Anne was the second woman to join the Rotary Club of Hawthorn, just 3 months after the late Ngaire Cannon in 1994. Anne and Ngaire would meet in the carpark of the Hawthorn Football Club before the meetings. If they went in and sat down, their tables would be the last filled, so they planned their entry and split across the room. The early months were a challenge but how things changed. Anne served as the Club’s President in 1999-2000 and has held a role on most committees.
With a volunteer background in youth work along with a personal belief in human nature and caring for people, Anne's prime focus has been on improving the situation for girls and young women through her involvement at local and state level with the Girl Guides, and later internationally with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). In 1989 Anne joined the newly-formed Olave Baden-Powell Society (OB-PS), the major fundraising organisation for WAGGGS, and served as President from 2000-2005 – its vision being: to enable girls and young women to develop their fullest potential as responsible citizens of the world.
Anne says she was fortunate to be involved in two international organisations which gave her the links, relationships and, through Rotary, the financial backing to implement projects. It was in 1998, following an OB-PS meeting in Ireland that she met Jennifer Chiwela from Zambia, the Director of Education in that country, who was planning to take early retirement to set up an NGO focusing on the children in rural areas suffering from drought, HIV/AIDS and poverty. Anne brought this need to the members of Hawthorn Rotary and the Club applied for a Foundation Grant to fund an education program to support this work.
Anne also organised to send six containers of educational supplies and school uniforms from Donations in Kind (DiK). She approached Dowd's for surplus donations of clothing, which led to an ongoing relationship with DiK. One major supporter was Ted Cunningham from Keilor Rotary who donated school uniforms. Anne and Ted continue to support ten grandmas bringing up 75 orphaned grandchildren due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
The synergy with Girl Guides and Rotary was also behind the move to restart Guiding in Myanmar. A Rotarian and guide leader in Japan with contacts in Myanmar asked Guides Australia to help. Through Past District Governors Dennis Shore and Ross Butterworth, an application was made for a Foundation grant to send Australian trainers to Myanmar. Through training of principals and head teachers, Guiding is now part of the school system with 1,500 girls joining in the first month—there are now over 45,000 members. In some countries Guiding is the only education that girls receive.
The power of the Rotary Foundation was evident when Anne signed the papers for Hawthorn Rotary to be a part of a humanitarian literacy grant for Kurdish women in Turkey, which was increased to include members of the Turkish army. This grant was for US$280,000 with the rollout over several years.
Anne has been a member of the Rotary District Youth Exchange Committee, RYLA Committee, an Assistant Governor and introduced the Shine On Awards to Victoria.
In 1987, Anne received recognition for services to the Girl Guides with a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM). She received Rotary International’s highest honour the ‘Service Above Self’ award at the District Conference in Hobart in 2015. Anne was also acknowledged for her work locally with the City of Boroondara Citizen of the Year in 2005.