Rotary projects around the globe
September 2024
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.
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