Life Members

At Kaiyu we value the work and contribution from all our volunteers, who donate much of their own time in an effort to help others in the community. Kaiyu's Life Membership is a recognition of those who have given extraordinary service helping Kaiyu and those community members it supports.

Rod Lewis

In 1998, Rod Lewis joined the Kaiyu (then Lake Macquarie Clubhouse Inc) Management Committee as Secretary. Rod held this position until late 2007.

• He was a hard worker - typed minutes, agendas and reports
• Completing paperwork for the incorporation body
• negotiated with funding departments
• signed cheques
• recruitment interview panels
• available for discussions with senior staff and fellow Management Committee members when difficult or complex issues arose
• mediated staff grievances
• painted walls, moved furniture, general handy work as needed
• helped at booksale and other fundraisers

When he turned 50 years old he asked for donations to Kaiyu rather than presents for himself. He must have raved to his friends about what Kaiyu was trying to do as a mate of his, and professional artist, Matthew Percival donated a painting for a silent auction. Rod was disappointed at the amount of money being offered in the auction so he threw in a generous sum and became the proud owner.

That is some of what Rod did. But the other big impact was how he did it. He was:

• thorough
• no nonsense
• logical
• not attracting attention to self
• spreading humour and fun

Many staff and clients would not realise that the help they received from Kaiyu was only possible because Rod gave a damn and put in all this hard work, most of it unseen.

Lawrie Hallinan

At Kaiyu's 2008 AGM Lawrie Hallinan was awared Life Membership to Kaiyu. Lawrie was one of the founding members of Kaiyu and with the help of many other dedicated people built the organisation from humble beginnings to a great organisation. Lawrie was the Manager of Kaiyu for 10 years and in 2007 relinquished this position to move on to other pastures.