Annual Report

It is with pleasure that I present the 2020 Annual Report showing Karagi Court Limited (Karagi) performance for the year.

As you know 2020 was seriously impacted by the effect of the COVID 19 pandemic and Karagi was not immune from the effects of this pandemic. Nonetheless, we were able to undertake a limited number of activities on behalf of charities on the Central Coast.

The success of Karagi could not be achieved without the assistance of our Directors and members. In particular I would like to give a special thanks to Robert Bedwell, our immediate Past President who had performed his role with distinction and was an outstanding leader of the organisation. I would also like to thank Graeme Ingall who had been our Secretary for a number of years.

Graeme not only developed effective reporting procedures, but had been an essential point of contact for our Charities, Regulators and community representative. While Graeme has handed over responsibility to Stuart Butler, he continues to support Stuart in the transition of secretarial responsibilities.

A big thank you to our Treasurer Christ Matthews, who has ensured that our financial records are in good shape. I also take the opportunity to thank Steve Hart and the Charity Committee for ensuring that applications for assistance are properly assessed and managed.

I am grateful for the technical assistance from Shanae Williams of BeeCee Web Services who has developed our web pages and Ipads. Simon Pierce has been an enormous support using his creative skills in the development and promotion of media releases as well as giving some greater visibility of Freemasons on the Central Coast on our website and Facebook page.

Following a workshop, we developed a prototype promotional brochure, which provides an overview of Freemasons on the Central Coast and its contribution to local charities. With Graeme Ingall’s historical knowledge of Karagi and Simon Pierce’s publishing skills, a brochure featuring Surf Lifesaving as a focus, was developed and has now been distributed to Surf Life Saving Clubs along the coast. The theme of the brochure can be changed to meet and promote the needs of any of our local charities.

Central Coast Kids In Need (CCKIN) is one of the local charities that Karagi supports. During the year we were fortunate to gain support from ‘A Current Affair’ on Channel 9 and hosted by Simon Bouda, who ran a segment on CCKIN. At that time CCKIN were struggling to gain financial support due to the impact of COVID, and were close to closing their operations.

Following the airing of the segment, CCKIN received an enormous amount of short and long term financial commitments and they are now able to continue with their support of Central Coast families.

While Karagi supports a number of charities on the coast, we must acknowledge the work done by the Central Coast Bulldogs (Masters Team). While they are beneficiaries of Karagi donations, they give back to the community more than they receive. Whenever there is a suggestion of fundraising activity for local charities is mentioned, they are only too happy to contribute and that always involves the entire team and their supporters. They are a credit to themselves and their community. Club members proudly wear their jerseys, which display the Freemasonry logo.

I would also like to thank the Management Team of the Ourimbah RSL club for allowing us to use their facilities to conduct our regular meetings.

A special thanks also to Shaun O’Farrell and his team from Fortunity Chartered Accountants and Financial Planners from Erina for their guidance and assistance.

Geoff Bown – President