Rotary Club of Liamuiga 10th Anniversary Celebrations Kick off With Run-Walk & Panel Discussion

Basseterre, St. Kitts – On a sunny Saturday afternoon, shortly before 3 p.m., dozens of persons could be seen stretching their limbs and warming up their bodies in preparation for the Rotary Club of Liamuiga’s (RCL) charitable, fun run/walk event dubbed “Post-Christmas Fat Burn-A-Thon.” The 9.5 kilometre run/walk began and ended at The Independence Square in Basseterre.

The Burn-A-Thon kicked off shortly after 3 p.m. under police escort, with some of the more athletically-inclined participants jogging the entire route. Members of the Rotary Club of Liamuiga (RCL) could be seen at various stages along the route handing out bottled water and guiding participants in the right direction.

“Each year, a major resolution for many persons is to get healthier or lose weight,” said RCL President Lester Hanley. “We thought that an event such as this would help to jump start persons’ journey to a healthier lifestyle while having a great time, especially on the heels of our Christmas/Carnival seasons where excessive eating and drinking is so prevalent.”

RCL is celebrating 10 years of existence guided by the theme “A Decade of Service to Our Community.” RCL was founded on February 10, 2003 by 29 community-minded individuals. For almost 10 years now, RCL has sponsored numerous programmes for the nation’s youth and throughout the nation’s communities. These include local and regional primary school spelling bee competitions, a Computer Assisted Literacy Solutions (CALS) Training Programme for primary and high school aged children, primary and high school talent search competitions, a luncheon that honours residents of the Saddler’s Home for the Elderly, the Christmas Hamper Project and the Valentine’s Make-A-Wish Project. Many of RCL’s projects are longstanding and well known within the community.

In addition to the run/walk, the two Rotary Clubs in St. Kitts hosted a Joint Rotary Awareness Panel Discussion on Thursday January 24 at 7 p.m. at the St. George’s Anglican Church Hall (Old Girls’ School). The panellists were President Lester Hanley, President-Elect Rev. Val Hodge, Dr. Ismay Taylor, Assistant Governor Trevor Blake and Rotary Club of St. Kitts Past President Denzil Crooke.

The panellists engaged in an instructive and open discussion addressing topics such as: What is Rotary and the foundation and principles on which it was built; Rotary’s purpose and involvement in the national and international arena; Projects executed/sponsored by local Rotary Clubs over the years; RCL’s 10th Anniversary Celebrations and more.

Possibly the most stirring topic was led by Rotarian Ismay Taylor who discussed the history of women in Rotary. Rotarian Ismay shared that in 1978, the Rotary Club of Duarte, California, USA, invited three women to become members. The RI Board withdrew the charter of that club for violation of the RI constitution. She noted that it was not until 1989 that the Constitution and Bylaws of Rotary International eliminated the “male only” provision for all of Rotary. Since that time, women have become members and leaders of clubs and districts throughout the world. Today, there are nearly 200,000 women in more than 34,000 clubs worldwide.

RCL’s 10th anniversary activities continue in February:

10 February 2013 – 10th Anniversary Church Service

23 February 2013 – 10th Anniversary Inter-Club Cricket Competition

To find out more information about any of the anniversary activities or view photos etc., please visit the Club’s website rotaryliamuiga.org or facebook.com/rotaryliamuiga.