Throughout the Labour Day long weekend Rotary District 9550 welcomed fellow Rotarians from North Queensland and the Northern Territory to the annual four-day conference held at the PCYC under the banner of ‘building communities, bridging continents’.
After a welcome reception held aboard Seaflight on Friday evening, the event was officially opened on Saturday by Minister for Tourism, Manufacturing and Small Business Jan Jarratt, who said in ten years as Member for Whitsunday she had been “genuinely honored by the commitment of Rotary to this community.”
Ms Jarratt said Rotary’s philosophy was “the embodiment of the mantra - think global, act local” and it was for this reason the “role of Rotary is still so relevant.”
Nonetheless Rotary International President representative Stuart Heal stressed the importance to the organisation of adapting to changing trends of communication or risk becoming irrelevant to a younger audience.
In attendance this weekend were many younger faces, notably 22 international members of the Rotary Youth exchange program, including Proserpine’s Marie Kallenberg (from Germany), who opened the conference with a parade of flags.
The young ambassadors, emboldened with badges and smiles, carried their nation’s flags representing the Rotary ethos of building communities and bridging continents.
Chair of the Youth Exchange Program for District 9550, Sandy McEachan, is calling for students interested in exchange or families keen to participate in hosting to apply for 2012.
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