• Rotary Support for Community Resilience

    Everything from a few coins to a donation of $100 was collected at the Motueka Market on Sunday in support of the purchase of a Rotary mobile community hub caravan for the Tasman district. Thank you to everyone who contributed the $428 our volunteer team collected.

    Whakatū Rotarians were joined by friends from Rotary Club of Motueka to rattle the collection buckets and spread the word about the caravans, which are fully self-sufficient and can be rolled out quickly to support communities in times of emergencies, such as natural disasters.

    We’re talking with possible sponsors and funders but would appreciate any donation you can make to get us over the line by the end of January 2027 so we can buy the third mobile community hub caravan in the Top of the South Island. Make a donation now at:

    https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/mobile-community-hub-caravan-custom-built-for-fenz

  • Rotary Casino Supports Heritage

    Supporting the protection and care of our regional taonga and history saw Whakatū Rotary present two casino tables at the Nelson Provincial Museum’s black tie Gala Royale fundraising dinner and auction.

    Sharp suits, bow ties, sparkly dresses and plenty of bling were on display at the Rutherford Hotel as supporters gathered to raise further funds towards the building of a state of the art archives, research and collections (ARC) facility in Richmond to house the museum’s priceless collections.

    We are proud to be a part of the community and volunteer effort towards this long awaited regional asset.

  • The Hard Word – We Love Books

    A little bit of rain doesn’t deter the Whakatū Rotary volunteer team from helping out at the annual Founders Book Fair in Nelson.

    Our team was on duty on King’s Birthday Sunday to welcome crowds of book-lovers into Founders Heritage Park and help them find their way around the tables loaded with books, games, puzzles, vinyl albums, DVDs and CDs.

    This year’s fair raised a record $160,000 for the park. That’s a lot of books sold over the nine days of the fair!

  • David Pluck MNZN

    Congratulations to Whakatū Rotary member David Pluck, who was acknowledged for his services to education with a New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM), presented by the Governor General, Dame Cindy Kiro, at an investiture ceremony at Government House in Wellington.

    His citation reads:

    ‘Mr David Pluck, who was born moderately to severely deaf, advocates for the rights of disabled children to learn in their community schools. He trained as a primary school teacher and psychologist before establishing the Rainbow Reading programme with his wife, donating more than 100,000 books to low-decile schools.

    He helped to establish Whakatū Kōhanga and whānau classes in Nelson. As the Minister’s appointee on the New Zealand Psychologists Board, he developed a programme to promote the training of female psychologists. He developed guidelines for the use of Māori cultural advisors in the Family Court. Mr Pluck established the Ministry of Education’s Intensive Wraparound Service Te Kahu Tōī.’

    Congratulations Plucky!