Roundabout Central West handed over its first fundraising proceeds on Wednesday – $7500 to the Premi-Babes Association for a jaundice monitor for Orange Health Service’s maternity unit, which will be ordered and delivered in the coming weeks, and $4000 to the RSPCA to put towards its desexing program.

Chairman Paul Cox said the funds were raised during the pre-Christmas period when the club manned a ham wheel and ran a Christmas stocking at Orange Central Shopping Centre.

“To me, [the jaundice monitor] made sense because it’s a non-invasive piece of equipment rather than sticking needles in babies,” he said.

The club started after the Rotary Club of Calare wound up.

“It was the lunchtime club and it folded because we lost members and it wasn't effective anymore,” Mr Cox said.

“Some joined other clubs but we established a community corps that’s focused on projects.”

The Rotary Club of North Orange sponsors the club, but Mr Cox said it was an autonomous entity.

“The two main differences are we only meet once a month [at Orange Ex-Services’ Club] and it only costs $20 a year to be a member,” he said.

“Rotary can be expensive to be part of and there’s a commitment with the weekly meetings whereas we’re very economical – keeping the cost down is really part of the whole thing so if someone’s retired on a pension, $20 isn’t a lot of money.”

The club boasts 12 members and the name Roundabout refers to members’ ability to come in and out depending on what projects they wanted to work on.

It started with Graffiti Removal Day in November, repainting bridges and bus stops.

Members have also provided dinners for CareWest Lodge, in addition to the Christmas fundraising.

For Easter, the club will run a chocolate wheel with hampers up for grabs and the money will support Rotary’s efforts to raise money for the training of Orange’s first guide dog.

Mr Cox encouraged people to visits the Roundabout Central West Facebook page for more information and to join.