Chris Paul Community Liaison Officer for Coastguard receiving the Club's donation from President Madeleine East
The Fun Walk and Run project the club runs in March each year raises funds for Howick Coastguard and the clubs last dinner meeting was a celebration of this year’s event. Chris Paul Community Liaison Officer for Coastguard formally received the gross proceeds for this year’s event along with a further amount from the Rotary Club of Howick Community Trust totaling $9500. The funds will go toward the operational costs of running this essential lifesaving community service.
The Fun Walk and Run project is a community team effort with a committee involving the original Crawford Medical members of Judy Pascoe and Shirley Curtiss along with representatives from Coastguard and led by members from Howick Rotary. It is well supported by a grant and equipment from the Howick Local Board, principle sponsors Mega Mitre 10 Botany and a range of other prize sponsors. Howick Local Board Chairperson Adele White, Mega Mitre 10 Botany Owner Michael Beale and Business Development Manager Sudesh Prasad along with the organizing team were also guests on the night to round out the team celebration. From 2013 the first year that the Rotary club supported the event the proceeds were $647 with a few hundred participants. It now grown into a significant event on the community calendar with 14 schools and large numbers of families and individuals taking part in a healthy fun day based at Stockade Hill.
Mega Mitre 10 Owner/Operator addressing the Dinner Meeting
As part of the evening Chris Paul thanked the club for its generous support and gave a presentation covering the national and local organizations. The Howick unit consists of around 40 members who are all operational crew. The members are organized into duty crews who voluntarily give up their time to attend weekly training sessions and to rescue people and boats. Callout is by pager 24 hrs a day, 365 days per year and the response time from the call until the boat is in the water is typically 10 minutes. Crew’s turnout to an average of 170 incidents per year. The Primary area of responsibility is the Tamaki Strait and the Firth of Thames across to Coromandel and down to Thames. A chilling statistic is that 85% of the fatalities that occur are related to vessels that are less than 6 metres long.
Michael Beale also took the opportunity to thank the club for running such a wonderful community event and shared how much Mega Mitre 10 enjoyed engaging with and supporting the community. Apart from the sponsorship on the day Michael and Sudesh had visited each of the schools and had extended their support by making a grant of $250 to each school.
The club and all members can feel justifiably proud of the outcomes that are achieved from this wonderful community event