Local Rotarians Help Australian Flood Victims

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Members of the Rotary Club of Steamboat Springs and the Ski Town Rotary Club have joined fellow Rotarians in Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho and Nebraska in the past several days to support the flood relief efforts of Rotary clubs in Australia’s Queensland area.

“We have been following the news with great concern, “Rotary Club of Steamboat Springs President Jane Denning said.   “We’ve had close ties with the Australians for a number of years and hosted a group of young professionals from New South Wales in our district last May,” he said.

To date, the combined efforts of Steamboat’s two Rotary Clubs have raised $1,000 for their international funds and another $1,350 in direct contributions with additional fund raising to come in support of the Australian flood relief efforts.

The Steamboat Springs clubs are 2 of 52 in the four-state area that comprises the Rotary district led by District Governor Bryan Cooke of Greeley, Colorado.  Cooke contacted some of his counterparts in the hardest hit areas along the coast of eastern Australia earlier this week and learned that the Australians had organized their local Rotary clubs to provide food and supplies for volunteers and formed teams of Rotarians to help residents clean up after flooding.

Cooke kicked off the campaign on January 20^th with $10,000 from Rotary district funds earmarked for community service grants.  “We’ve gotten more involved in first-response disaster relief in the past year or so,” Cooke said.   Last January Rotarians in the district raised more that $165,000 to purchase “shelter boxes” that were distributed immediately following the earthquake in Haiti. Members of the two Rotary Club’s in Steamboat contributed $8,100 to the effort.

.Rotary District Governor Anne Brand in southeast Queensland around the Brisbane area created a special Rotary Flood Disaster Appeal, giving Rotarians a mechanism to provide immediate financial assistance according to Jane Denning, President of the Rotary Club of Steamboat Springs.

Rotary past district governor Errol Wildman is coordinating the relief efforts from Brisbane.  “Substantial offers of assistance are pouring in from all areas of Australia and from around the world,” he said.  “Rotary clubs and Rotary districts, individuals and corporations are eager to help flood victims, through the network of our 48 Rotary Clubs in this area. It is truly a humbling experience being a member of this trusted community-based organization in times such as this,” Wildman said.

There are more than 1.2 million Rotarians in 33,000 clubs in some 200 countries and geographic regions around the world.  They have raised nearly $1 Billion since 1985 to eradicate polio, provided scholarships to thousands of high school, college and graduate students, and devoted time, energy and funding for  community service projects both locally and internationally,  Last year alone more than $185 million in grants for humanitarian causes were distributed worldwide for Rotary-sponsored projects.  .

The floods in Australia have covered a geographic area as large as France and Germany combined.  Hundreds are dead and missing, and more than 30,000 homes and businesses in Queensland alone have been swamped.  And the worst may not be over.   Queensland premier Anne Bligh said weather forecasters have predicted more extreme weather in the coming months.  Restoration estimates have reached $5 billion and continue to climb as some communities have been flooded two or three times in recent weeks.

The objective of the Rotary Flood Appeal in southern Queensland is to be the conduit to best match local requirements with the wide-ranging resources available through Rotary Clubs and the community, according to Scott Stanford, President of the Ski Town Rotary Club   “Our contributions will be dispersed through Rotary clubs in Queensland that are on the ground and in tune with local communities devastated by the floods,” he said.

Tax deductible contributions can be made to the Casper Rotary Foundation.  Checks, written to the Casper Rotary Foundation,  can mailed to Joni Kumor, Rotary District 5440 Treasurer, 135 N. Ash, Casper, WY  82601.  For more information on local relief efforts, please contact Public Relations Chair Randy Rudasics at 970-819-2016.