Probably the biggest project undertaken by the club was the building of two houses in one weekend to raise funds for The Wanganui Eyecare Trust to purchase a CT Scanner for Wanganui Hospital. Nelson Palmer of the Rotary Club of Wanganui was the convenor of the project and the two other clubs, Wanganui North and Wanganui South participated.
They persuaded dozens of building supply merchants to provide materials and 190 skilled tradesmen to donate their services and in two days, built two houses which were sold to Wanganui Boys College as hostel accommodation. The initial use
of the buildings however was as the administration centre for the N.Z. Masters
games in Wanganui.
The organisation required to complete the houses in two days was undertaken
by Nelson and the committee from the three clubs. Murray Wight coordinated the
building process. It was a successful effort and made a major contribution to the
scanner appeal which benefited from a whole series of community fundraisers at the
time.
The Wanganui Chronicle of the 2nd March 1993 reported the completion of the
project with a full page supplement naming and thanking all the firms and individuals
who contributed. The also showed a photograph of the $100,000 cheque presented
to Lifescan and the buildings in the background.
L to R :Colin Slaughter( Pres. Wanganui North), Brian O'Donnell (Pres Wanganui)
Nelson Palmer (Convenor), George Bowers (Pres. Wanganui South),
John Broadfoot (Eyecare Trust)
Note: In fact a MRI scanner was purchased and in 2004 the Eyecare trust has initiated another major appeal for a new MRI scanner with much improved resolution and performance. All Wanganui Clubs are making contributions to this appeal.