THE Rotary Club of Mill Point has blown out the candles to celebrates three decades of supporting the community.
The club celebrated its 30th birthday on Saturday, March 11 with about 100 members, friends and supporters gathering on the Paddle Steamer Decoy to toast its success.
It has already been a successful 2017 after the club won Community Organisation of the Year at the City of South Perth’s Australia Day event.
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Inaugural president Sid Jessup said when the club began the first goal was “survival”.
“We had about five experienced Rotarians in our original group and our first focus was on international work,” he said.
“We have focused on different avenues of focus, whether that’s helping the community, assisting people in their vocation or helping the youth.
“I think there have been around 75 to 80 members each year so there have been at least 500 people who have been members at one stage.”
Current president Alison Thair said the club had helped organisations such as Southcare, the Esther Foundation and the Telethon Kids Institute.
“We’ve always been interested in health issues, whether that’s prostate, bowel cancer and more,” she said.
“Recently, we helped distribute linen to charities after one of our members found some of it surplus to needs in the Pilbarra.
“To win the Australia Day award was fantastic and it recognised the work that we are doing.”