MORE than £23,000 was raised for a variety of charities by the Rotary Club of Portadown, in what was another successful year for the group.
Handing over the president’s chain to his successor, outgoing president Mark McEloy thanked the local community and the various local businesses for their support.
He also mentioned some of the many highlights of the year, including a charity lunc
h at Southern Regional College (SRC), a young writer’s competition in conjunction with local primary schools and the Nigel Fraser Educational Awards for students attending SRC.
There was a also a President’s Night to raise money for the disaster in Haiti, various youth projects, including a day at Craigavon’s Watersports Centre for children from Ceara Special School, and an environmental project at Bocombra Primary School.
Said Mark, “One of the major special projects we were proud to be associated with was Country Comes to Town. We held a duck race to raise funds for Rotary’s polio eradication campaign, ran a hot food stall, and organised a competition to ‘count the spots on a litter of pigs’, which were kindly lent by Mr Kenny Gracey of Tandragee, to raise funds for Rotary’s International Education Project in Rombo, Kenya.
“A bucket collection in the park was also held to assist the Southern Area Hospice. All in all, the weekend’s activities raised £4,000.”
He added, “The two major contributing factors to the success of these projects and events have been ‘fellowship and service’. I was honoured to lead the club during challenging times and wish this year’s president, Bryan Friar, much success.”
The total donations were - Black Santa Sit Out: £250; Burma Educational Project: £250; District 1160 Flood Appeal: £250; Jaipur Limb Project: £500; Lough Neagh Rescue: £250; Nigel Fraser Awards: £200; Papua New Guinea Project: £250 and Portadown Music Festival: £200.
Also, Rombo Project (Kenya): £1,000; R I Polio Campaign: £2,000; Shelter Box Appeal (disasters such as Haiti): 24 Boxes at £490 each, approx. £12,000; The Rotary Foundation: £4,000;Southern Area Hospice: £1500; Young Writers Competition: £410.
awards
Recently, two prestigious Paul Harris Fellowship (PHF) awards were presented to past district governor Ernest Lawson and chair of service and special projects Betty McClurg. Ernest was awarded a double Sapphire PHF and Betty was awarded a single PHF.
The awards were presented by Jack Cunningham, district governor nominee and one of the club’s honorary members.
Speaking at the presentation, Mark said, “These two Rotarians together have a combined period of service close on four decades and have consistently been very active members within our club.“Another important facet Ernest and Betty bring to our club is that through their involvement with numerous outside agencies they have been able to cement good relationship bonds for Rotary.
Betty and Ernest have consistently carried out a tremendous amount of work for this club over a substantial period of time.
