Community
20 May, 2026
Become a Rotarian
THIS week is National Volunteer Week and Cobden Rotary Club are celebrating their members and the 60 years of community service they have carried out in the Cobden locality.
Cobden Rotary president Gary Kimber said the club was proud to serve Cobden and get involved with all the community has to offer.
“Right across our shire and beyond, we are celebrating Volunteer Week,” he said.
“Cobden Rotary is one of many groups which works tirelessly to make our communities a better place in which to live.
“In every town, so many people work so hard to provide fun, exciting and enriching activities.
“Volunteer groups are the backbones of their towns.
“No matter what age groups and abilities are involved it is always a win-win for everyone.”
Cobden Rotary member Mark Towner, who has been volunteering with Rotary for nearly 20 years, reflected on his time with the club and all he has achieved.
“I like getting together with a bunch of people who are likeminded in terms of they have a bit of fun, they like to enjoy themselves when they get together, but also specifically I’m a doing type person and I like getting stuff done,” he said.
“The Rotary Club of Cobden and Rotary in general is about getting stuff done for people in the community and other community needs or in the wider world, and that’s very rewarding.
“I’ve been supporting the End Polio Now project which is an international, multi decadal project that Rotary has been running since the 1980s.
“The elimination of polio, which is very close to having been achieved, is something I’m still committed to and Rotary on a club and individual level but also nationally and internationally has been supporting that project for many decades.
“The fact that there are well less than 100 people a year that are diagnosed with polio relative to 183,000 people dying in 1983 of polio is a huge achievement, but we’re not quite done with that yet – it’s still a work in progress.”
Mr Towner said there were also several local projects he was proud to be involved in.
“Locally, some of the projects that I’m most proud of, is after the dairy industry clawbacks several years ago we ran a couple of free days for dairy farming families but also those that worked in the industry that were badly affected financially to give families an opportunity to come and have a family day with the miniature railway and mini golf in Cobden,” he said.
“Those were well attended and needed in the community so I’m very proud of them.
“Personally, the Rotary Club of Cobden were heavily involved in the recovery efforts after the St Patrick’s Day fires which involved delivering food hampers and identifying people that needed further assistance after the fires and that was really rewarding.
“For those people it was very helpful but personally it was great to see efforts actually making a difference on the ground.”
Mr Towner encouraged anyone thinking of getting more involved in the community to consider joining the Rotary Club and signing up as a volunteer.
“It’s about coming and having a look and finding something you’re passionate about,” he said.
“The nature of Rotary is it’s a very broad organisation in terms of what it gets involved in and each of us have different things that we’re excited by and there’s enough variation within Rotary that somebody can find something that they’re really interested in.
“The other thing about a club like Cobden, speaking parochially, is that we’re a small group so if somebody’s got an idea or a passion, we’re very supportive of actually getting those things up and going.
“We’re well-connected in the community so we have an international focus, a focus on youth, things like literacy and education, we have a focus on vocational or work-related studies but also the community service aspect of Rotary and delivering things to people in the community.
“Most people will find something that they’re really interested in doing and from the reward side of things – when you see good things happening for people, I don’t know too many people that don’t get a warm fuzzy feeling out of that.”
Read More: Cobden