Rotary Foundation Month

November is the traditional month to celebrate The Rotary Foundation, one of the largest privately held foundations in the world - and the fuel which drives our Rotary clubs. Without the Foundation, Rotary would not have the necessary resources to change the world for the better.  

On November 3rd in Salt Lake City and again on November 10th in St. George, Rotarians spent their time discussing 10 of our large club projects. Attendees learned about these Global and District Projects being supported by District Designated Funds, and were asked to partner with one of these clubs seeking additional financial support .

The District Foundation Committee asked clubs to do four things during Governor Summerhays' Rotary year:

• One: Each club is asked to strive to have their best Rotary Foundation year in their history by raising more per capita funding than ever before.
• Two: Hold a club fundraiser exclusively for The Rotary Foundation to solicit funds from the general fund.
• Three: Allow the District Foundation Chair to come to their club and present information about The Rotary Foundation.
• Four: Join an international project by partnering with a Rotary Club whose project is already supported by District Designated Funds but is still in need of additional funding to increase the impact of the project. By doing so your club money will be multiplied by matching funds from The Rotary Foundation.

Rotary didn't create the challenges faced by two thirds of the world population including hunger, water, literacy and shelter challenges; but Rotary will be involved in solving these challenges.

Here is the most recent list of international projects seeking partners among clubs in District 5420:

Rotary Global Grants 2012/2013:
Project Proposal Descriptions &Seeking Partnerships

Blanding Rotary - Utah Navajo Land - Westwater Dine Project - Project Funding Ongoing - Clayton Long:  801-232-5624; clong@sjsd.org

West of Blanding on 120 acres of land, Navajo families are living in trailers and shacks without running water, electricity or sewers.  Projects goals are to provide water to every home, to clean up the 120 acres; to finalize a Land Use Plan that includes home site leases to provide 29 families with decent homes to live in.  Currently 14 homes are completed.  Short & Long-term Needs:  Dumpsters and volunteers for clean-up.  Funds for 15 more homes.  Build a service, utility road across Westwater Canyon.  Community Center needs.

Hispano Latinos Rotary - Mexico  - Project Funding Ongoing - Francisco Soto;  jasoambar@gmail.com

Casa Hogar “La Paz” is home for the elderly.  Funds for this project will be utilized to provide shelter and basic necessities for elderly individuals that have been abandoned.  Funds will also be utilized to purchase much needed equipment to properly operate and upgrade this facility.

Vocational Technical Training Project Seeking Partners

Salt Lake Rotary – Morocco – Neurologic Trauma Hospital Project – Immediate Project Total: $12,500.  Salt Lake, Park City Sunrise, American Fork, and Pleasant Grove have contributed $7,500.  $5,000 more is needed, $2,500 ASAP. John Pace 801-898-7223; john@pacehartdesign.com.

Grant Status:  Vocational Training Team Global Grant Proposal in Draft Stage for the 2013-14 year.

Funds are utilized to support the first neuro-rehabilitation center in Morocco so that individuals with neurological injuries can receive much needed treatment not currently available.  This will be our district’s first Vocational Training Team Global Grant.  Hospital staff from Morocco will come and be trained at facilities in Utah, and a medical team from Utah will go to Morocco to help them in their own facility. This Global Grant will provide other needed equipment as the facility grows.

Global Grant Projects Seeking Partners

Heber Rotary - Guatemala - Transitions (Wheelchairs) - Global Grant Total:  $45,000.00.  Contact:  Andy Dahmen - 453-671-5034; andy@andydahmen.com

Grant Status:  Proposal in Draft Stage - Not Yet Submitted to TRF

Heber Rotary has teamed up with an organization in Guatemala called Transitions, whose goal is to mobilize disabled Guatemalans through health, rehabilitation, education, spiritual development, leadership skills and social integration.  This grant will be used to help build wheelchairs in the wheelchair shop owned by Transitions and run by disabled Guatemalans.  The grant will also be used to purchase expensive prosthetic parts and to purchase much needed tools as simple as wrenches from Sears to a lap top to manage activities. 

Murray Rotary - Ecuador - Bathrooms/Safe Water Education - Global Grant Project Total: $49,750.00.  Murray, Brigham, Richfield, and Midvale have committed $7,000.  So commitment for $3,000 more club money is needed.  Money can come from this year’s or next year’s budget.  Contact:  Ron Jensen - 801-266-9577; ronrotary@gmail.com.

Grant Status:  Proposal in Draft Stage - Not Yet Submitted to TRF

This project is a continuation of GG-25087, Bathrooms and Safe Water/Education for Ecuador.  Ecuador Rotarians recently communicated that costs per school have escalated to $5,000.00 per school.  We propose bathrooms for 9 schools so are seeking $45,000.00 in funding for the bathrooms.  Because education of community health workers, students and mothers is so important, $4,570 is budgeted for duplicating materials (flip charts, DVD’s, posters, etc.) created previously by GG-25086 for training sessions for communities. 

Park City Rotary - Guatemala - Water Project - Global Grant Total:  $60,000.00.  Contact:  Frank Furr - 435-647-9436; wffurr@gmail.com.

Grant Status:  Proposal Approved by TRF.  Application Pending Approval by TRF.

These funds will be used to support a water project, water filters and latrines for 275 families in Sacala Las Romas, Guatemala.

Salt Lake Rotary - Thailand - Dengue Fever Prevention  -  Global Grant Project Total:  $60,000.00 Contact:  Doug Mortensen - 801-349-8597; dandvmort@msn.com.

Grant Status:  Proposal Approved by TRF.  Application Pending Approval by TRF.

The requested grant will help fund a pilot project in Thailand, a country in which Dengue Fever is prevalent.  Dengue fever is caused by a virus transmitted by a particular species of mosquito.  Treatment consists solely in relief of symptoms (rest, fluid intake, etc.).  There is no known cure, medicine or antibiotic to treat the disease.   Prevention and control of the spread of the disease depend on education and vector control.  Individuals, families and communities must proactively reduce mosquito habitat.  Dengue Fever is a debilitating, potentially fatal disease which is now present in 100 countries, putting at risk about 40% of the world’s population.   There are approximately 100 million cases of Dengue Fever per year and some 22,000 deaths, mostly of children under the age of 10.

Salt Lake Rotary - India - Eye Surgeries - Global Grant Project Total:  Minimum $30,000.00.  The more clubs that donate money, the more eye surgeries can be done.  Contact:  Duane Millard - 801-706-5082; duane@allied-sign.com

Grant Status:  Proposal in Draft Stage - Not Yet Submitted to TRF

In India $10 PER PATIENT funds eye surgery to restore vision! Charity Vision Inc. has performed 340,000 procedures worldwide. There are 20 million people unnecessarily blind worldwide, 4 million in India alone.  Cataract surgery restores their productive lives.   

Sugarhouse Rotary - Columbia - Bathrooms and Water Project - Global Grant Total: Minimum $30,000.00.  Sugar House, South Salt Lake and Orem have committed $4,000.  So commitments for $6,000 more club money are needed, preferably from this Rotary year’s budget.   Contact:  Therese Milad – 801-599-9410; Miladhome@gmail.com

Grant Status:  Proposal in Draft Stage - Not Yet Submitted to TRF                                                                                                                                                                    

This grant will be a continuation of Grant 25088 to fund the building of additional bathrooms and provide adequate water supplies.  Many young females will not attend school because there are no bathrooms.  Children are more frequently ill with diarrhea because they do not have clean water to wash their hands and do not understand the relationship of illness to this factor.  By working with the community to provide the clean water and bathrooms we will help them to understand the relationship of hygiene to illness.  Also, by providing bathrooms rather than an open pit more young women will attend schools.  Along with new bathroom facilities and instruction in the school setting as well as community, we expect to realize a drastic decrease in the incidence of diseases.  The combination of polluted drinking water, along with inadequate sanitation conditions, lack of knowledge of diseases and cultural risk factors, such as food preparation, have a direct impact on pregnancies and healthy babies, missed days of school or work, and the overall well being of the community.   

 

St. George Rotary - Guatemala - Stove Project  - Global Grant Project Total:  Minimum $30,000.00 Contact:  Lowry Snow, vlsnow@gmail.com.

Grant Status:  Proposal in Draft Stage - Not Yet Submitted to TRF

The St. George Club has been actively involved with stove projects in Guatemala for more than six years.  In cooperation with Behrhorst Partners for Development, the specific objectives of this project will be to construct high efficient wood burning stoves (constructed with cinder blocks, metal plancha, stove pipe, water sealant for roof, sand, gravel, cement, sand and water),  to reduce wood consumption for cooking, improve the health of Mayan families by reducing the amount of smoke on the interior of the homes by venting the stove smoke and carbon oxide to the outside and to reduce the number of accidents among children that fall into an open fire and suffer burns. 

Mayan women cook their family meals over an open fire inside their huts.  Constant inhalation of smoke creates respiratory diseases in both the women and their children.  A World Vision study done in 2008 in the Guatemalan Highlands shows that 75% of these families cook with wood causing a negative impact on the surrounding forests.  The study also shows that 37% of acute respiratory infections occur because of inhaling cooking fire smoke.  Of 350 women tested, 22% had throat problems and 25% of those had pneumonia and chest pressure problems due to cooking smoke inhalation.  The same study showed a high incidence of tuberculosis, asthma and lung cancer.  Eliminating the smoke from the interior of the family homes will significantly reduce these health issues.  By removing the hot surfaces and open flames exposure, the rate of burn accidents among children will be reduced.

MURRAY ROTARY DISTRIBUTES 1890 DICTIONARIES!

Murray Rotarian Ron Jensen

Murray Rotary has been giving dictionaries, with almanacs included in the dictionary, to 3rd graders since 2004!  It began at the Utah Rotary District Conference in Moab in 2003 where our District was invited to participate.  Murray Rotarians took the information back to our club and started with just seven schools in Murray District in 2004, which was the first year for our District.  Murray Rotary gave dictionaries to 29 schools this fall and will give more later if asked.  The total number of dictionaries distributed this year was 1,890 books!

Among the seven schools in Murray District, 420 dictionaries were given to the 3rd graders.  Two schools that are in the Granite District are now in Murray (Woodstock and Twin Peaks) and are not included in the 420 dictionaries.  Dictionaries were given to ten schools in the Granite District, five in Emory County and seven Private or Charter schools.  Moab Rotary covers one other school in Emery County which is Green River Elementary.

Murray Rotarian Keith Hardy (center)

Murray Rotarian Ron Jensen has spearheaded this project for the past nine years.  The schools and students look forward to this every year.  It is very rewarding to see the excitement in the 3rd graders when they are given the dictionary.  Murray Rotarians explain how to use the dictionary and almanac.  The students are fascinated by looking up many things in the book.

Murray Rotary has given dictionaries to a school in New Mexico and Nevada but those schools are now done by other Rotary Clubs.

Bountiful Interacters Feed the Hungry

From the November 12, 2012 issue of the Standard Examiner:

BOUNTIFUL — Every month, the Bountiful Community Food Pantry serves 600 to 700 families living between North Salt Lake and Farmington, and while that number is continually growing, food donations the pantry receives annually are decreasing.

In September, the pantry’s total food donations were 20,000 pounds less than in September 2011, said Lorna Koci, director of the food pantry.

In order to make up the difference, Bountiful High School’s Interact Club has recruited the efforts of students at the high school, as well as those from a dozen of their neighboring junior high and elementary schools.

“Every food drive is important, and Bountiful High’s food drive is one of those helping us fill in the gap,” Koci said.

After several weeks of food collection at each of the participating schools, Interact Club members picked up the food Friday and loaded it onto a semitrailer provided by the food pantry.

Steady snow did not deter the students, though some commented on how chilly it was while they sorted through the food to put in the right bins inside the truck.

“It was a little bit hard because it was really cold in the trailer. But the fact that we were helping out and that my friends were there made it worth it,” said senior Kaitlyn Tullis.

Tullis joined the club because she enjoys volunteer work and helping other people — the main goal of the Interact Club.

The most interesting food Tullis said she came across during the sorting was a can of pink salmon.
The most common items donated were cans of soup, she said.

Though senior Shannon Engberson, president of the Interact Club, was excited to see all of the food accruing, filling most of the 18-wheeler, it was not her main reason for doing the food drive.

“The food drive isn’t necessarily my motivation, but rather helping other people, so this is one way to achieve that,” she said.

Helping the students serve others is exactly why Bountiful High School teacher Jan Wray enjoys working as the club adviser.

 

“We’re making these students become lifelong lovers of service, and I love that I can help them love service as much as I do,” Wray said.

“I find kids who give service are more on top of everything because they seem to get their homework and assignments done on time and still work service around their schedule.”

For more information, contact Anne Lee Wiese at anne_lee73@hotmail.com.

Service in Action in Moab

Local BSA Troop #802 and five members of the Moab Rotary Club came together on Saturday, October 27 to help Drake Hackney complete requirements for his Eagle Scout badge. Moab Rotarians, including Tara Richardson (Moab Club President), Jared Shumway (past president), Steve Getz (Foundation Chair), Kate Cannon and Mike McCue worked alongside members of Drake’s troop and their leader Jimmy Hawks to build a gazebo at Moab Rotary Park.  This light weight metal, powder-coated black gazebo will be a wonderful addition to what is considered one of the best outside musical areas in the world!

Another outstanding example of Rotary service in action!