The ARBOR. Rotary International - District District 7120 Foundation Newsletter - June 2015 Edition

Transcription

1 Rotary International - District 7120 The ARBOR District 7120 Foundation Newsletter - June 2015 Edition My Fellow Rotarians; As the Rotary year draws to a close I want to sincerely thank all of the clubs and individual Rotarians who so generously donated to the Rotary DG Scott & Vivian Foundation Annual Fund SHARE this past year. As I write this article a week prior to June 30, and last minute donations are still rolling in, we are approaching $180,000 to the annual fund and another $100,000 to other Foundation programs (grants, polio, and the endowment). That is a substantial record of which we can be proud. I am pleased to report that 41 of our 69 clubs completed 44 District Simplified Grants totaling more than $46,000. These grants, ranging from a $500 to $1800, were for such projects as community improvement and beautification, scholarships for graduating high school students, literacy projects in local schools and libraries, aid for people living in poverty, building latrines and school benches in Nicaragua, water purification in Mexico, and others. Under the new grant structure Global Grants are larger ($30,000 minimum) and must be sustainable. Rotarians are embracing this model as evidenced by the fact that at least 24 of our clubs have committed to at least one of our nine Global Grants that are either in the implementation or proposal stage. Read more about these grants later in The Arbor. We have good news on the PolioPlus front. Nigeria has not seen a case of polio since 24 July 2014, eleven months ago. The World Health Organization could remove it from its list of polio endemic countries as soon as September if no cases are reported. Nigeria would then have to go another two years without a case to be certified polio free. So far this year only 2 cases of the wild polio virus have been reported in Afghanistan and 23 in Pakistan compared to 4 and 67 at this same time last year. Significant progress is being made by dedicated people often under difficult and dangerous circumstances. This Close is getting even closer. The Rotary Foundation is the engine that drives the Rotary machine around the world and, increasingly, right at home. The Foundation relies on you to carry on. I would like to close with an excerpt from the speech Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair John Kenny, gave at the recent RI convention in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Let our hearts be large enough to support the programs of the Rotary Foundation. Let our hands be busy enough to carry out these programs, and let our minds be wise enough to support these programs Whether Rotary will thrive or whether it will falter, whether our service will mean much to many or little to few, whether Rotary is known with respect or seen as a relic of days gone by, all this is up to you. If we truly intend to LIGHT UP ROTARY, if we truly wish to do justice to those who have come before us, if we truly intend to achieve everything of which we are capable, we will rely every day on the strength of our Foundation. And the strength of our Foundation is in your hands. Thank you. Yours in Rotary service, DG Scott

2 June 2015 THE ARBOR Page 2 A Message from your District 7120 Rotary Foundation Chair - Jeff Krans I just love it when a plan comes together! The power and effect of 2,500 district Rotarians leveraging their annual fund donations is truly impressive. Forty clubs completed District Simplified Grants, four clubs had two grants. Four clubs spearheaded global grants, and the district supported four more. In every case, contributions from clubs were magnified by support received from partners and from The Rotary Foundation. The end result: we re doing fantastic humanitarian service both at home and in the wider world. The DSG list is posted on the DSG webpage, found by a link from the Foundation home page on the District 7120 Website: At the end of the year, we had $927 left in our District Grant account, which we donated to Corning s efforts to provide relief to Nepal after their devastating earthquake this spring. The generosity of our clubs and district allowed Corning to send over $11,000! See their report later in this issue of the Arbor. Three other clubs had a second grant, all three for scholarships. On the global grant side, The Foundation s World Fund and our trusted partners in places like District 2420 in Turkey and District 3060 in India helped us fund much larger projects than ever before. Please see several articles in this issue updating the progress being made on specific grants. We have been posting updates on grants sponsored by our district and clubs in the Grapevine through the year, but a complete list is seen in the spreadsheet later in this issue of the Arbor. And, as always, full records of the grants are available upon request from me, grants chair Chuck Turner, or Vice Chair Ellen Hughes. Funding grants often requires sponsors to request cash donations in addition to the District funds available, especially when grants reach the $50,000 level or beyond. This year twenty-four clubs donated to three of our grants, fourteen to the water project in Nicaragua alone. Those donations are deeply appreciated: without them, we could not be doing so much to provide clean water, educational opportunity, and community health care support where it is desperately needed. I should note that for four of the eight global grants we were asked only to provide DDF. In those cases, trusted partners with good track records asked for our help, and the grants team provided it to support good causes. As we move into a period with more limited DDF, we will be asking partners such as these to support our efforts. In closing, let me extend my heartfelt thanks to all our Rotarians whose generosity in donating to the Annual Programs Fund SHARE make these efforts possible! Thanks also to a remarkable team of GMS presenters and Foundation Committee members who help make all this possible. Coming in November District 7120 s Foundation Brunch with a NEW format Keep Sunday, November 15th open on your calendar.

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4 June 2015 THE ARBOR Page 4 Congo Project Receives Major Award Rotary District 9150 at their conference held in Kigali, Rwanda has recognized our project in Bolenge as the most outstanding WASH project (Water Sanitation and Hygiene) in the District for To put things in perspective District 9150 includes 10 countries: Burundi, Cameroon, Centrafrique, Congo Brazza, Gabon, Guinea, Republic Democratic of Congo, Rwanda. Sao Tome and Chad. Congratulations go to Leon Fontier who envisioned this grant and the supporting clubs of Corning, Elmira Heights, Hornell, and Penn Yan who helped make it possible. The village of Bolenge and its school servicing 2,000 students are helping implement the water, sanitation, and hygiene project. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) three quarters of the population lack access to safe drinking water. Only one in five has adequate sanitation facilities, and villagers are unaware of, or practice, adequate hygiene or environmental sanitation. Our grant is changing those realities! Throughout the year, there have been articles describing Leon s progress. For this report, we have an update on wells servicing the school. Pictured at left - the hand-operated well drilling device drills down at least sixty feet. The drilling team has a testing kit that certifies the water as clean and free of bacteria. Pictured at right - children gather to collect water. Leon s team constructed the cement pad for well water overflow.

5 June 2015 THE ARBOR Page 5 The Ko, Ghana International Project Update The Ko, Ghana International Project was designed to help the residents of the village of Ko in the Upper Northwest Region of Ghana address goals dealing with the following Areas of Focus: disease prevention and treatment; economic and community development; maternal and child health and education and literacy A typical 5 phase project management approach is being followed which is supported by the framework of the Global Grant process. This includes: 1. Concept Development includes performing a needs assessment and evaluating the benefits to be derived by the organization. 2. Project Plan Development defining the scope of the project in detail including a detailed list of tasks to be accomplished and those who will be responsible for their completion. During this phase desired outcomes are identified and documented. 3. Project Implementation this includes review of the tasks with the project team members and management of the associated timeline. 4. Performance Management managing the actual implementation against the project plan and timeline. 5. Project Evaluation and Closure as project tasks are completed, data collection becomes the focus so that the project can be evaluated against the desired outcomes to determine the projects level of success (or failure). Concept Development & Project Plan Development - after becoming aware of the needs of the village of Ko in Ghana, a detailed examination of those needs took place through our liaison, Fr. Peter Anglaaere, who resides in Hornell, NY but grew up in Ko, Ghana. He is now proud to claim dual citizenship for both Ghana and the United States having become a US citizen last year. As we learned more and more about the residents of the village and the surrounding areas, the priorities became evident for which needs we should address. In an effort to validate these needs, two of us (Mike Slovak and Ray Defendorf) traveled to Ko with Fr. Peter to meet with the Village Chief and his Village Development Council to gain a more detailed understanding of the area and the needs of its people. We also wanted to meet the members of the host club, the Bolgatanga Goodwill Rotary Club of Ghana, who would be managing the finance procedures of the project. This trip was not funded by any grant as all funds raised went to support the project directly. Soon after our return from Ko we went through multiple iterations of the project plan and completion of the global grant process. This took several months and included the time to gain Rotary International approval after a number of their suggested modifications. As a result we wound up with a global grant totaling $47,108 which covered the purchase of: mosquito nets to aid in the fight against malaria. 2. Medical equipment and supplies for local medical clinic to improve medical outcomes with a focus on improved health of mothers and infants hand/treadle sewing machines, fabric, materials and supplies for the training of young women at the Oscar Morin Centre for Women, a local vocational school. (without any increase in funds we were able to purchase 20 additional sewing machines for a total of 40.) A second, separate, educational grant with no matching funds totaling $12,000 was also developed. (Continued on Page 6)

6 June 2015 THE ARBOR Page 6 The Ko, Ghana International Project Update - (continued): This grant provides tuition assistance, room and board, school books and other educational materials and supplies. We are still looking for partners to raise $5,300 to complete our goal of $12,000. Project Implementation and Performance Management Upon approval of the global grant we began the process of ordering all the required equipment and supplies from the identified vendors. As of May 2015 all equipment, materials and supplies had been delivered and invoices paid. These materials and supplies are currently being implemented. This is where we currently stand in the process. It has taken a full year to get to this point in the Project Evaluation and Closure - We will report the results of our data collections and assessments over time. From this we will determine the overall success of the project and possible actions and or projects we may want to investigate. The Bath, NY Rotary Club would like to offer special thanks to our partners which include community members and Rotarians from the Bolgatanga Goodwill Rotary Club of Ghana, the Ontario-Walworth, Wayland, Corning, Waterloo, and Naples Rotary Clubs plus $15,000 of DDF from our District 7120 Leadership who helped make this project a reality. Please feel free to contact Mike Slovak at (607) or slovakmj@gmail.com for more Pictured at left: Sr. Benedicta, second from left, is the headmistress of the Oscar Morin Women s Center (vocational school). Next to her is Mr. Columbus Bondong, Physician s Assistant who runs the village clinic that also received equipment and supplies from the grant. Pictured also are two students and another nun who is a teacher. The mailbox looking item is one of many sewing machines, sitting next to sewing supplies purchased with the grant.

7 June 2015 THE ARBOR Page 7 VTT??? By Ellen Hughes I am sure when many of you see VTT your first thought is oh, please...not another acronym. Can't we let it go at DSG, GMS, GSE, etc., etc.? But please bear with me a moment...a VTT is a vocational training team. It is the part of a global grant that sends a team from one country to another for the purpose of teaching and/or learning. Last year (at the end of my governor year...and what do past governors do anyway???), DG Scott asked me to pursue a VTT for our district. Working with one of our partner districts in Turkey, a grant was developed that purchases needed hospital supplies for them and sends a team of two doctors here to observe and learn at the Cleft and Craniofacial Anomalies Center and the Kessler Burn Clinic which are located at Strong Memorial and Golisano Children's Hospital. That team is now scheduled to arrive in our district on July 4 and stay for two weeks. Working with me to create an educational and interesting two weeks have been Dan Barletta from the Greece Club and Melisande McCheyne from the hospital. Together we have scheduled them to work with doctors, secured lodging and daily transportation and planned after hours activities. In the evening they will visit the following Rotary Clubs: Spencerport, Cal-Mum and Scottsville, Monroe Co. South, Brighton, Ontario Walworth and Victor Farmington. Dave and Judy Luitweiler have agreed to take them for a day trip to Niagara Falls. Mark Wyse and Jim Hughes will take them to a Rochester Red Wings Game. Ellen Hughes will take them to the Outlet Mall and some local wineries. At this writing they are free July 10th in the evening. I think by then they may want to rest but if you have an idea to entertain them, please let Ellen know. They are also free Friday July 17 which is the night before they leave. I do not as yet have their travel plans. If your club would like to host a farewell dinner, again please let Ellen know. This is a wonderful opportunity to improve the lives of numerous children. How lucky we are to have the resources we have that we can share! If your club has an idea for a grant for the Rotary year that would include a team from here going to another country, you know how to get in touch with me! ( , ellenhughes13-14@rochester.rr.com ) Thank you for all you do to make our humanitarian efforts possible. Rochester Deaf sponsors Children are Hearing Grant The Istanbul-Erenkoy Rotary club and the Rochester Deaf Rotary club are collaborating on a global grant to provide rehabilitation of children with congenital hearing deficiency. This is the second time these two clubs have mounted an effort and obtained a grant to address the hearing needs of over three dozen children. The Rochester Deaf Club, a small club, presented the needs of these children to other District 7120 Rotary clubs and received much needed financial support from the Perry, Honeoye Lake, Rochester Latino, Rochester NW, Pittsford, Rochester, and Greece Rotary Clubs. District 7120 provided District Designated Funds (DDF) to round out the financing package. The Istanbul-Erenkoy Club also received support from the Napoli East Rotary Club in Italy as well as DDF from their own District This grant is a perfect example of the way clubs and districts span the globe for contacts to work together for a meaningful humanitarian grant. (continued on Page 8)

8 June 2015 THE ARBOR Page 8 Children are Hearing Grant (continued) In this case, thirty-nine children less than one year old will receive hearing aids that will permit them to hear. The audiology center at Istanbul University Hospital tests all children born there every year, and identifies those with hearing deficiencies. Unfortunately, many families cannot afford the necessary hearing aids, and this grant makes it possible for their children to hear. The audiology center provides training for the families and tracks the children s progress for five years to assure their hearing problems are resolved. This project helps assure the children do not develop speech and phonetic problems they would without the hearing aids. At five years of age, the children would be ready for implants to continue being able to hear. Members of the Rochester Deaf Rotary Club are working on a pamphlet to provide to families for additional understanding and support needed by these children. The Istanbul-Erenkoy club will publish the pamphlet in Turkish and hopefully utilize it not only for the families benefiting from this grant but also for other families in the future. As with many grants, the Foundation staff posed several questions about sustainability and training that required further elaboration after the initial grant application was submitted. That seems normal to the Foundation Committee members now, but comes as a worrisome eventuality to clubs. With good communication between grant partners, the questions were answered within a week and the grant approval followed very soon afterward. Now, it is on to implementation and reporting on the good work being done! Foundation Area Directors Area 1 Peter Wallin, Chemung Sunrise peter@wallininsurance.com Area 2 Mary Fuller, Belmont fullernana@aol.com Area 3 Joanne Sheehan, Bath jmsheehan925@gmail.com W H Area 4 Mark Evans, Avon collectorsarchive@gmail.com Area 5 Suzie Coleman, Bloomfield token12@frontiernet.net Area 6 Elaine McCaig, Red Jacket elmccaig@aol.com Area 7 Jeff Cassim, Waterloo jcassim@carolina-eastern.com W H Area 8 Bob Owens, Rush-Henrietta robert.owens66@yahoo.com Area 9 Sandy McLellen, Spencerport smclellan2@gmail.com H C Area 10 Herb Gauch, Webster gauchht@rochester.rr.com Area 11 Dana Marsh, Newark dgmarsh@rochester.rr.com Area 12 Barb Harper, Clyde b28j02@tds.net Area 13 Elisa DeJesus, Rochester Latino lisab1@rochester.rr.com W H

9 June 2015 THE ARBOR Page 9 Nepal s House with Heart and Corning Rotary The members of the Corning Rotary International Committee are most grateful to the Rotary Clubs and individual members who have contributed to the fund to help provide temporary shelter and relief for the residents of House with Heart (formerly known as Ghar Sita Mutu) in Nepal who were forced out into wet, crowded tents by the catastrophic earthquakes of April and May. In particular, we would like to recognize Belmont, Bloomfield, Brockport, Canandaigua, Lyons, Perry, Red Creek, Rochester, Seneca Falls, Victor Farmington, Wayland, and Waterloo Rotary Clubs, and District 7120, who between them have contributed $6,926; in addition, $3,000 was contributed by the Corning Club. Another $1,575 was contributed by individuals from Corning and throughout the district, making a grand total of $11,501 to date. to expand its outreach every year under the leadership of Beverly who serves as president and CEO of the organization. Our International Committee had been discussing ways to help House with Heart, when news reached us that the Orphanage had been struck by armed robbers, who had made off with money, cameras, mobile phones, and computers. Through Beverly Bronson, and after several false starts, contact was made with Rotarian Shyam Sundar Dubhanel, President of the Rotary Club of Bhaktapur, and a matching grant project, finally totaling $13,998, was approved in 2011 by The Rotary Foundation; $4,000 of this was funded by Corning Rotary. This grant funded a new computer and upgraded security measures, including a an extensive CCTV security system, alarms, and physical improvements such as a raised wall topped by concertina wire around the orphanage. Also provided was an earthquake proof safe store room. This store room was the only undamaged building at House with Heart following the earthquakes and aftershocks of House with Heart - post earthquake Corning Rotary has had a significant history with House with Heart since a Thursday in On that day Colleen Boland, Chair of the House with Heart board, made a presentation to our Club about Beverly Bronson, the founder, who came across two small children in Krishna and Babu aged five and two were huddled in front of a tin hut after being abandoned by their mother. Since that time, House with Heart has built a facility that houses the children s home and an education and skills training center, and continues Going back to School (continued on Page 10)

10 June 2015 THE ARBOR Page 10 House with Heart (continued): Since 2010, we have maintained contact with Beverly, and she has visited our Club on more than one occasion, giving a short presentation on House with Heart and the new security system at our annual Dinner. In October, 2012, we heard that the House had suffered from a severe infestation of bed bugs, and all of the 27 wooden bed frames and mattresses needed replacement. Corning Rotary sent a check for $3,500, which was sufficient to cover the replacement costs. In 2014, a group of Rotarians from Corning traveled to Kathmandu, and visited House with Heart, meeting the children and managers. They were impressed and moved by what they saw. In October 2014, we sent $1,100 for the purchase of two computers and desks that the older children could use for school work. Since 2001, Corning Rotary has organized an International Dinner which recognizes the many people who have come to live in our neighborhood from other countries. Through this event, we have raised over $160,000 for charitable work throughout the world. Thanks to the Rotary Foundation and our District Grants Programs, we have multiplied that sum many times for many projects. We are most grateful to have such support. Beverly Bronson (center) with Noel Faulkner (right) and Dr. Mark Rogers (left), who have made a long term commitment to Ghar Sita. For more information about House with Heart, go to: and Nicaragua Projects Salales Water Project In April, the Victor-Farmington Rotary club submitted a global grant application for a water and sanitation project in Salales, Nicaragua. The club has been the international partner for two completed projects in Nicaragua one was solar ovens and the most recent was solar panels. The new global grant received approval in early June for a total amount of $50,570. The process for putting together the funding and the grant application took just about one year. Rotarian Karen Parkhurst had visited Nicaragua in December 2013 primarily to see a completed project, but also to look specifically for a water project. In previous visits to this country over the past 8 years, she was made aware of the lack of potable water available in the villages and countryside. Nicaragua is a beautiful small country about the size of New York state. It has one of the largest tropical forest covers north of the Amazon. It also has 17 active volcanoes. However, the beauty of the country is overshadowed by the destruction of their infrastructure by repeated civil wars. Now the country is the 2 nd poorest country in the Western hemisphere (Haiti is the poorest). So Rotarian Parkhurst met with the mayor and water commissioner of a local municipality who told her of 2 villages that already had drilled wells, but had run out of money to make the wells serviceable. The Victor-Farmington Club chose the larger of the 2 villages Salales. It was determined that a pump, tank, chlorinator and distribution piping would make this well usable by the community, the school, and the local public health post. There were significant incidences of waterborn illnesses in the community. Potable water would put a stop to that. So the Salales Water Project was born. (Continued on Page 11)

11 June 2015 THE ARBOR Page 11 Salales Water Project (continued): The Victor-Farmington Rotary club has always been receptive to doing international work and they eagerly undertook this project. A presentation was developed to take the project on the road to District 7120 Rotary clubs in order to raise the money. The dollar goal was achieved in March Fourteen District 7120 Rotary clubs are participating in the project. There are also donations from a Rotary club in Istanbul, Turkey, donations from 3 individual Rotarians and a generous corporate donation from New Energy Works/Pioneer Millworks in Farmington, NY. Along with these donations, District 7120 allotted district designated funds to the project. The international partner is the Rotary Club of Esteli in Nicaragua, and an NGO Enlace Project, located in El Sauce Nicaragua will oversee much of the work. What an example of Rotarians working together to provide potable water! Salales is a small community of approximately 400 people located about 12 miles from El Sauce, a larger city. There are small cattle ranches surrounding the community, but very little other work is available. Many men from the community do seasonal work in other locations and send the money home to their families. The project will start this summer with completion by the new year. Training will be provided for managing, maintaining and repairing the system. And a course on hygiene will supplement the courses offered in the school system. Nicaragua is an extremely needy country. Unless you have experienced it first hand, it is almost impossible to comprehend the hardships that they face and endure on a daily basis: Water - Sewage - Garbage - Utilities - Shelter All things that we take for granted because they are readily available in the United States. These are not available in Nicaragua. We are so blessed to live in the United States where, yes, there is poverty, but it is nothing like that in a developing country. Despite the difficulties people face in Nicaragua, the Nicaraguan people are creative, hard working, friendly and optimistic - and they are always grateful for the work Rotary does in their country. Water currently is drawn from nearby streams or unmanaged wells located near the cattle ranches. Diarhea and stomach ailments are rampant. This will change because this project will provide the means to distribute potable water throughout the community. Each household will receive a spigot and the school will also receive one. There is electricity available in this community to power the pump. The main elements of the project will be installed by professionals the pump, tank, and chlorinator. The beneficiaries will provide the manpower to dig the trenches for the distribution system and each household will dig their own trench from the main line. (continued) Workers at the Panacea Biotec factory in Delhi, India, carry a box of oral polio vaccine to a delivery truck. Inside, local Rotarians review distribution points for a Subnational Immunization Day targeting areas at high risk of polio transmission in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and the region bordering Nepal. IPTC - Creator: Alyce Henson; IPTC - Credit: Rotary International