The Rotaract Club of Grand Cayman hosted its first annual Charter Night celebration at the Grand Old House on Saturday, 24 March.

In attendance were Rotaract members, friends and members of the public. The night's theme was Rotaract colours - Red for Passion and Gold for Quality.

 

Annikki Brown, Secretary of the Rotaract Club of Grand Cayman explained the concept behind Charter Night.

"Charter Night is the celebration of our induction as a club into the global family of Rotary International," said Ms Brown.

During the event five new members Peter Jurgens, Danielle Japal, Lisa Hylton, Simone Mamby and Basil Scott were inducted into the Rotaract Club.

There were also three Honourary Rotaractors; Rotarian Advisors Hazel Brown, Deborah-Ann Chambers and Raquel Solomon who were inducted last weekend.

Those in attendance received the privilege of listening to a presentation by the guest speaker for the night, Helen Tse. She is the author of 'Sweet Mandarin', a newly published book.

"The theme of her book and the presentation was 'A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step,'" Ms Brown said.

"Ms Tse talked about her story - the story of three generations of women in her family.  She has written the first ever memoir of a British-born Chinese woman.

"It is being translated into 20-something languages and adopted as part of the school curriculum in England, China and Hong Kong for language and cultural studies.  It is also being adopted as a future film."

According to Ms Brown, Rotaract is a Rotary-sponsored service club for young men and women between the ages of 18 and 30, making them true 'partners in service' and key members of the local and global Rotary family.

Ms Brown said that the Rotaract Club in the Cayman Islands started last year.

"The Rotaract Club itself really got off the ground in summer of last year.  It grew from two or three interested young people into the force that it is today from about July of last year," she said.

She said that the Rotaract Club is involved in many community service projects in the Islands and internationally.

Ms Brown spoke about last week's Manse Road cleanup and she also mentioned some other initiatives.

"Last week we launched a project where the Club arranged for the supply of linens and foodstuffs to the Cayman Islands Crisis Center. We hope to make this a long-term project," she said.

"The club has also been involved in the Silver Awards Programme at the John Gray High School where we have arranged speakers to address students on the wide range of employment and education opportunities available to them that are not considered to be mainstream and typical."

For individuals interested in participating in Rotaract they are invited to contact a Rotaractor or a Rotarian to obtain more information.

Ms Brown said that Rotaract, like Rotary, is by invitation only and the criteria for membership includes, among other things, a dedication to service above self and the ethical standards of the Rotary Four-Way-Test. For more information log onto http://www.rotary.org/

Corporate guests at last weekend's Charter Night were Walkers, PricewaterhouseCoopers, HSBC and Fosters.

Ms Brown said The Rotaract Club is very grateful for the support the community gave them at their Charter Night as that organisation strives, in turn, to serve the community.

"We are proud to be young and we are only young once so we are going to do as well as we possibly can the things that only the young can do," she said.