Rotary projects around the globe

Rotary projects around the globe

September 2024

By Brad Webber

Canada

About 200 college students, faculty, and community members took turns swinging baseball bats at junkyard vehicles during a Car Smash for Charity event organized by the Rotaract Club of Vancouver-University of British Columbia. The fundraiser, held each of the past three years before final exams, “offers people a fun way to relieve stress or test their own strength, while supporting a wonderful cause,” says Sara Lee, a past co-president of the club. The event, held on the campus quad in April, raised more than $2,200 Canadian for education-related endeavors. A scrap car company delivered a Volkswagen and a Chevrolet and collected the remnants afterward for recycling. “Our team is continually amazed at the response the event receives,” Lee says.

United States

The Rotary Club of Patchogue in New York has raised more than $138,000 over the past dozen years by feting civic and business leaders in rollicking style. The most recent soiree, held in March to roughly coincide with St. Patrick’s Day, attracted nearly 250 guests. Attendees paid $125 each for food and drinks and to listen to friends and relatives roast local celebrities. “There were some slightly embarrassing stories of their childhood and baby pictures,” says Paul Moran, a club member and organizer. A band featuring Moran and other Rotarians performed cover tunes to help lead the merriment. More than $17,000 was donated to the Patchogue Community Service Foundation, principally for youth services, including Camp Pa-Qua-Tuck, a residential program for people with disabilities that is operated by Rotary District 7255.

England

Christopher Hill was diagnosed with a heart condition at age 38. A past president of the Rotary Club of Bolton Lever in Greater Manchester, he has since become an advocate for automated external defibrillators. In 2022, Hill’s club joined five other Bolton-area Rotary clubs to purchase a nearly $1,900 defibrillator for the Bolton Steam Museum. “When you are out there in the countryside, you can be miles and even hours from one,” but when needed, Hill says, “it is needed in minutes.” Hill takes to area trails as leader of a walking group, prompting the Bolton Lever club to acquire a portable, single-use defibrillator that Hill carries on the treks. All 33 club members have attended training sessions and refresher courses on how to operate the machines.

Italy

Brushes and rollers in hand, members of the Rotary Club of Torino Lagrange converged on a youth center to supply a fresh coat of paint. The club members spent a weekend in April and about $1,500 sprucing up the facility, which offers counseling services and a gathering place for people ages 14 to 28. “The aim is to help young people overcome difficult moments and face changes in a welcoming, confidential, and judgement-free environment,” says club member Raffaele Battaglini. The club partnered with students at an arts high school who made paintings for the center.

India

The Rotary Club of Bombay Seacoast staged a concert and high tea reception in May for about 150 veterans injured on duty and their families. Club members tapped their connections with local celebrities, among them the emcee, Neeta Mirchandani, the wife of club member and singer Vijay Mirchandani. “The jawans (soldiers) participated with full joy and excitement as several kept dancing and clapping to the music, with the families of many joining in toward the end,” says Sampath Iyengar, a past club president. “Some of the jawans seated on chairs or in wheelchairs participated as a mark of solidarity, their chairs lifted by their fellow jawans who still had strength in their arms, love in their hearts, and deep empathy for their fellow ex-soldiers without limbs.”

This story originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of Rotary magazine.   

Visit :-

https://www.rotary.org/en/rotary-projects-around-globe-september-2024

                                                                  

 

Rotary projects around the globe

 

Rotary projects around the globe

October 2024

By Brad Webber

Rotary members and their partners in service come together each World Polio Day on 24 October to recognize progress in the fight to end the disease. Here is a sample of the ways members are taking action to make history and eradicate polio.

Colombia

Sonia Uribe and her husband, Alberto Londoño, created a stuffed animal collection called El Zoo del Amor, or the Zoo of Love, to comfort seriously ill children and raise money for polio eradication. Sales of Anna the giraffe, Lucas the tiger, and other animals — each wearing a shirt with Rotary and End Polio Now logos — have raised about $550,000 since their introduction in 2018. In addition to giving the animals to sick children, Rotarians carry them on their travels and snap photos of them at iconic landmarks. “All these animals have traveled, being ambassadors of the Rotary brand,” says Uribe, a member of the Rotary Club of Nuevo Medellín and, like Londoño, a past governor of District 4271. Londoño is a member of the Rotary Club of Medellín Nutibara. The couple also manage the Fundación Monica Uribe Por Amor, which assists children with spina bifida.

United States

The Rotary Club of Scranton, Pennsylvania, is helping a new generation learn about polio. Students from Dunmore High School have created a documentary based on interviews conducted during a polio and health policy symposium that the club and District 7410 organized for World Polio Day 2023. The film features interviews with International PolioPlus Committee Chair Michael McGovern, other Rotarians, and symposium attendees, and is scheduled for broadcast during the club’s World Polio Day events this month. “It is hard to get hands-on with history,” says Alan Roche, a Dunmore teacher who enlisted about 40 students to produce the video, which includes interviews with three local polio survivors, one of whom taught at the high school. The project was an eye-opener for the young people, he says. “It’s usually a page or two in the textbook, a blip in a slideshow,” Roche says. “It’s one thing to just learn about this and another to talk to someone who was affected by it and lives in your hometown.”

France

More than a dozen Rotarians and friends in southeastern France donned inflatable dinosaur costumes and stumbled along a 100-meter course in a playful footrace that raised funds and awareness for Rotary’s mission to end polio. Organized by District 1730, the T-Rex Race took place last October during the Fréjus International Air Festival, a kite fair that draws thousands of people. “The idea came to me to create an event to rejuvenate the image of Rotary in the fight against polio,” says Dinh Hoan Tran, the district’s immediate past governor and member of the Rotary Club of Nice. Spectators could place bets on the contestants. “We made people laugh and we informed people,” says Tran. More than 40 of the district’s 71 clubs participated in the event, as the district motivated clubs to “support PolioPlus to the tune of about $45,000,” he says.

South Africa

To draw attention to the need for vigilance and vaccinations, the Rotary Club of Newlands assembled Rotary members and others for a World Polio Day photo shoot with the landmark Table Mountain in the background. On the day of the shoot, however, a heavy mist enveloped the site. “We made the best of it, chatting and taking selfies, until eventually the sun came out,” says Past President Janey Ball. She used RI’s polio resources toolkit to create artwork for selfie frames and set up a Facebook event called Make Polio History to record the pictures and raise awareness. To encourage Rotary members, Ball suggested using the slogan “focus on the finish.” “The selfie frames have been in continuous use since the event, moving from one club to another,” she says.

Japan

Yoichiro Miyazaki switched into high gear to raise money for the PolioPlus Society. Miyazaki, a member of the Rotary Club of Tokyo Mitaka, cycled the length of Japan last October, covering 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) in 24 days. “If you don’t act, there’s no point,” he tells Rotary Italia magazine, using a slogan developed for his year as governor of District 2750 in 2023-24. Along the way, fellow district governors, other Rotarians, and well-wishers cheered for him as he traversed twisting roads, uphill climbs, and tunnels. RI General Secretary John Hewko, another avid cyclist, offered a video message of support. Prompted by news coverage of his ride, donors contributed $140,000. Miyazaki continues to pedal strong: In late April, he finished the Osaka-to-Tokyo challenge just three hours shy of the 30-hour goal en route to more fundraising for polio.

This story originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of Rotary magazine.

Visit :-

https://www.rotary.org/en/rotary-projects-around-globe-october-2024

Rotary projects around the globe

 

Rotary projects around the globe

January 2025

                                 By Brad Webber

United States

After New Orleans signed a sister cities agreement with its French namesake, Orléans, in 2018, Rotary clubs in the two cities forged their own international ties. Looking to celebrate the connection, the New Orleans club discovered that both cities have Joan of Arc festivities and select a high school student to represent the French national heroine in parades and events, says Gayle Dellinger, a member of the Louisiana club. In true Rotary fashion, the clubs decided to create an exchange opportunity for their cities’ “Joans.” In June, the American “Joan,” Marley Marsalis, a member of the legendary jazz family and a pianist herself, visited Orléans as a guest of French Rotarians. This month, the American Rotarians will host the French “Joan,” Maÿlis Boët. The Joans ride in each other’s parade and visit historical sites. “It gives you hope for the future and gets you excited,” New Orleans club member Sarah Dickerson says. “It’s so uniting for absolutely everybody involved.”

Canada

Since 2020 the Rotary Club of Toronto has supported the Toronto Wildlife Centre, which rehabilitates 300 species of sick and injured animals. The club has donated more than $18,000 to construct enclosures for bats, mourning doves, woodpeckers, water birds, squirrels, and groundhogs. Hammers and drills in hand, club members Kurt Kroesen, Stuart Muirhead, and Michele Guy joined other volunteers and employees in October to assemble a structure for red squirrels. Nathalie Karvonen, the organization’s founder and executive director, lauds the Rotarians for their devotion. “Their generosity is giving hundreds of wild patients each year a safe space in which to prepare for a healthy life back in the wild,” she says.

England

A cavalcade of 120 vintage vehicles, including tractors, steam lorries, and penny-farthing bicycles, rolled into the Mortimer Fairground in June for a fundraiser of the Rotary Club of Reading Matins. The Transport Through the Ages event drew about 4,000 people and raised more than $13,000 for charities. The idea came from similar shows held during celebrations of the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and the coronation of King Charles III. “We are delighted at the success of the event and the amount of money raised for the charities we feel so passionate about,” says Club President Valerie Robinson. The resulting fanfare has encouraged the Rotarians to reprise the fundraiser in the future, says club member Carrie Wise.

India

After heavy rains triggered flooding and landslides in India’s northeastern state of Tripura in August, the Rotary Club of Agartala City and the Rotaract clubs of Agartala City and Agartala Central mobilized to help. The clubs set up relief camps providing food, clothing, health care, and medicines in Agartala, reaching 400 people. During a second phase, club members distributed groceries and sanitary pads among 125 families in a remote village that was devastated by the floods. “Villagers lost all their belongings. Farms and agricultural crops were destroyed,” says Agartala Rotary club member Anannya Das. Rotary members also organized clinics in the region where patients could see pediatricians, eye specialists, dermatologists, and general practitioners, including Rotarian doctors.

Philippines

Members of the Rotaract Club of Calumpit are passionate about supporting young people with disabilities through skill development and advocacy. As part of their Breaking Barriers initiative, they’ve recorded podcasts on the rights and challenges of people with disabilities. In August, Rotaractors and members of the Rotary Club of Calumpit visited an elementary school, offering hygiene kits, medicine, and school supplies to 160 students with disabilities, as well as mentoring in reading, writing, and art. “The event was met with overwhelming positive feedback from participants, who appreciated the thoughtful activities and valuable resources provided,” says Rotaract Club President Daniel Balingit. A session for caregivers was especially well received, he says. “It offered a safe space for mothers to share their experiences and gain insights into managing the mental health and psychological needs of their children.”

This story originally appeared in the January 2025 issue of Rotary magazine.

Visit :-

https://www.rotary.org/en/rotary-projects-around-globe-january-2025

Rotary projects around the globe

 

Rotary projects around the globe

February 2025

By Brad Webber

Mexico

District 5300 has provided homes for dozens of families in northern Mexico since 2008 through a tradition it calls “super builds,” a yearly day of construction by Rotary members from California and Nevada. The 16-by-20-foot homes are built through a partnership with the California-based nonprofit Corazón. The $18,500 cost per family pays for materials as well as school uniforms, books, and scholarships, says Robin Smith, of the Rotary Club of Las Vegas Summerlin, who has coordinated the initiative for nearly a decade. “There are clubs that give monetarily,” she says. “There are also clubs that physically build the homes. Then we have clubs that are able to do both.” The 2025 build is scheduled for 3 May.

United States

The Rotary Club of Bradley-Bourbonnais in Illinois has found jigsaw puzzles featuring scenes from the community to be a fitting fundraiser. In September, the club unveiled its third annual installment, featuring a bucolic scene of an 1850s barn. The club runs a photo contest each June to find images for the puzzles, offering a $100 prize. It credits the photographer by name and promotes a link to the winner’s website. “We’re celebrating what our community has to offer,” says Julia Mullikin. “People are looking forward to getting each year’s puzzle.” Club members staff tables at markets and enlist merchants and museums to offer the puzzles, which sell for $30. “We use just about every portion of the box to promote our Rotary club,” says Frank Koehler. Proceeds support scholarships, student recognition, and ShelterBox.

Jamaica

Seven Rotary clubs and the Rotaract Club of Kingston came together to commission an interactive mural in the Jamaican capital. Scanning the painting with an app unlocks layers of additional information about topics including Rotary’s areas of focus, how to join, and how to contribute to The Rotary Foundation. “This mural is more than just an artistic expression,” says Steven Hudson, a past president of the Rotary Club of Kingston. “Each brushstroke symbolizes our dedication to these areas.” The clubs teamed up with the painter Anthony “Taoszen” Smith and digital artist Kianne Patrice Hutchinson to produce the augmented reality project in collaboration with Kingston Creative, a nonprofit art hub that promotes unity and economic development. “We are able to showcase who we are as Rotarians” through the mural, says Melissa Anderson, of the Rotary Club of Kingston East and Port Royal. “We change lives, one community at a time, and we want others with a heart of service to join us.”

Netherlands

A passion for peace prompted five Dutch Rotaract clubs to hold a symposium on conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. On 21 September, the International Day of Peace, club members welcomed Pappy Orion, founder of a nonprofit called Focus Congo, who discussed his journey from child soldier to peacebuilder. The event included panel discussions on the humanitarian crisis and celebrated Congolese food, visual arts, music, and dance. “Our club adopted the project because we want to raise hands, raise awareness, and raise funds to raise hope in the region,” says Nicholas Egunjobi, of the Rotaract Club of The Hague International. The event raised about $7,400 for Orion’s nonprofit. “The projects we are aiming to support include building and maintaining camps for internally displaced people,” says Ana Zlatevski, a member of The Hague international club.

Nigeria

A year after installing a borehole well and toilet at a primary school, members of the Rotary Club of Kaduna returned to satisfy another infrastructure need. “The school was without desks at the time of a needs assessment, and the children were sitting on the floor,” Club President Portia Stephanie Aji says. A solution was at hand: School leaders had saved pieces of old furniture, and club members refashioned salvageable materials into desks and chairs. The club partnered with businesses and groups to provide the students with backpacks, dictionaries, notebooks, pens, and chalk at a hand-over ceremony in September during Rotary’s Basic Education and Literacy Month.

This story originally appeared in the February 2025 issue of Rotary magazine.

Visit :-

https://www.rotary.org/en/rotary-projects-around-globe-february-2025