Nic Naitanui was our very special guest at a function that was held at Central Park on Friday 15th February. Nic was interviewed by Peter Kennedy, who is well known for his many years with the ABC as their political reporter. The interview was informative and inspiring with the conversation and friendly bantering between them being revealing, amusing and entertaining.
Nic was practically mobbed when he entered the venue, posed for lots of selfies and signed lots of memorabilia. He made a point of going over and speaking to the two disabled supporters who came from the Ability Centre; they were truly chuffed.
Louise Hancock commented that “Nic is an extremely generous person who went out of his way to make the guests feel very welcome and at ease. HIs generosity sharing meaningful insights of his career and life and attending to the needs of the community in particular the aboriginal people was enriching. HIs support for the FASD program that we are doing was encouraging.”
Peter Kennedy did an excellent job, asked pertinent questions and made Nic feel at ease. As Chris commented “Peter Kennedy was also hard to fault with his very well prepared questions and friendly manner.”
We were also delighted to have Dr. James Fitzpatrick come along and address the crowd and expand on the Make FASD History project. James’s gave a really good speech on the beauty of the outback and the issues faced by remote communities which revealed his affection for our aboriginal people and commitment to helping them through this project, which he sees as the most important issue to address WA’s “Closing the Gap” program.
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Our very capable Alan Cockram, who used his ample humour to facilitate the event, did an excellent job if being the MC for the evening, and Ray managed to auction a virtual West Cost Eagles Guernsey in his usual delightful way for a handsome sum.
Thanks at all who worked behind the scenes to create this event, the many members, family and friends who helped with serving drinks, preparing and serving the food, selling raffle tickets, manning the door, taking money from late arrivals and for cleaning up. Our very big thanks go to George and Raffaele, of Midway Ford, who arranged for Nic to come.
I have not spoken to anyone that did not thoroughly enjoy the evening and who was not immensely impressed by how down to earth and friendly Nic is. It was a splendid evening with humour, fellowship and great “Service Above Self” a true Rotary moment. As Chris said, “A most enjoyable and memorable night that made me proud as ever to be a member of our club”.