Introduction by Chris Elliott ……
I had the pleasure and honour to be asked to become a founding member of the Rotary Club of Kyrenia Cosmopolitan and it was therefore very touching to attend the Presidential Handover Ceremony and meet old friends at the Merit Premium Hotel and enjoy a splendid evening meal and music that had been organised in a wonderful setting overlooking the sea.
It was also great to reflect on the fantastic work the club has been doing in the past year and this is what outgoing club President Gultac Ozsan had to say :
“Tonight is a privilege for me to welcome our DG and our Distinguished Guests.
I am incredibly delighted that you all could be among us on this important and special occasion. It was an honour for me to be the President of our distinguished Club for the 2017-18 Rotary Year.
Our Main Project was “Building an All Weather and fully furnished Workshop for Yeşilyurt Special Needs School”. During a visit to CMC Golf Club with their members for fundraising purposes, which is located next to Yeşilyurt Special Needs School, I heard happy sounds coming from behind the trees. I walked around the building and saw that teachers were painting the fences and children were singing while playing games. That was the first time that I heard about the wonderful Yeşilyurt Special Education Centre. After meeting with the Headmaster of the School, I realised that the most essential thing missing for the school was an Arts and Crafts Workshop. An area that the children could not only express themselves more but to learn so much about life and themselves. That day was the day when I definitely decided building a Workshop for these children was going to be my Main Project.
Basic Education and Literacy is one of the Rotary’s 6 areas of focus, by this project we have gone one step further than the area of focus by seeing to the needs of Children with Special Needs.
We held fruitful meetings with prospective sponsors to help us fund this Workshop and Equipment. Our main sponsor became Merit International followed by many other Sponsors. Our Club Fundraising consisted of holding our Golf Tournament, Bingo and Quiz Nights and numerous other events.
Throughout my Presidential Year we have held ongoing and completed Club projects. Some of these have been;
- Vakıf Food Bank Ongoing:
- Collecting Blue Bottle Tops
- Old People’s Home
- Beach Cleaning
- Fundraising Sunday Market
- Fundraising Music Night
Our Completed projects have been:
RI Forestry Project: We planted 404 trees and plants in six acres of land which was provided by Alsancak Municipality. Although, this project was completed in February it is our intention to continue our tree planting projects into the incoming Rotary Year.
CLUB ACHIEVEMENTS
- We won a Club Administration Distinction Award at the 5th District Conference in Paphos. A very special award for our club considering that our club is only 18 months old.
- Supported Rotary International Foundation throughout the year
Polio Fund, Foundation Fund, Endowment Fund, EREY, Greek Earthquake Fund, Rotary Global History Fellowship
- We also contributed to three Global Grant Projects
- We were fortunate to have twinned with an American Rotary Club
My gratitude goes to tonight’s Master of Ceremony Behiye Muftuzade for her support.
AND of course my sincerest thanks goes to my Vice President and IP Hakki, who has always been there for me at all times .
Before finalising my speech, I would like to pass on my special thanks to my Committee Chairs and Club Officers for all their hard work and dedication throughout the 2017-18 Rotary Year.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to Friends of Rotary who have always been there for us, and particularly to my family and my personal friends for sharing me with Rotary.
I extend my thanks to and appreciation to Ebru Denker of Merit International Group her sincere dedication and support.
And last but not least I wish a very successful year for Hakkı Muftuzade as President of 2018-19 Rotary year and all the incoming Committee Chairs and Club officers”.
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It was then good to hear what our good friend and new President Hakkı Muftuzade had to say:
“Dear Rotarians and Friends of Rotary,
It is an honour and a privilege for me to assume the Presidency of our distinguished club. After Gultac’s successful year, I have a tough job ahead and big shoes to fill.
I am excited to serve as our club’s president this coming year. It’s an honour and I believe with your help and willingness it will be a rewarding and fun year. Rotary is a wonderful organization filled with caring and passionate people. I want to thank Gultac Ozsan for her passion and leadership this last year. I want to support that passion and continue to help our club move in a direction that will make the most of our year together.
This year’s Rotary Theme is “Be the Inspiration”. We will inspire the World by,
- Continuing our fundraising and ongoing events to provide support and volunteer service in our local community
- Continuing to support the Rotary Foundation, Polio Plus, EREY and many others.
- Keep contributing to Global Grant Projects all over the World.
Let’s do a little extra, let’s make new friends, and strengthen the ones we have through fun, and let’s change the world together both locally and Internationally.
Together, we will be the inspiration to the World”.
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During the latter part of the evening many awards were made including to CyprusScene.com for which we are truly delighted and honoured and we are showing a number of pictures below of this wonderful evening courtesy of RCKC.
