Rotary Foundation Update

 

Congratulations to Rochelle Dutt of the Rotary Club of Orrville on winning the Paul Harris Fellow Challenge and becoming a Paul Harris Fellow.

 

Thank you to all of you who supported our Paul Harris Fellow Challenge. This year, we raised nearly $25,000 for the Foundation, and over the past 4 years, we have raised more than $100,000 to “Do Good in the World.”

 

The District Wine Challenge last month generated an additional $17,000.

 

Remember, half of the funds donated to The Foundation are used by the World Fund to sponsor international projects, and half of the money comes back to the District in three years to provide Global Grant Support and Local Grant Support. We all SHARE the donations made by our members.

 

 

Our District can be very proud of our international work through The Rotary Foundation. We currently have ongoing Rotary Global Grant projects providing funding for classroom-based libraries for elementary schools in Cam Lo, Vietnam; advanced life support equipment and education in Honduras; farmers cultivating land in Oholi, India; 600 portable computers for schools in Marthwada and Palghar, India; acid-attack survivor support in Uganda; mini-science centers in India; ophthalmic equipment for The Rotary Clinic in Kashmir, India; a Boys & Girls Club van in St Thomas; mobile children day centers (creches) at the construction sites in Pune, India; a hospital-based dialysis center in the Philippines; and our Military Family Veterans Center in Louisville, Ohio, which opened this fall.

 

We have two new projects approved by the District Foundation Board:

 

PDG Sieglinda Warren and PDG-6600 Do Nguyen have received support for a new project in Vietnam assisting the poor and/or disabled. The new request involves Vinh Thai, one of poorest communes of Phu Vang district, Thua Thien Hue province, Vietnam. The population of Vinh Thai is about 6,300 people, of which more than 200 people are poor and/or suffer disability. The grant would attempt to create a long-term sustainable solution that could help create a stable income to help improve the quality of life of the poor and/or disabled people of the village.  The goal is to help them raise chickens and sell eggs creating jobs and generating income through a self-help group mechanism that includes appropriate training, maintaining chicken raising activities, supporting local sale of eggs and chickens, and creating the rules needed by the beneficiaries in developing these activities. The estimated grant is $58,000 USD.

 

PDG Meena Patel has received support for additional Global Grant to work with D3132 in India with whom we have had a number of successful projects. They wish to distribute 75 E-Learning Kits in and around Solapur, India, to be assist 125,000 students to become more literate. The Rotary Club of Solapur is the 8th oldest in India. This would add to our other recent educational projects in India including creating mini science centers to assist education of science and technology (STEM) by providing equipment and education to children in villages with no science ($1.3K DDF, $32K Total Grant) and providing 600 portable computer projector and mini PC systems for schools to improve literacy ($0K DDF, $32K Total Grant).

 

If you or your club wishes to be part of either or both grants, please mail a check made to The Rotary Foundation with a note in the memo for the project. I will hold the funds until approved by The Foundation.

 

 

 

This year our District distributed $47,204 to 32 Clubs who submitted requests for Local District Grant funds provided by the Rotary Foundation.

 

Final Reports will be due May 15^th. Please return the final report when your project is complete: http://rotary6650.org/FinalReport.pdf  

 

New Local District Grant requests amount will be available soon. Emails will be sent to the President/President Elect/Foundation Chairs. These will be due June 15^th.

 

 

 

 

Please feel free to email or call me with questions/concerns.

 

Peter Apicella, M.D., DRFC

2205 Pearce St, Salem, OH 44460

330-207-0500 (cell)