(L-R) Club Secretary Danielle Japal, Club President Victor Crumbley, pictured with the
award and Rotary Sunrise Vice President Winston Connolly.

The Rotaract Club of Grand Cayman was awarded the ‘Rotaract Club of the Year’ award at a ceremony in Nassau, Bahamas, last weekend.

The achievement for the club comes for the second time in two years after it was initially chartered. This award was for Rotaract District 7020, which the Cayman Islands are part of.

This district represents 10 countries and is made up of 30 active clubs. Some of the member countries include: The Bahamas, The Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Haiti, St Maarten/St Martin and the British Virgin Islands (BVI).

President of the club, Victor Crumbley, accepted the award on behalf of the club from District Representatives for District 7020. Eight individuals from Cayman attended the ceremony, which saw roughly 150 members from over ten different countries. The event was held at Breezes by SuperClubs from Thursday, 8 to Sunday, 11 May.

“The first year we won, it came as a total surprise. This year however, I wanted it for my club because I felt we deserved it. It gives me great pleasure to bring this accolade back to the members as a reward for their commitment and dedication,” Victor Crumbley, President, said.

“They all should be extremely motivated after this. Back-to-back winnings are unprecedented, and the thought that we’ve done it is just amazing.”

According to Rotaract member and incoming club Secretary, Kristen Smith, the conference in Nassau was a wonderful experience that provided a lot of useful information as it also served as training for incoming officers.

“The conference was a chance to meet people from around the region and interact and learn from each other. It was very rewarding to meet people from around the region and find out the effect Rotaract is having on the community,” Kristen Smith said.

“We are proud of the people who went and came back with lots of passion, all ready to go and help the community. The networking at this conference has been invaluable and will push us to work harder to keep our position as ‘Club of the Year’.”

Members of the club present at the conference were inspired to learn that many other Rotaract clubs in District 7020 looked to the Grand Cayman Rotaract Club as an example, and were anxious to meet and share ideas.

To highlight just a couple of this year’s efforts, the club partnered with Tony’s Toys for 15 weeks to sponsor a Junior Achievement Company as well as took part in extensive work with the Rotaract Club of Guyana to promote literacy as a part of its International efforts.

Rotaract is one of the youth arms of Rotary International and is for individuals between the ages of 18 and 30. The club is sponsored by Rotary Sunrise and the organization participates in activities such as community service, professional service and international service. Current membership sits at around 30 members with a few away on study leave.

The club meets every Thursday at 7:00 am at Icoa Fine Foods and Chocolate located in Seven Mile Shops.