For more than a century Rotarians have practiced Service Above Self and through the Avenue of Community Service, given back to the communities they live in. Through Community Service Rotary clubs have the opportunity to implement club projects that improve life in their local community. In this first week of Community Service Month, various Rotary clubs have been doing just that; improving lives in their communities.
Three Rotary clubs in Jackson, TN, have raised $16,385 through their Rotary Heart & Sole Project to put shoes on the feet of as many as 13,000 students in the entire Jackson-Madison County School System. The clubs worked in tandem with Samaritan Feet, a nationwide initiative, which aims to inspire hope through the gift of shoes to those who need both hope and shoes the most. Students in these inner-city schools sometime share a pair of shoes between siblings. They put on shoes that are too big or too small and wear flip-flops to the gym. Ten Thousand dollars out of their funds are being used to purchase shoes for students in Andrew Jackson, Arlington Elementary and Alexander Elementary schools in the county.
The Rotary Club of Victoria, British Columbia, donated $10,000 for the purchase of two commercial-grade washer/dryer laundry sets for Our Place Society, an inner-city center serving Victoria’s vulnerable citizens. “No matter who we are or our personal resources, we can all relate to putting on a clean shirt or sleeping between clean sheets,” said Gerald Pash, president of the club. Our Place Society serves 1,200 meals daily.
In much of rural Africa, communities experience loss of young mothers and their babies due to many factors. Long distance from clinics, unhygienic birthing practices, the scourge of malaria and lack of menstrual education among young girls have all contributed to dangerously high maternal mortality rates. In a remote area of Tanzania, girls drop out of school when they run out of personal hygiene supplies and/or become pregnant and thus repeat a sad but preventable cycle.
Responding to this situation, two Rotary clubs decided to improve the lives of these rural women by applying for a Global Grant from TRF. The Rotary Club of Fulton, Missouri and Tanzania-based Babati Rotary, along with Humanity For Children, a non-profit based in Missouri, landed a $94,000 Global Grant to increase the survival rate of mothers, newborns and infants among the Maasai people living in a remote area of northern Tanzania. “This is the first time we’ve received an international grant since I’ve been a Rotarian…It feels so good to be part of a small organization doing such big works,” gushed Amanda Gowin, Fulton club member and project co-director. Initiatives within the project include: training traditional birth attendants in safe-birthing practices, providing a basic clinical lab in two remote governmental clinics and installing solar panels to provide them with electricity.
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