Meet the Rous RotaKids

PICTURED: Rous RotaKids worked with the local Ballina Shire Council to choose the most appropriate gums and shrubs to plant in the school’s beautiful playground for National Tree Day.

A small but dynamic club, Rotary E-Club District 9660 is proving the power of youth development through a RotaKids program that’s transforming enthusiasm into meaningful action.

WORDS PDG Ken Hall. Rotary E-Club District 9660.

The Rotary E-Club District 9660 is a small but remarkably active club, overcoming the geographical separation of its members through commitment and innovation. While the club supports a wide range of Rotary programs – including polio eradication, Youth Exchange, blood donation initiatives and domestic violence prevention – its core focus is nurturing the next generation of leaders.

Members place a strong emphasis on youth development, helping young people build teamwork, problem-solving, leadership and community-mindedness. Through hands-on guidance, they encourage students to take responsibility, honour commitments and contribute meaningfully to both people and the environment.

In March 2020, the E-Rotary Club proudly chartered a RotaKids program at Rous Public School, a small rural school on the NSW North Coast. Fifty-eight students joined as inaugural members, and over the past six years the program has flourished under the support of Principal Mrs Krystal Jenkins and the wider school community. RotaKids has become an integral part of school life, with students demonstrating maturity and compassion as they tackle human and environmental issues appropriate to their age. Annual elections for RotaKids leadership roles are now highly anticipated and hotly contested.

The E-Club District 9660’s investment in RotaKids is a powerful example of how clubs can cultivate confident young leaders today while strengthening Rotary for tomorrow.

The Rous RotaKids have driven an impressive range of fundraising and service activities. These include supporting the Cancer Council’s Biggest Morning Tea and Daffodil Day, purchasing pigs for struggling families in Candidasa, Indonesia, and assembling toiletry bags, baking cakes, donating clothing and gathering toys for victims of the 2022 Lismore floods.

PICTURED: The Rous RotaKids made cupcakes and jelly cups to raise funds for the Cancer Council on Daffodil Day.

They have performed concerts at local aged-care homes, collected Christmas hampers for the Salvation Army and planted specific gum species to support a local koala feeding program – all while having fun and working together.

One of their most successful fundraising avenues is their extra-curricular ‘Food Days’. On these occasions, the school kitchen becomes a hive of activity, as laughter and teamwork fuel a bustling production line of student-made meals.

As District 9660’s 2024 Rotary Youth Exchange student, Vitor Joventino, recently noted: “Youth leadership isn’t just Rotary’s future, it’s Rotary’s present.”