New president for Rotary Johor Centennial

The Rotary Club of Johor Centennial recently celebrated its 10^th anniversary and the installation of Reetha Mathewes as the club’s 11^th president.

Out-going president, Mary Anthony [Left] with newly
installed president, Reetha Mathewes [Right] 

Chartered in Johor Baru on 25 March 2005, the club then led by Charter President Dr George Fernandez, has maintained a consistent programme of fund-raising and community projects.  Many of the charter members continue to serve the club and were instrumental in keeping the club actively contributing to the community.

“Our membership may be small but the quality of our work is of the highest order,” said out-going president, Mary Anthony (2014 – 2015).  “Our club had a fruitful past year with most of our projects aimed at youth service and development that concluded with the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) last month,” she added.

The RYLA, a programme that originated with Rotary International, encourages servant leadership in youth by recognising and rewarding deserving secondary school students who are chosen to attend RYLA as an award for their past and present leadership and service activities.  Some 150 selected students from Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak, Labuan, Malacca and Johor attended a camp where they were inspired and motivated by exceptional speakers, discussed current ethical and social issues and made life-long friendships through fellowship activities.

The club’s past year’s community activities included a day trip to Desaru Fruit Farm with the children from Villa Paulos, providing 30 sets of bedding and cupboards to Puspanesam Home and organizing a Movie Day for children of the Berkat Home.  They also sponsored meals for the homeless through the Kechara Soup Kitchen for three months.  The club also worked in collaboration with Disaster Aid Malaysia to provide a “Moment of Happiness” to under privileged children through the Miss Chinese Cosmos Pageant 2015 (South East Asia Region).

Mary Anthony [Left] passing the President's jewel
to the in-coming president, Reetha Mathewes

In a simple but traditional Rotary installation ceremony, the out-going president Mary Anthony passed the President’s jewel to in-coming president Reetha Mathewes (2015 – 2016).

In her maiden speech as the 11^th president of the club, Mathewes pledged to follow through with the projects that were already in place with Villa Paulos and Kechara Soup Kitchen, as well as embark on new projects like the “Rainbow in my Heart” art competition for special needs children and adults with learning disabilities.  She also urged her Board of Directors to work in partnership with her to “Be a Gift to the World” – to give, to share and to care – for the needy in our community as the nation heads towards being a developed nation in the next five years.

A version of this was published in The Malaysian Insider on 7 Aug 2015