A JOINT PROJECT OF THE ROTARY CLUBS OF WANNEROO, WA and HORNSBY , NSW
Foreign Coins Collection.
This is part of Rotary Wanneroo's Internatioal Program.
Rotary clubs throughout the world and especially in Australia have been involved in a program entitled Rotarians Against Malaria designed to help in the fight against malaria. Rotary clubs in Australia raise funds, distribute bed nets, arrange education programs and assist in diagnosis and treatment. Some of the money raised goes towards research into prevention, an enormous task. Most of the work of Australian Rotary clubs and the national committee in this project is carried out in the Solomon Islands, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and elsewhere in the South West Pacific.
One project to raise money for our anti-malaria campaign involves the collection and repatriation of unwanted foreign coins and notes. Travellers returning to Australia from overseas countries bring with them leftover coins and notes of small denominations from the countries they have visited. This money is usually too low in value to be changed back into Australian Currency so the travellers donate it to the Rotary charity collection. It has no value in Australia. Foreign coins cannot be converted within Australia.
The Rotary Club of Hornsby in New South Wales, assisted by Rotary Clubs in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Northern Territory, Queensland and the ACT, collects the unwanted coins and notes from Exchange Booths , Bendigo Bank branches and some other sources in cities throughout Australia. The coins and notes are then sorted and returned (by Rotarians, families and friends who happen to be travelling overseas) to their country of origin where they are converted into Australian dollars or larger denomination local currency notes. Coins and notes for more remote or less visited countries are sent through a Rotary agent.
The proceeds from this process are used for two charity purposes. A large proportion of the money collected is given to the Rotarians Against Malaria program. The remainder of the money is used for a range of other charitable international projects of Rotary, in particular for health, education and welfare of people, especially children, in poor areas of the world. Over $300,000 (Australian) has been raised by the coin collection program over the last eight years.