Otaki Rotary - a diverse range of activities and strong supporters of The Rotary Foundation

President John Peters, Donna and others with Dictionaries for five schools. 

Denise, Assistant Governor Chris Garrett and I enjoyed meeting with Otaki Rotary last night and hearing about the wide range of activities they are involved in.

Otaki Rotarians are gearing up to cater for over 500 people who will be completing the Big Bang Adventure Race on Saturday 5 November.  After 5 to 7 hours of everything from mountain biking, hiking, and team building, participants will be met with a barbeque and salads provided by Otaki Rotarians to end their day.  

This is one of Otaki Rotary's big fund raisers, but the biggest is the summer trailer raffle.  When I've passed through Otaki several times in recent days I was pleased to see Interactors out with Rotarians selling raffle tickets, which allows Interact to fund some of their activities.  An Interact Club was set up at Otaki College last year and Otaki Rotarians act as mentors. 

President John Peters and DG Martin

Otaki Rotarians use their funds to meet local and overseas needs, such as for their youth by donating Duffy books and dictionaries to schools and supporting young people to RYLA, to name but a few. They provided a ShelterBox for Fiji in the aftermath of Cyclone Winston.  They are providing five lizard cages to the Foxton estuary wildlife area all marked with the Rotary logo.  They are also aiming to provide defibrillators throughout Otaki.  It's amazing how diverse our Clubs' activities are.

The Rotary Foundation finds strong support in Otaki.  Every member in the Club has signed up to be a Centurion Club member, to each donate a minimum of NZ$100 a year.  In November, with Levin and Waikanae Rotary Clubs, they are preparing to participate in the World's Greatest Meal to raise funds to end polio.

Next year they are planning a Rotary Foundation Big Centenary Meal celebration marking 100 years of The Rotary Foundation.