Rotarians make a difference. In fact there would be very few people alive who have not been impacted by the work of Rotarians. There are over 1.2 million of them all over the world doing what they can to assist communities locally and internationally.
Whether it is vaccinating children across the globe for Polio; establishment of a sporting field or park; assistance to a school; building a school in impoverished parts of the world; providing micro loans to women in third world countries; deploying Disaster Aid during emergencies; International Youth Exchange or services to youth here and abroad; I am in awe of the humble sausage sandwich, what it stands for and what it can provide.
At $2.50 per sausage sandwich we feed the punters. That solitary purchase does so much more, oh yessiree. Here is a little of what the sausage sandwiches we cook have been able to provide.
- 6.5 sausage sandwiches = 3 years of full attendance at school for a girl as a part of the Days for Girls program. We gave 1000 years of education to girls through our donation to DfG. http://www.daysforgirls.org/
- 120 sausage sandwiches will Gift A Smile to a Bangladeshi child afflicted with a Cleft Palate. With the generous support of our team of plastic surgeons and the hospitals at which they operate, Operation Cleft is able to keep the cost of surgery to a minimum. $300 is all that it costs to give an underprivileged child in Bangladesh a “smile for life”. We have gifted 22 smiles in the past 2 years. http://operationcleft.org.au/
- We helped Destiny Rescue to save children from sex slavery. Respect Tony Kirwan. http://www.destinyrescue.org/aus/
- We helped the angels at TAD create special modified bikes (called Freedom Wheels) and other assistance equipment through TAD (Technical Aid to the Disabled). http://tadnsw.org.au/
- Helps fund Breast Care Nurses for the McGrath Foundation. http://www.mcgrathfoundation.com.au/
- Helped give $2k in food vouchers in partnership with Ritchies IGA to young people displaced from their families at Naremburn School. http://www.naremburn-s.schools.nsw.edu.au/
- Provides services from counselling to accommodation for young people at Phoenix House. http://www.phoenixhouse.org.au/
- Provides surgery for young people in the Oceania region through ROMAC (Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children) http://www.romac.org.au/
- Helped the Butterfly Foundation to help people with eating disorders and self esteem issues. http://thebutterflyfoundation.org.au/
- Assisted large scale water projects with AFAP in Vietnam. http://www.afap.org/
- Constructed water tanks at the Padre Pio school in Kenya with Sister Genevieve.
- Shelterbox units which are rapidly deployed to disaster areas…earthquake, tsunami, fire…we are there from the beginning. http://www.shelterboxaustralia.com.au/
- It would be a travesty not to mention the Rotary Polio Project which was started by Sir Clem Renouf (Rotary Club of Nambour) when he was World President of Rotary in the late 70’s. Legend. http://www.endpolio.org/ http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2010/s2865655.htm
This is just a tiny little bit of what is achieved by Rotarians who cook sausages, among other things, in order to make life better for others in the world.
We also have our fair share of lighter moments and enjoy camaraderie and banter at the Rotary BBQ.
I think it also fair to mention that we are probably the best Rotarian BBQ’ers on the planet….lets face it, have a look who we cook for.
Masterchef Winner Series 2 Adam Liaw and his family get the Rotary Sausage Sandwich experience... he loves our cooking.
To quote Sir Clem Renouf “Rotary gives ordinary people the opportunity to do extraordinary things”.
Our sausages do indeed change people’s lives.
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