GUEST SPEAKER – DG Eli Quartermaine

Introduction

 Eli spent his childhood in Katanning –  the Quartermaine family were farming pioneers.

However he left the bush and joined the Army - served in Malaysia and South Vietnam and had a stint in  Fort Lee (Texas). He finished his army service in 1984 as a Lt Colonel. After the army he has been a newsagent and GM of the RPYC.

He joined Rotary in 1997 and has been on numerous District committees. Eli is an Eagles supporter.
Eli is exceptionally well qualified to lead our District 9450.

Address

This years Rotary theme is “Rotary Shares”. Rotary does this in many ways with lots of people doing absolutely amazing things although too often many accomplishments by Rotary Clubs are getting very little if any acknowledgement.

The are many important Rotary programs:
• Club Service  - the powerhouse of Rotary and must be friendly and welcoming.
• Membership – we need to continue to maintain membership. Most current members will never introduce a new member. New membership recruitment activities are to be devised through Rotary District workshops. All club members are welcome to attend. Next workshops are on August 5th & 8th.
• Youth – Many great programs.   RYLA, RYPEN, NYSF, 4 Way test, Storm The Stage, Youth Exchange, GSE, Rotaract (2 new clubs last year and another 2 are planned), Interact (great for leadership and teamwork for high school students)

Leadership Crisis. There is a shortage of leaders at district level. A Leadership Planning Committee is to hold a District seminar on 18 November.

Rotary Foundation. DG Eli encourages participation by Clubs in applications for Matching Grants and other funding opportunities that the Foundation provides. His aim is to achieve the minimum of $100/member contribution to the rotary Foundation. There will be a District Foundation seminar on 2 September.

Rotary Cord Blood Bank. $4.5 m raised so far including $1m from Lottery West.  The project has a total budget in excess of $7m but Red Cross has now agreed that construction can commence of the building to house this facility. We now need to collect the “pledges” made to Rotary for this project. A further $1.7m is required to run the organization for the first 4 years.

DG Eli finished his address and took many questions from Club members.