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When he took office in July, 2017, Rotary's global leader, Rotary International President Ian Riseley challenged all Rotary Clubs across the world to plant one tree per Rotarian as a sign that Rotary is committed to sustaining and improving the environment. Rotary District 9600, to which the Rotary Club of Brisbane belongs, took up the challenge with project "Target 1414" to plant at least one tree for each of the 1414 Rotarians in the 65 clubs throughout the district.
Rotarians from District 9600 present and ready for action in project "Target 1414".
Rotarians Sweating in the Sun for Sustainability
On the morning of Saturday 28th April, all the Rotary Clubs in district 9600 got together to plant trees, helping Brisbane City Council maintain and restore Brisbane’s bushland. We planted over 1,414 native plants, easily achieving the target. The tree planting event was held at John Sprent Reserve in Moggill where Brisbane City Council provided the plants, prepared the planting site at the park and will provide follow-up maintenance for the plants. What was thought to take 3hrs took only 45 minutes - we did catch some concerned expressions by the Brisbane City Council workers who may have felt a little threatened by our productivity! The Rotary Club of Brisbane was proudly represented by President Daniel and his two sons, Jonathan Frew, Georgina Bishop and Dan Adler, who each got their hands dirty to make a difference in the world. It was a great day out and one that will be repeated again soon no doubt.
Rotary Club of Brisbane Rotarians and Helpers. Rear L-R: Georgina Bishop, Jonathan Frew, Danial Vankov and Dan Adler. Front: Boris and Lyubomir Vankov.
In all, there were 87 people on the Rotary Planting team made up of representatives from 13 Rotary Clubs from Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast as well as members from Brisbane CBD and Rivercity Rotaract Clubs, The Gap State High School Interact Club, the Gap State High School Environmental Club and the Rotary Youth Exchange programme.
Dave Kearney, Landscape Architect and member of the Karana Downs Rotary Club who coordinated the District 9600 team, reports:
"I have been told by Nic Holmes of Brisbane City Council that our overall team effort was one of the best he and his team had experienced and he felt we might have set some sort of record for getting ‘1414’ plants in the ground.
DG John Lane can now report to RI President Ian Riseley that we have met his challenge of planting a plant for each Rotarian in our District.
