SERVICES

Rosewood History

Night cart [night soil cart], Ipswich, 1907-1910. Built by Albert Edward Roberts, coach builder.
Photo: Picture Ipswich

The motto of Rotary Australia is “Service before Self”.

If that motto could become the predominating principle of every life in any town and city, what communities we would have!

The greatest of all needs in realising the future promise of any town is cooperation between all sections of the community. Without it, the welfare and advancement of a district and its people is affected.

The finest service of all is rendered by people who do not realise they are doing anything out of the ordinary. Such people would get the surprise of their lives if they saw themselves in print or other media being mentioned for doing anything noteworthy or heroic.

Real service calls for sacrifice and is born of compassion. It is the ability to understand and feel the suffering of others in their times of trouble and hardship.

Communities need many services, things that benefit and help them in some way, and the needs of a community are continually changing.

Volunteer services have the closest resemblance to Rotary’s motto. They are provided by people who give their time willingly for the common good and without financial gain. e.g. provision of meals, home care, child minding, home and yard maintenance and animal rescue.

Over the years the Red Cross has visited hospitals, aged care homes and ex-servicemen and provided services such as lending page turning machines and running their own libraries.

Social services are provided by the government of a nation for the benefit of the community. e.g. education, medical care, and housing.

Consumer/public services are directly provided by a specialized field to meet the needs and expectations of the public e.g. retail, health care, education, finance, energy supply, waste management and libararies.

Business services are conducted to keep businesses running smoothly. e.g. technology, shipping, obtaining or purchasing goods or service and finance.

Hospitality services are provided to the public at hotels, motels, resorts, restaurants, sports clubs, fitness clubs, health spas, beauty salons, catered functions, etc.

Communication services provide technology for transmitting information e.g. wired telephones, mobile phones, satellite, television, radio, print publications and internet.

Health services such as occupational, physiotherapy and speech therapy are other services necessary to meet community need.