White River Rotary Club, in spite of its comparatively small membership, is a busy and productive club. Our projects include the following:

MAJOR PROJECTS
Camp Quality
Established in White River by Past President Brian Hyson, Camp Quality recently celebrated its 23rd camp at Uplands Preparatory School and Uplands College campus in White River. Up to 40 children suffering from cancer, often from disadvantaged backgrounds, are invited to White River for a week of fun and adventure, whilst in the care of Rotarians and medical assistance.

Books in Homes
Val Morris, a retired teacher, is the founder and driving force of this literacy promoting initiative, championed by the White River Rotary Club. Booklets in English and the local vernacular are written, printed and distributed or sold at a nominal cost to teachers and pupils from disadvantaged schools.

ONGOING PROJECTS
Masoyi Home Based Care
Established about 12 years ago with substantial funding from the White River Rotary Club and other donors, this day care facility caters for up to 50 mentally and physically disabled children. Apart from helping with monthly running costs, we liaise with the Department of Health in providing physical therapy and nutritional advice. We help with educational programmes for those children with the capacity to learn and we facilitate weekly visits by the Interact and community service groups of Uplands College. Recently the centre had an upgrade to the play area courtesy of “Bikers 4 Mandela”.

Kruger Park Outing for Senior Citizens
This popular and much anticipated annual event to the Kruger Park for up to 60 senior citizens, includes transport in a luxury bus, refreshments and lunch, plus, of course, a full day’s game viewing.

Christmas Parties 
Towards the end of every year Christmas parties are held at orphanages and day care centres in the rural communities surrounding us as well as Masoyi Care Centre. The White River Rotarians assist in the distribution of the gifts, donated by the children of Uplands Prep School and other well-wishers.

White River Rotary Club’s Anns
The White River Anns have their own projects and fundraising efforts as well as being assisted financially by the Club. A yearly Spring Brunch is held to raise funds. The Anns hold a yearly lunch with the Silver Seniors Club, regularly supply the local school with sandwiches for the less fortunate, and generally assist the club with functions and where necessary.

ADDITIONAL COMMUNITY PROJECTS
We support, from time to time, the Hospice of White River (by representation on their Board and fundraising efforts on their behalf), Rustig Old Age Home, The Desmond Tutu Centre for Lifelong Learning (representation on their Board), and the SWEMBE resort at Badplaas for senior citizens. We are also part of Fill a Bag, Feed a Family initiative that provides food parcels on a monthly basis to destitute families. We assist with acquiring wheelchairs for various organizations or individual as the need arises. A past project was support and fundraising for the Millenium Home of Hope, which cares for orphaned babies and children. Thanks to a Rotary Matching Grant we have been able to diminish the Club’s fundraising, but still have representation on their Board.

MAJOR FUNDRAISERS
Fundraising projects are ongoing and involve members of the whole club. They take place in the form of club fellowship events like games evenings or events involving the wider community.

Duck Race
2010 saw the birth of what has become the annual White River Rotary Duck Race, ably led by our own King Duck – Dr Rob Sykes. This fun-filled day involves (plastic) duck races on the White River Canal.

Golf Day
The annual White River Rotary Club Golf Day has become a fixture on the White River Country Club’s calendar. It is a well supported event thanks to the generosity of the community.

YOUTH PROJECTS

The WRRC supports and monitors the activities of the Interact Club of Uplands. A Bursary
Fund has been established that currently helps needy families send children to Flamboyant, a school that offers remedial intervention for children with special educational needs. The WRRC also has a Bursary Fund that assists young adults with Tertiary Education. We participate in the Rotary International short-term Youth Exchange, as well as the annual RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) held at Magoebaskloof. An annual inter-schools speech competition for primary schools is held, and recently we assisted with a WESSA Environmental Quiz for high schools.