Rotary

How an opportunity discovered on a Senior Gap Year kick started a Rotary project that benefited charities to the value of now over Half Million dollars.

It started as an around the world adventure. A gap year. In my case My Senior Gap Year! Backpacking from one country to another. I felt I should be going with a purpose. I couldn’t come up one. What I didn’t know then that I would soon find a purpose.

I hadn’t even left Australia when an unexpected opportunity arose That opportunity resulted in a huge Rotary project that benefited charities valued at over a quarter million Australian dollars.

As President of The Rotary Club of Mill Point, Rick Sneeuwjagt, explains…..

“……One of his greatest triumphs occurred early in his travels when visiting his sons in the north-west of Western Australia. Chris was made aware that a large batch of good quality bed linen was destined for the rubbish tip as it was surplus to their [mining camp] needs.

Chris managed to get his hands on a large truck load of the linen and organised free transport to Perth where his former Rotary Club organised warehousing, inventory, sorting and then distribution to local and national needy charities.

Chris was not finished as he located more large volumes of surplus linen worth up to $300,000* that was subsequently redistributed for free to the most-needy people throughout Australia and around the world.

Nearly one year later, Chris was able to visit one of those charities in Northern Thailand where he was able to observe the joy of young orphans sleeping in the luxurious linen….”

There were many highlights of the senior gap year journey. The Bed Linen Project was one of the top ones. But it wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for Rotary International members, out to make a difference. I would have been left, like everyone else in that remote mining community, frustrated witnessing such waste. Instead, people’s life have been impacted for the better.

To find out more about the linen story, including pictures, please click here

Chris Herrmann

* More recent distribution of linen has valued this project to now over $500,000 with around 50,000 items of linen distributed to charities.