Jean Haughton became the latest community member to be recognised with a Paul Harris Fellowship at the recent Rotary Club of Drouin Christmas dinner.
The dinner, attended by about 80 Rotarians and guests, was held at the Drouin Golf and Country Club.
Jean received her Paul Harris Fellowship for extended and diverse contributions to education, the arts and her community.
The club says Jean has a strong sense of social justice and environmental activism, taking an interest in Drouin land development and joining Friends of Drouin's Trees to try to save special trees and support wildlife.
She was heavily involved in a statue installation - "Three Kurnai Women" - in Civic Park to recognise and honour Dorothy Hood, Regina Rose and Euphemia Mullet.
Jean joined the Committee for Drouin and has been president since 2020.
She has worked on the Drouin Hub development and played a major role in a wall mural in Commercial Place.
Jean coached basketball when she taught at Lang Lang Primary School and played basketball and softball with local clubs.She has always been involved in amateur theatre, having performed in several Warragul Theatre Group musicals in the mid 1970s.
Having been involved in the Ficifolia Festival for many years, Jean's theatre passion led her to be co-founder of Off the Leash Theatre in 2010. She has written a number of plays.
Another highlight of the dinner was the successful auction of "Clem the Koala", purchased by Jess Cottier.
Her $150 winning bid will be added to the donations to the earlier "guess its name" competition, which nobody successfully did.
These $840 funds are in support of the Rotary "End Polio Now" campaign.
The koala is an initiative of the Rotary Passport Club in Queensland. All new issues have quickly sold out since initiated in 2021, with the 250 brought to the Rotary International Conference in Melbourne last May selling out in 24 hours.
The koala's name is Clem after Sir Clement Renouf AM who was president of Rotary International from 1978 to 1979.
In this role, he contributed significantly to the planned eradication of polio worldwide.