District 9640  Australia                                             RI Theme Folder 2003/4

Last year John conducted two seminars for Volunteering Gold Coast under the
auspices of his role as Vocational Service Director for the Rotary Club.  These
seminars, "Law and the Volunteer," were attended by about 80 members of various
Gold Coast volunteer organisations and mainly concerned Duty of Care and
Insurance issues for volunteers.

Through Judene Wallace, the co-ordinator of Volunteering Gold Coast, John has
continued to give legal advice to the organisation and has spent considerable time
preparing a submission to the Queensland Minister for Justice and Attorney
General for changes to legislation affecting volunteers.

In addition John has conducted a seminar for the Reference Group for Ageing
Issues on the Gold Coast. This group represents approximately 14 different
organisations dealing with the aged section of the community. Here again John
was able to alleviate a lot of concerns in these volunteer groups in respect of
duty of care and insurance matters.

As well as the above commitments John undertook a mentors course specifically
directed to the assistance of students in Grade 10 who are at risk of leaving school
with no career prospects. This course involved three (3) hours per week over a
period of 12 weeks and then a trial for 6 weeks at Merrimac High School. This
trial was the forerunner to a larger project to be undertaken later this year.

Belinda Rolle from the Mentoring program with At Risk young people called
Plan-it Youth has arranged for John to maintain a mentor role at St. Michael's
Secondary College.  This involves two hours per week during each school term.

Another dimension to John's vocational service is his acceptance of an invitation
by the Queensland Law Society to lecture on legal and civil matters to secondary
school students. This is a State wide project and the extent of John's involvement
has not been fully determined. John has expressed his intention to pass onto the
students the Rotary message and ideals during these lectures.

The efforts of John Smith as above outlined provide an outstanding example of
Vocational Service to the wider community through his vocation. His example
is an inspiration to all Rotarians.