The Rotary Club of Georgetown – Guyana’s premier Rotary Club – inaugurated its new Board of Directors for the year 2022-2023, under the leadership of President Sheldon Hazelwood.
Newly inaugurated Immediate Past President Ramona Singh thanked the outgoing Board of Directors for their priceless contributions towards the achievements of the club over the past year. 
The club celebrated its 63rd anniversary on May 20, a significant milestone. Over the years the club has made notable contributions to society such as the construction of the Convalescent Home, the construction of water wells in areas such as Old England/Siberia, Coomacka, and Kuru Kururu; numerous donations to several organisations throughout Guyana; food supplies for many senior citizens homes; Christmas gifts to children hospitalised as well as medical equipment to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation and other institutions; sponsorship of other rotary, rotaract and interact clubs; several medical outreaches and many other projects.
This year, the Rotary Club of Georgetown, in a release on Saturday, expressed how proud they are to have executed projects across seven of Guyana’s 10 administrative regions, impacting and changing the lives of persons living in those regions. This is the level of impact organisations such as Rotary seek to make in their communities which Singh said the club will continue to do.
Some of the major projects included the donation of an ECG machine and Electrocardiograph Unit to the Georgetown Public Hospital; donations of electronic tablets to the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security’s WIIN Programme; distribution of flood relief hampers across seven regions of Guyana, distribution of back of school hampers to children across Guyana; distribution of wheelchairs to hospitals across Guyana; medical outreaches in Regions Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Five and 10.
The inauguration of the club’s new Board of Directors was yet another great way to continue the celebration of achievements as the club continues to execute life-changing projects.
President Hazelwood in his acceptance speech said, “It is quite an honour for me to serve as President for Guyana’s premier and prestigious club – The Rotary Club of Georgetown. I will always cherish the invaluable support I received from Rotarians ever since I was a Rotaractor and more specifically, a Rotaract President through the investment of time and resources; collaboration on many projects; the sharing of advice and knowledge, and more importantly the facilitation of Rotaractors into Rotary.”
He committed to leading his club through yet another successful year under the Rotary International theme “Imagine Rotary”.
The President further stated “As the 64th President of the Rotary Club of Georgetown, we will continue with our community service agenda, invite new people to our organisation, energise our new members, bring back the projects that have impacted so many, and above all, share the tradition of rotary with others”.
He emphasised that the club was not spared the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on attendance and membership engagement. He stressed, however, that the focus for this new rotary year “will be on projects that will be geared towards bringing our club back together. We will have to reach out to our membership individually, elicit feedback from them on how best to re-engage them, organise social events that will engender camaraderie, and organise speakers that are high impactful, influential, and interesting”.
“In terms of service projects for this year in this post-pandemic period, our focus will be aimed at follow-up projects in some communities where projects were executed before. More emphasis will be placed on collaborations as we strive to execute projects within the ambit of Rotary’s 7 Areas of Focus,” the President further noted.
The Rotary Club of Georgetown expressed its appreciation to all of its sponsors, partners, and volunteers for their generous support over the years which has made their projects and activities successful.
