub, helping clients with work preparation through the Alex Rotary WorkLife programme. The “WorkLife” program has been held in several local high schools and adopted by Rotary clubs in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, UK and at an Alaskan Rotary club.
Supporting community mental health awareness via the Rotary “Lift the Lid” program and annual walk at Mooloolaba Rotary Club’s event every October.
Collecting pre-loved mobile phones for people escaping from domestic violence
Supporting the Alex Headland Community organisation at their Annual “Christmas at Alex” Christmas Party in Buhk Park.
Supporting the Rotary and University of the Sunshine Coast scholarship programme providing financial support for students to continue their PhD studies.
Supplied used medical and educational equipment. and packing containers bound for Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Nauru.
Providing financial support for plastic surgery to cleft palette and disfigured children through ROMAC (Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children)
Supporting the Rescue helicopter service on the coast for 20 years, one of our members raising six figures in donations.

Helicopter rescue stories from Sunshine Coast Senior Citizen of the year

Dave - a man of many hats - on the history and importance of the Helicopter rescue service

Past senior citizen of the year on the Sunshine Coast David Woodrow spoke to the club on Friday about the Helicopter service history on the Sunshine Coast. This is a great example of a Rotary initiative taking root, and is now pretty much regarded as an essential service, albeit one that still requires community fundraising to exist.

What Dave didn't mention was that over the years Dave has personally raised several hundred thousand dollars for the rescue service as well as being a leading light in the Emergency Services. His reward - knowing that he has "made a difference" - and a set of caps showing each time the helicopter rescue had a main sponsor change.

Well done Dave, your a champion.

kids play area project

Local Rotarians have continued their fantastic work on the Rotary Care garden and over the past few weeks have been improving the IFYS child care facilities in Maroochydore. Some pictures below, and a big thank you from Vicky Meyer and her team for the smiles that we have been able to add o the mums and kids who now have a completely refurbished play area.

So well done everyone involved from Alex and Mooloolaba Rotary and really fantastic to hand over the facility just in time from Christmas.

"Fantastic work, what a difference. It was lovely to hear from Renee and Sheree, who coordinates the program, the reactions from the children to the cubby upgrades, can’t wait for them to see these latest enhancements!

Thank you so much for all your support."

Vicky Meyer

Executive Manager

Community Services IFYS

Alex WorkLife Program reaches Tasmania!

Renee puts in a plug for WorkLife for kids

Recently a certain scribe received this lovely text from an amazing woman in Tasmania who works with the youth in Hobart, mostly females who are struggling with accommodation and getting and keeping work. So our amazing Renee suggested that the WorkLife program may be something that they could use, and engage a local Rotary club to help.

We have clubs in NSW and Victoria who have taken up the program as part of their vocational planning, as well as interest after the RDU article from as far away as Alaska!

Here's Louise's text..

"Hi, I have recently been chatting with Renee from IYFS on the sunshine coast and she has talked about this amazing program. I am just wondering if there is any capacity to run this in our two youth shelters in Hobart? Its such a fantastic initiative! You can contact me on XXXXXXXX. Kind regards, Louise"

So your club secretary has followed up and been in touch with the District Governor in Hobart and we'll see what develops...and just a reminder that the links to the WorkLife resources are available HERE.

Our Programs and Causes

At Rotary we want to have fun while "making a difference" to our communities, locally and internationally.

However, we're a "can do" organisation..and if you have a cause or program that you want some help with, why not get in touch and we'll see what we can do?

The events that we run and support allow the club to raise money to support some of the many good causes in the community. All of Rotary donations and fund raising go to the community. All Rotarians are volunteers and give freely of their time. Club expenses are kept to a minimum, and the main Rotary Foundation is one of the top 5 Charities in the world in terms of its effectiveness, with the administration costs far, far, lower than many better known charities.

Surf Show and Shine - Celebrating the Coast while helping the outback. We always need volunteers to help run this annual community event.

SunnyCoast Solstice Swim - Supporting our Young Veterans and other Rotarian community causes. It's getting bigger every year.

Worklife Program - Rotarians are generally business people who are passionate about giving back. So its only natural that when they see businesses complain that the young are not "work ready", and they see overloaded school curriculums, and stressed out kids going into the workforce that they want to help. So Alex Rotary has been delivering and promoting a program to help first time workers transition to work, in a practical and positive way. Already we've been to high schools on the Sunshine Coast , Rotaract at USC and IFYS community worker work start programs.

Golf Day - Last year we hosted a charity golf day to raise funds for Sunshine Coast helicopter rescue - an initiative started by Rotary here on the Sunshine Coast.

Christmas at Alex - Every year we host a BBQ at Christmas at Alex, to raise funds for our local battlers at Christmas.

Christmas Hampers - Last year we gave 400 hampers to the Carers of Children to give a helping hand over Christmas

Mooloolaba Triathalon - we're delighted to help the organisers host this event that attracts thousands to the coast

Mooloolaba Ironman - For many years Rotarians have managed the gear tent for this great event

Clean Up Australia Day - every year we organise a BBQ for our volunteers who help clean up the coastline around beautiful Alexandra Headland

Alex Rotary - Trivia Quiz champions

Here's our group celebrating their win, with our exchange student Amy, who is basking in the reflected glory of the winners.

Alex Rotary are the current ROMAC trivia champions, having successfully won the trophy from hundreds (really) of Rotarians at a Fund Raising event hosted by Caloundra Rotary every year to raise funds for this fantastic medical charity.

This is the second year that we've won this highly regarded trophy. This year we had to win without three of last years brain boxes, Graeme, Doug and Dave W, but they were ably replaced by Verna, Professor Bob, and President Mike.

ROMAC is an organisation of Rotarians and supporters from the medical profession, who give freely of their time and expertise to help the Pacific Island community.

You've probably seen some of the examples of facial reconstruction, and limb correction that these great volunteers do. The recent separation of the Siamese twins is the type of extensive surgery that the Rotarians who make up the ROMAC team do around the area. Tony recently showed a ROMAC project where a young boy from the surrounding islands was able to stand on his own two feet for the first time after radical surgery to align his feet. Well done ROMAC, truly making a difference to people's lives.

We're delighted to support ROMAC and a big thank you to Bryan Mason and his helpers for organising an event, which this year raised $20,000 to support those volunteer medico's with the great work they do around our region.

Walk for mental health
Oct 31, 2021
RAWCS Event
Nov 14, 2021
Club AGM
Dec 03, 2021

If you can't make regular Rotary meetings but want to "make a difference" to the local and international communities why not think about joining our Satellite Club?

We get involved in Rotary / Community programs all over the Sunny Coast.

LEARN MORE

Volunteer

At

Rotary Events

We're always looking for volunteers to help with Community events that Rotary supports.

So if you are interested in any of the events below, or perhaps you want to let Rotary know of an event not listed, please contact the secretary of the main or satellite club. We'd love to hear from you.

Alex Rotary Secretary LINK

Satellite Club Secretary LINK

Go directly to event opportunities HERE

Monthly Meeting Roster

Chairperson

LUES, Sean

Rotary Minute

FREEMAN, Tony

Sergeant

MALLOY, John

Room set up

Newton, Stephen

Maitre'd

Unger, Joy

Meet and greet

Newton, Stephen

Club Links

Club Facebook Page

SunnyCoast Solstice swim

Surf Show and Shine Facebook

District Website

Rotary International

Our Satellite

Why don't ants get sick?

Because they have antibodies!

Good reads

Two things will change your life. "People you meet and books you read".

Here are some recommended reading by a certain scribe;

Rotary has spent millions eradicating Polio. Here is a novel about a gym teacher in USA in 1944 and a how a polio pandemic affects him. Brilliant bestselling novel. Nemesis by Phillip Roth

Henry Kissinger once said that there is a "thin veneer of civilisation"...was he right?. Read "Human Kind" by Rutger Bregman. It will surprise you.

What makes us who we are? Read the stories in New York Times bestseller "The road to character" by Richard Brookes. You might recognise yourself.

Rotary is run by volunteers and Rotary is always in the top 5 most effective charities in the world.

You can be sure that your dollars go to where they are needed.

Want to develop and give better talks? Its all HERE

Club Honorary Members

Fiona Simpson MP for Maroochydore

Fiona is our hardworking local Member for Maroochydore who has a track record of delivering for the Sunshine Coast region and a reputation for passionately advocating for her local community. After the 2017 State Election, Fiona was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Employment and Small Business, Training and Skills Development in the Deb Frecklington and Tim Mander LNP Team.

Fiona grew up on the Sunshine Coast and went to local schools. She understands the pressures faced by local families and business owners and wants people to have the same opportunity to live, work and raise their families here while cherishing our region’s natural beauty.

Fiona has a long history with Rotary, as a Youth Exchange Student, and always being a great supporter of her electorate's Rotary Clubs and other voluntary organisations.

Ashley Robinson OAM, is our most recent Honorary member, and has been involved in numerous community support activities, locally, regionally and internationally. The Alex Rotary Club meets at the Alex Surf Club where Ashley is the General Manager and oversees the many Surf Club activities that add to the health and well being of our Sunshine Coast community.

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Our Meeting Details

We meet In Person

Fridays at 6:45 AM

Alex Surf Life Saving Club

Alex Beach
Alexandra Headland , QLD 4557
Australia

Enter from the beach side, next to Coffee kiosk. Magnificent morning views of sun rising over the pacific* (Technically its the earth rotating and falling. Ed)

District Site

Bulletins

Venue Map