Rotarians honoured
The Rotary Club of Boksburg celebrated their 76th Induction Dinner recently.
Terry Phasey, President of the club, was re-elected, and received two honourary awards, the Paul Harris Award, which reads: “In appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world”.
“I joined the Rotary in 1986, because I wanted to give back to those less fortunate than me in the community. Being President means a lot, but it means nothing in the club, because we all work together” said Phasey on being re-elected.
“We don’t only give 67 minutes of our time, we give 24 hours,” he added.
Another recipient of the prestigious Paul Harris Award is secretary of the Rotary Club of Boksburg and former President of the club on two occassions, Peter van den Elshout.
Van den Elshout has a long career in the education industry, has lectured in an MBA programme at Potchefstroom University and has been the principal of Wordsworth High School in Benoni for seven years.
He also joined the club in 1986, but was drawn to the club in 1978 during a rotary exchange programme to Australia, because he loves community service.
“This award rewards ‘service above self’ and I feel very honoured,” he said.
Rotarian of the year went to Jack Gray who is the foundation officer of the club. He is said to keep blankets in his car, which he hands out to beggars at robots.
The club is still looking for a new project to invest in this year, but is currently involved in feeding schemes, blanket drives, giving clothes and linen to children homes, as well as textbooks and exercise books to schools.
