Productive year for Rotary as projects near completion

The Rotary Club of Thames is looking towards another “exciting” year as its membership continues to grow and projects near completion.
President Jacquie Mitchell told The Profile that within the past year, seven new members had signed on to volunteer their services.
“We’re really pleased about that,” she said. “Many of them are people who moved into the area and who joined from a social perspective to start off with, before getting involved with our projects.”
Last year, the club provided grants to organisations that were affected by the severe weather events. Some of the projects, Jacquie said, were now completed.
“We got the funding from higher up in Rotary, both from New Zealand and Australia, and they wanted to know what we would make contributions to within the community.
“Thames Museum was in quite dire straits, especially when the [Kōpū-Hikuai] bridge was closed, because there were no visitors coming through. The Thames Bridge Club, during much of the rainy weather, had a leak in the roof which poured into the building and rotted a whole lot of things.”
So, a grant was given to both Thames Museum and Thames Bridge Club to help “prop them up” during the difficult time, Jacquie said.
Members of the club have also been out, rain or shine, to build and transplant a number of shelters along the Hauraki Rail Trail. Working with the Thames MenzShed, as well as the neighbouring district councils, the project – which celebrates the international club’s 100 years – was well under way, Jacquie said.
“There’s 16 of them planned for the area and we’re just over halfway,” she said. “Most weeks, there will be several Rotarians who go rain or shine down to where we are erecting the shelters and painting them and setting them up so that they’re ready to go.”
Hauraki Rail Trail Charitable Trust chief executive Diane Drummond said the shelters were a “wonderful project” and were “popping up like mushrooms” across the Waikato.
“As of today we have 10 of the 16 shelters installed. This project has been a fantastic collaboration with the Area 4 Rotary Groups of Thames, Paeroa, Te Aroha, Matamata and Morrinsville, and is one of their centennial projects, celebrating 100 years of Rotary in New Zealand,” she said. “The shelters are being built offsite near Te Aroha West then taken to the installation sites by hi-ab.”
While many clubs throughout the country were facing declines, Jacquie said Rotary Thames remained a “small but active club” in which its volunteers were vital to ensure its longevity.
There were about 18 people involved and more were always welcome, she said.
“It’s very good to be active within the community and feel that we have the community’s support.”
DETAILS: To follow along with Thames Rotary or to get involved, find them on Facebook under ‘Rotary Club of Thames’.