The Wheelchair Trust

19/06/2026

12 'Rough Terrain Wheelchairs' are on their way to Dili, East Timor.
We often work with third-party Rotary clubs and RAWCS (Rotary Australia World Community Service) and its d=ivision RARE (Rotary Australia Repurposing Equipment).

Recently, Michael Shambrook from the Rotary Club of Burleigh Heads picked up a trailer load, to be brought to the RARE depot in Brisbane. (Photo: Michael with Wheelchair Trust Chairman Geoff Croad.)

13/06/2026

Meet our volunteers: Paul Ob de Beeck.
Looking at his surname, you might expect that Paul has a European background, and you’d be right: he’s Flemish. For those unfamiliar with the Geography: about 40% are Dutch, and 60% are Belgian. Paul is the latter. So, what happened? Long story (very long story), but in a nutshell: of all places, he met his (Australian) wife over 40 years ago, in Kathmandu, Nepal. After decades in Europe, two years ago they returned to Australia.
Read the full report on our website www.rotarysurferssunrise.org

09/06/2026

09/06/2026

Ross Augustine received an Order of Australia Medal (OAM)

In yesterday's King's Birthday Honours List, our Director of Fundraising and Director of Services was listed as a recipient of an OAM! Sorry people, this should have been posted yesterday. Our hearty congratulations, Ross. Proud to have you as a member of our Surfers Sunrise Rotary!
Howzat, having two OAM's in our membership in the same year (the other one is Rock O'Keefe, who received his in January)

03/06/2026

This was pure conincidence, but it looks like today was "Councillor Day" at Surfers Sunrise Rotary and the Wheelchair Trust, the club's major international project: this morning, Cr Joe Wilkinson (Division 7) joined the volunteers at the wheelchairs project shed in Arundel, whilst Cr Darren Taylor (Division 10) joined the Surfers Sunrise Rotary at the Surfers Paradise Surf Club (for the second time in 2 months to hold a very informative 'Town Hall' style meeting. More details coming up on our website and club bulletin.
Joe Wilkinson brought a couple of bicycles along (by the looks of it, both in excellent conditions - ideal for the upcoming Big Bike Sale on 20th June!

30/05/2026

Knitted quilts to go with our wheelchairs to cold regions
Last Saturday, we received a pallet load of knitted quilts. They were made by loving women at a location we are not permitted to disclose, using materials provided by the ladies from the Surfers Paradise Catholic Church. They then again collected the finished product and brought it to our wheelchair factory, shrink-wrapped. How good is that! They will be included in shipments destined for regions where it can get quite cool, such as the South African hinterland.
What a wonderful present! Thank you!
Picture (from left): Sr Lis Keane, Geoff Croad and Des La Rance from the Wheelchair project, Mary Lepp.

21/03/2026

Express Recycling promotes our wheelchairs on LinkedIn.
Some years ago, our club came to a mutually productive arrangement with Nikki Mullen and her company, Express Recycling. Any empty containers we collect from whereever, they will pick up and pay the full rate of 10 cents per container to our club or the wheelchairs project. Recently, Nikki posted an article on LinkedIn - click here. They will even provide the specially designed containers. In 2025 alone, some 165,000 containers were collected. Is this a perfect example of a win-win relationship? Thank you, Nikki!

Rotary Club of Surfers Sunrise Inc, a Gold Coast-based community service organisation, is turning container recycling into real impact through their Wheelchair Trust. In 2025, Rotary Surfers Sunrise and its supporters collected more than 165,000 containers through Containers for Change, all processe...