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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-06-24 Daily Xml
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Waite Electorate

Mr DULUK (Waite) (15:58): I rise today to acknowledge some of the fantastic local service groups in my community. Members of these groups volunteer significant amounts of time and devote their own money and efforts to serve others and our broad community. I will always maintain that they are key measures of a thriving society that can be found in how many of these service groups exist and how they are active in their community. I offer my thanks to every single member of these groups in our community. We simply would not be what we are without them.

First of all, the Lions Club of Blackwood has been part of the community since 1965 and continues to maintain a strong presence with their good work throughout the area. The club's bargain centre is open every Saturday morning, selling second-hand goods to raise money for worthy causes. This year, the club celebrated its three millionth dollar raised through the bargain centre, which is an outstanding achievement. It was a privilege in March to attend the handing over of the new Lions shelter at Manson Oval in Bellevue Heights to the City of Mitcham.

In recent times, I have been working closely with the Lions Club of Blackwood, as we look to put on the 2021 Blackwood Christmas Pageant, and a big shout-out to Chris Martin and Lew Corso, the outgoing president of the club, for putting together what has been a very difficult COVID management plan, which we submitted to SA Health last week. Fingers crossed, there will be a Blackwood Christmas Pageant this year.

Many thanks to Lew, the outgoing president of the club, for that work and congratulations to Kevin Brooks, who is the incoming president, and we celebrated at their changeover dinner last week. At the changeover dinner, we also congratulated Anthea Stretton on being named as a Melvin Jones Fellow and Graham Smithers on his work as a Guiding Lion. They are one fantastic community organisation.

The Rotary Club of Blackwood is another sterling institution in Waite that provides much-needed support and service to the Blackwood community. This July, they are holding their 37th art show and sale, exhibiting hundreds of artworks by South Australian artists, many of which will be available for purchase. Proceeds support local community projects and other Rotary-specific ventures. Of course, the art show was not able to be held last year due to COVID, so we are really looking forward to the opening of that show in a couple of weeks' time.

The club also celebrated its 50th anniversary, and I have been fortunate enough to spend time with the club members to celebrate this important occasion. A few weeks ago, the club opened a new shelter, in conjunction with the City of Mitcham, at Karinya Reserve on Shepherds Hill Road. They continue their fantastic work with local youth and fundraising through book sales.

On Monday night, I had the pleasure of being at the Belair Hotel for their changeover dinner. A big thankyou to Robyn Venus for her sterling efforts over the past 12 months as club president and for really bringing the club back together. I wish Lyn Muller all the best as this year's incoming president.

Some award recipients at the changeover dinner were Graham Lough for the Vern Surman Award—Vern Surman was a charter member of the club—Chris Howard for receiving a Paul Harris Award (Sapphire); Don Venus for receiving a Paul Harris Award, mainly for being the spouse of Robyn Venus and being a long-suffering Rotary husband; Robyn herself for receiving the Paul Harris Award (Sapphire); and Martin Rowe, Volkan Demir, Peter Geer and Barry Sheridan for all receiving President's Awards.

The Mitcham Rotary Club also play a huge role in our community. They meet a bit down the hill to engage and support charities and organisations that help so many vulnerable South Australians. Some of their recent efforts include a thankyou barbecue at the Repat, book sales, sponsoring young people through their Rotary programs and cleaning gardens at local aged-care facilities to install sensory gardens.

Last night, the club celebrated their changeover dinner. Unfortunately, as the house was sitting I could not attend that dinner, but big thanks to outgoing president, Barry Hurst, for his service and welcome to Marko Klobas as the incoming president. Congratulations go to Peter Dry, for being awarded the Paul Harris Fellow; and secretary Andrew Atterton, Community, Vocational and Youth Services Director Lee, and bookshop manager, Chris, for receiving the Paul Harris Fellow (Sapphire) Award as well.

There are so many groups in our community that do so much: Brown Hill Creek Rotary Club, Coromandel Valley Rotary Club, Mitcham Lions and the various Probus Clubs that all undertake amazing work in our community. I hope to be able to speak about their outstanding work in the future. Every dollar raised, every program run and every effort makes a difference in the lives of those who are fortunate enough to live amongst these service groups. I look forward to continuing to support their good work and the work of all our service groups in Waite to ensure a better community for all of us.

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