‘A hand up’ says new Rotary president
Doug Emanuel was inaugurated as the new president of The Rotary Club of Knysna on Saturday evening at a dinner at the Knysna Golf Club.
He replaces Mick Furman who has ably led the team over the past year to achieve some great results, culminating in the unexpected organisation of goods, services and assistance as a result of the devastating fires that took hold of our town last month.
Prior to the fire, Emanuel’s plans for the upcoming year were to give ‘A Hand Up instead of A Hand Out’. This is even more important now with most of our community suffering from the effects of the fire having received an enormous number of hand-outs, it is now time to help them get their lives back on track by offering as many as possible a hand up.
The launch of the Entrepreneurship Committee last year was the start of this project where Rotary is helping entrepreneurs from all walks of life to get themselves established by guiding them in how to go about setting up their business, applying for finance, marketing and sustaining the business. During the course of the upcoming year different projects will be run, designed to be for the benefit of the entire community.
Our first, and primary, fundraiser for the year starts with the Cycle Race at the beginning of the upcoming Oyster Festival.
The various committees within Rotary will then work with local organisations to help them develop their plans and uplift their communities.
Emanuel is looking forward to a productive, happy and successful year in the chair of Rotary Knysna and to continuing to help Rotary to Make A Difference.