ImageRotary Club’s generous support for ROMAC.

The chairman of ROMAC (Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children), North Region, Elaine Morgan recently travelled to Emerald with Rotarians Bryan Mason, wife Lyn and Tony Freeman to receive $25,000 raised by the Rotary Club of Emerald.

Around $18,000 came from a Gemfields’ Dinner arranged by local businessman Peter Vine.

Perhaps success was helped by the generous donation of $10,000 worth of diamonds available to attendees who could afford the price of a raffle ticket.

The Club raised a further $6,000 by organizing a bike marathon. The riders, some riding individually, some in teams, had to complete two large loops taking in close-by towns and a number of smaller loops in Emerald. The Emerald Rotary Club ROMAC Bike Ride is now in its 11th year and has raised in excess of $150,000 for ROMAC.

The real benefactors are the children brought into Australia and New Zealand by ROMAC for treatment to rectify disfiguring and/or life threatening conditions that cannot be treated in their own country.

In the past 12 months, ROMAC has brought 48 children trapped in these circumstances to Australia and New Zealand from developing countries to our north. A further 11 are waiting with 9 pending approval to make the ROMAC sponsored trip that will give them a chance perhaps to walk for the first time and to live a normal life.

ROMAC pays the fees for ICU, hospital and other services in public hospitals, while surgeons, their teams (sometimes more than 20) and other staff provide their services free of charge.

Many Rotary clubs in Australia and New Zealand, with the support of community donors like you, give children a life by supporting Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC).