Every year Rarotonga Rotary hosts key fundraising activities dedicated to several projects in the community and nationwide.

Last month, Rarotonga Rotary had a changeover of its presidency with past president Peter French handing over the guard to Fiona Dorrell to push forward the Rotary foundation theme and projects.

French took on the president’s role in 2022, taking on the responsibilities of bringing new ideas to the table, creating an environment to keep members interested and engaging with visiting Rotarians.

A member of Rotary since 2013, French says his highlight in Rotary is just being a member of the club.

“We get involved in the activities and we do meet some extraordinary people who have amazing ideas and fundraising ideas,” said French.

“We just need to put these into results which raises funds to go back into the community.”

Rotary also offers the opportunity to connect with the outside world through visiting members from all over the world and listening to their adventures, said French.

Annually, Rotary’s main projects are the Bob Boyd Memorial Golf Ambrose, and delivering dictionaries to every Year 9 student in the country.

One of Rotary’s longstanding focuses has been the relocation and upgrading of the playground at Punanga Nui Market

French said that this would be an ongoing project, raising money where possible with support from the community, members and Rotary International.

A key challenge during his presidency and the past decade has been membership drive. All Rotary members are volunteers and hold fulltime jobs, meeting on a weekly basis.

French is confident the new president, Fiona Dorrell, will bring new members on board and ideas to the table.

Rotary brings together a global network of 1.2-million-member volunteer leaders who dedicate their time and talent to take action to create lasting change.

For more than 110 years, Rotary’s people of action have used their passion, energy, and intelligence to take action on sustainable projects.