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Working Bee at Stepping Stone House on 14th June 08

Six Rotaractors braved the frosty early morning to help out at Stepping Stone House on Saturday 14th June. Stepping Stone House is a shelter for teenagers who have not got another place to go to where they can feel safe and learn how to make positive choices and take control of their lives. The volunteers painted rooms, mowed lawns, weeded gardens, pruned trees and even chased some pigeons out of the roof. A fabulous spread of sandwiches were enjoyed over lunch with the teenagers and more work was done during the afternoon. A big thank you to Max, Finn and Marissa for allowing us to meet the teenagers and enjoy such a fabulous day!

Primo Italiano street festival on 25th May 2008
A group of Rotaractors met up for the Primo Italiano Street Festival on Stanley Street in Darlinghurst on the 25th May 2008. The group enjoyed some delicious Italian food, cultural activities, fellowship and quite a few beverages!

RYPEN on 2-4th May 2008
This year five members of Sydney City Rotaract volunteered as Mentors leading the kids (aged 14-16 years) during the 3 day Rotary Enrichment Program at Deer Park in the Sutherland National Park. Some inspiring young people came and spoke to the kids including Maz Crompton and Susie Maroney. The Mentors also led the kids in activities such as Boot Camp, presentation skills, money matters, wheelchair basketball, blind cricket, interview skills and even danced up a storm at the disco.

Charity Cruise on 3rd May 2008
Three Rotaract Clubs came together to organise an enormous Charity Cruise around Sydney Harbour on Saturday 3rd May 2008. Over 200 people turned out for this fantastic Charity event enjoying the sights of Sydney up close, pizza, drinks and lots of crazy dancing. Funds raised were split between the three participating clubs and forwarded to the selected Clubs own charities.

ANZAC Day BBQ on 25th April 2008
Volunteers from Sydney City Rotaract teamed up with Sydney Rotary Club in Hyde Park to serve sausage sandwiches to the crowds who attended the ANZAC Day March in the city. Once all the sausages were sold the volunteers headed to the pub for a well deserved drink and games of two-up.

International BBQ on 19th April 2008
The International BBQ on the 19th April at Pyrmont Point Park was a success. We had a good turn out of about 40 people. The day started off with great sun shine, good food and mostly everyone had a great time. We had to split the "Iron Chef Cooking Competition" into 2 groups, "The Fat Kangaroo Satay", the all boys group and " The Cheeky Girl Chef", which was the all girls group. The ingredient for the day was "beef". The groups were asked to come up with their own creativity to cook the beef. After about an hour of intense preparation and cooking, "The Fat Kangaroo Satay" won the competition. Who says boys can't cook?

Splash For Cash on 30th March 2008
Three members and friends of Sydney City Rotaract braved the Sydney Olympic Pool for the Annual Splash for Cash to raise money for the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children. Andrew Charlier and Natascha Arens swam just over 2kms and Joanne Wood swam just over 4kms for the Sydney City Rotaract Team. A fun morning was had by all.

Professional Development Workshop on 23rd February 2008
Ben Pask, the Professional Director from the Rotaract Club of Sydney City organised an informative and integrated half day of seminars on professional development issues for young professionals at the University of Technology Sydney. The interactive Rotaractor led sessions included activities on presentation and public speaking skills, how to manage work life balance and leadership workshops.

RYLA 2008 on 12-19th January 2008
Please congratulate the five Rotaractors who were selected and attended RYLA for 2008. They had a fantastic, exciting and exhausting week of self-learning, leadership and friendship.

Sydney City Rotaract at the NSW Art Gallery on 28th November 2007
The Sydney City Rotaract club met at the NSW Art Gallery to pilot their cultural meeting concept - where members receive personal enrichment through experiencing various arts and culture activities.

Stuart Purves (Director of Australian Galleries) gave an insightful lecture on Nolan and his contemporaries which gave depth and realism to the Art Industry in Australia and the complex character represented by Nolan. With the key notion that Nolan was good at being tough - there were various vivid anecdotes explaining how Nolan produced and sold his art - as well as how he interacted with his peers at the time.

There were some original Nolan paintings on gumleaves distributed during the talk which added physical context to the stories. After the enriching and transporting experience, the group retired to Bar 333 for dinner and drinks.

Barefoot Bowling on 1st December 2007
The Sydney City Rotaract Christmas Party was held on the 1st of December. A few members and guests descended on the Camperdown bowls club, the shoes came off, and a fierce competition ensued. One team streaked to a rather substantial initial lead, but the second team slowly clawed their way back to a respectable gap. Thank you to all that attended.

Sydney Christmas Parade on 25th November 2007
The first ever Christmas parade in Sydney on Sunday 25th November 2007. There was a Rotary float organised by Barney Khoo, PP, DGE of RC of Sydney CBD, other Sydney Rotary club’s and of course us - Sydney City Rotaract and other rotaract clubs in the district. It was a beautiful day, lots of people crowded the streets from Wynyard to Darling Harbour. The Rotary bus was decorated with Christmas trimmings and international flags. Along the bus there were marchers including youth exchange students, Rotaractors and Ambassdorial Scholars. We were giving out teddy bears to the crowds and along the parade were the bucket collectors collecting money for the Australian Rotary Health Foundation. The parade was filmed by Fox 8. The parade ended at Liverpool St and the entertainment continued in Tumablong Park in Darling Harbour where Rotary provided a BBQ. As the president of Sydney City Rotaract club we would like to thank all the Rotaractors, including our own, CJR and UOW for their help on the day.

The ScholarShip Cruise sails into Sydney on 18th November 2007
The ScholarShip Cruise sailed into Sydney on Sunday 18th November 2007. It was docked on wharf 3 near Darling Harbour and was here for a week. All three district Rotaract clubs turned up to welcome them all to Sydney. We were invited by the port co-ordinator Ashely Desier to have BBQ with the students, followed by a tour of the ship. DDR Steve was presented with a token from the scholarship as part of their inaugural journey. We all adjourned to the pub for more drinks and some sightseeing of Sydney around the Rocks and Circular Quay.

Pot luck dinner on 17th November 2007
In an attempt to take advantage of the diverse cultures in our Rotaract club, an international pot luck dinner was held on the 17th of November at Danielle’s hours at Bondi. Everyone was to bring a plate of food from their home country to share. We had a great array of food, from Japanese Sushi to Kiwi Pavlova to Mum’s special Macaroni!

Sydney Cove Rotary Regatta on 16th November 2007
Bright skies and happy faces started off the Sydney Cove Rotary Regatta for 2007. This was the 13th year for the charity event hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) at Rushcutters Bay, having raised funds over $2.1 million for various causes. The way the event works is that yacht owners, who usually end up being the skipper, donate a yacht for the event. In turn, sponsors including companies like Checkpoint, Qantas, and Jones Lang LaSalle pay to bring along guests onto the yachts for the regatta. Joining Rotary in the activities for the day, we had Belinda, Elaine, Philana, and Narina starting early on the stuffing-envelope activities. Much to our disappointment, the previous years' tasks of loading heavy goods onto the yachts was done by Rotarians and Rotary Student Exchange participants. In saying this, we found out that stuffing envelopes was quite difficult. We had to ensure both skippers and sponsors received adequate information for the route of the regatta, as well as any supplies they would need for the day. At the end of all the hard work and a tasty bite to eat, all four Rotaract helpers were very lucky to managed to get on the same yacht, the lovely Pantomime, with skipper owner Michael and his sole crew member Leon!!

Movember - Month of November 2007
The month formally known as November saw men from across Australia and the globe grow unruly looking facial hair in the support of charity. In addition to growing facial hair, participants raise money and awareness for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and Beyond Blue – the national depression initiative.

This year saw several of our clubs strapping young lads in Ben Pask, Dan Guyer, and Jeremy Crumblin all participated with great enthusiasm. In support of this great cause, the club agreed to donate the proceedings from the Fun Fines session held during our meeting on the 14th of Movember to this worthy cause.

Luna Park on 28th September 2007
10 members of the Sydney City Rotaract Club took on Friday night Lunacy at Luna Park on the 28th of September. First ride of the night was the Rotor, it was decided later this was probably not the wisest choice for everyone’s stomachs! The bumper cars were a great opportunity to show that competitive spirit, as was the Joy Wheel in Coney Island. Along with the Ferris wheel, the Ranger, tumblebug, tango train and flying saucer this made for a fun night, thoroughly enjoyed by all!

The Great Rotary-Rotaract Debate 2007 on 13 March 07
Sydney City Rotaract’s annual Rotary-Rotaract Debate was bigger and better than ever this year, after being able to organise NSW Parliament House’s Legislative Assembly to hold the debate. The Rotary-Rotaract debate, between Sydney City Rotaract and our four sponsor Rotary Clubs, R.C. of Sydney, R.C. of Sydney Cove, R.C. of Sydney CBD and R.C. of Sydney Darling Harbour, is an annual event which is held around International Rotaract day each year.
We had a great turn out of one hundred and fifty members and guests from Rotary and Rotaract attend the debate helping to fill the Legislative Assembly. The night began with a tour of Parliament house by Dr Moyes, followed by some cocktails in the library; we then finished the night with ‘The Great Debate.’ Both Rotary and Rotaract teams competed well, debating the topic “A little Knowledge is a dangerous Thing” There were funny antidotes from the Rotarians, arguing such things as, it is dangerous to perform a tracheotomy using the instructions in a survival handbook, and serious ones about the little knowledge that was used to promote the reasoning behind the Iraq war. The Rotaract team argued that it is not the amount of knowledge that is dangerous, but the way that you choose to use that knowledge which is the danger.
Congratulations to both teams in the debate – Rotaract – Daniel Guyder, Jeremy Crumblin and Narina Amvazas and Rotary – Deborah Homewood, Stan Moore, and Paul Bennett, both teams competed well and were well supported by both sides of the house. I would like to thank everyone who came and participated in what was a night to remember and one for the history books of Sydney City Rotaract.
In the end Rotary won, so I had to, reluctantly, hand over the trophy to District Governor Elect Kevin Fenwick to present to the Rotary team. One good thing can be said about Rotary winning the debate and that is that they need to organise next year’s.
Naomi Kennedy, President, Sydney City Rotaract 06-07

Bocce Community Fundraiser on 28 October 06
Thanks to everyone who attended our Bocce Fundraising Day last Saturday. I hope you had loads of fun - I certainly did! In total we raised just over $4,000 for Positive Kids Camp Goodtime- which is an amazing achievement.
Thank you to all our sponsors, donators, raffle ticket purchasers and players. Please know that every little generous donation counted. A special shout out goes to "Team Dan" (Dan, Daniel, Winsa and Josh) who won the Bocce Trophy.
Special Thanks to all my committee members (Narina, Dan, Shehan, Danielle, Juergen, Winsa) and to all those who helped out on the day - Naomi, Belinda, Lisset, (and all the other members who I didn't keep track of). Thanks also to Drummoyne Rotary Club, Five Dock Rotary Club, Sydney CBD and Sydney Cove Rotary.
Susanna Chung, Bocce Crazed Community Director 06-07

Info Night on 13 September 06
The club recently held an Info Night for all the people who wonder, “What exactly does a Rotaract club do?” Rotaract clubs organize a variety of projects and activities, depending primarily on the interests of the club members. The night was quite successful, with 30 Rotarians and guests came in to share drinks and nibblies with our club, and finding out more about what it is we get up to.

Did you enjoy the dinner at Sapporo on 23rd August? Did you like our beautiful Yukata (Japanese traditional costume like Kimono)? We appreciate you coming! The Japanese restaurant Sapporo has similar atmosphere to authentic Izakaya. Izakaya is a social drinking and eating place where Japanese, who are usually shy and quiet, can talk anything aloud such as their dream, love, work, and life over Sake, Japanese wine. Some of you tried Sake on the night. It must be quite strong, but did you like it? Did you get drunk? Some Japanese dishes have a meaning of good luck and we enjoy different dishes according to the seasons. Food is one of the most important things for Japanese to appreciate the blessing of the nature and seasons. We are grateful to be able to share Japanese culture with you! Akie Nagayama & Tomomi Okabe

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