Bruce keeps fish sweet

By Lia Bichel
A COMMUNITY minded man who enjoys helping young patients smile through his ongoing voluntary work at the Dandenong Hospital, recently received a Holt Australia Day Community Service Award for his contributions.
For more than 30 years, Kiwanis Club member Bruce Gower has maintained a six-foot tropical fish tank at the children’s ward at the Dandenong Hospital.
The Narre Warren man is a former teacher.
“I like to contribute, and I have always been into tropical fish,” he said.
“I would like to keep helping out for as long as I can.”
Mr Gower is the longest-serving member of the Kiwanis Club of Berwick, which was originally called the Kiwanis Club of Dandenong when it was formed in 1974.
Kiwanis is an organisation devoted to helping children throughout the world and projects are designed to build better futures for children and others within the community.
Kiwanis International has more than 13,000 local clubs in more than 90 countries and has more than 600,000 members.
The local club’s involvement with the Dandenong Hospital began in 1977, when Mr Gower was the club’s president.
The club built a house in Dandenong and used the proceeds to provide physiotherapy equipment for the hospital. At that time, the club also purchased, installed and stocked a fish tank in the children’s ward and since then, Mr Gower has taken on the responsibility of servicing it.
Club secretary Norman McLennan said Mr Gower’s continued involvement for more than 33 years iwa a “truly magnificent example of dedication and community service.”
The Kiwanis club has also supplied calico trauma dolls to the children’s ward and donated funds for the purchase of the first portable pulse oxymeters.
Kiwanis has also contributed to a number of other clubs and organisations, including donating funds for wheelchairs and ramps to houses for people with disabilities.
Mr McLennan said the group prided themselves on carrying out practical, hands on tasks.
“Our most recently completed project, completed on behalf of Scope, was a front fence and a gate for a family in Hampton Park who have an autistic child,” Mr McLennan said.
Mr McLennan said the club was always interested in hearing from people who are looking for ways to contribute to the community.
The club meets at 7.30pm on the first and third Tuesday of each month at the Central Hotel in Beaconsfield. Anyone interested in joining can contact Norman McLennan on 9707 1938.