Palo Alto Rotary - Rotary Intl Activities - World Community Service Projects

World Community Service (WCS) is the Rotary program that makes humanitarian grants to developing countries. Clubs can either make direct contributions or apply for matching grants from The Rotary Foundation (TRF) If a grant application is approved, the club's contribution is matched by the District, and TRF matches the District contribution 100 percent and the club's at 50 percent. Under that system, each $1,000 contributed by the club toward a project results in a total of $3,500.

PALO ALTO ROTARY

WCS PROGRAMS 2007-2008

Our two main projects this year are as follows:

1. A fuel-efficient stove project in Honduras.

2. Another water-harvesting project in India.

We also made a direct contribution of $1,750 toward wheelchairs for Macedonia, to help Lucianne Phillips, a former member serving in the Peace Corps there, and paid $360 for Sasha Kramer, who works on sanitation in Haiti, to attend a Rotary-sponsored conference there on water.

We had also planned a larger project, carried over from last year, supporting mini-training centers for biointensive agriculture in Kenya. However, that will have to be carried over again, because the host club, Eldoret, has not yet been able to close a prior project.

Instead, we have given contributions of $1,000 each to the following programs in Kenya, bearing in mind that there are tentative plans for a hands-on trip there early in 2009:

1. Village Enterprise Fund, which gives small grants to help start businesses.

2. Construction of the Father Kiriti High School for Girls in Kenya.

3. The Kilili Self-Help Project, to give scholarships for farmers to learn biointensive agriculture.

4. Direct Relief International, to support their medical projects in Africa.

Finally, since one of our members has moved to China and joined the Shanghai Club, we are considering giving the rest of our funds ($1200) to that club’s AIDs project.

2005-06 PROJECTS

Direct Contributions

1. Paying teachers in Haiti to translate a book on sanitation into Kreyol: $750

A young woman named Sasha Kramer, who recently earned her Ph.D. in Ecology at Stanford is inspired to improve health in Haiti. The Hesperian Foundation, famous for its book entitled "Where There Is No Doctor," has also produced another outstanding one on sanitation and hygiene. To be useful in Haiti, it needed to be translated into the local language. Sasha knew teachers who were willing to do it for a modest fee.

2. Helping Guatemala Recover from Hurricane Stan.

Over the years we have worked with several groups in Guatemala, so we felt moved to respond to their urgent pleas for immediate help. The groups, and amounts given, are as follows:

ARCAS (Association for the Rescue and Conservation of Wildlife): $3,100

(Our club's contribution was $1,550.)

We have done several projects with them involving saving sea turtles

On the south coast of Guatemala, including ones where villages who

commit to save turtle eggs were rewarded with potable water in one case and fuel-efficient stoves in another. This year, we obtained a Club Opportunity Grant (COG) for $1,550, which we were required to match.

Trees, Water & People (TWP): $750

We have done quite a few projects with them, in several Central American countries, involving reforestation and fuel-efficient stoves. They always work with local non-governmental organizations, with whom they have close relationships, so they knew who needed help the most.

Rotary Club of Guatemala: $750

Again we collaborated with them on projects, in part because the daughter of one of their members, Maria Cristina Urruela, teaches Spanish at Stanford. One of those projects involved shipping medical supplies as relief from an earlier hurricane, Mitch, so we knew they would apply our contribution where it would do the most good.

MATCHING GRANTS

1. Fuel-efficient stoves in El Salvador: $12,000

(Our club's contribution was $3,429.)

This is a TWP project, in which our in-country partner is the Ciudad Merliot Rotary Club. We have serious communication problems with that club, so even though our application has been approved and we have sent in our money, they have yet to submit all the paperwork necessary to obtain payment from the Foundation. However, we hope that will be cured soon.

2.Materials for Combating Type 2 Diabetes in the Yucatán: $12,306

(Our club's contribution is $3.516.)

Since our club had had a great experience working with Cindy Wilber on a hands-on project in the Yucatán (see "Hands-On Projects"), we decided to do another project with her, again collaborating with the Nuevas Generaciónes Club in Mérida. The people in the Mayan villages there have drifted away from their traditional, nutritious foods into fast food, which has led to a virtual epidemic of Diabetes. The goal of this project is to involve young people in researching the traditional foods and educating families to return to them. In the process, they will learn how to use computers for research. As of this writing, this project has been approved but not yet funded.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO OTHER CLUBS' PROJECTS

1. Computers for High School in Bulgaria: $24, 985

(Our club's contribution was $2,500.)

The initiator of this project was Angel Kelchev, a co-president of the Stanford Rotaract Club (sponsored by our club), who is from Bulgaria. The purpose was to provide computers to the Mathematical High School of Pazardjik, Bulgaria. Because Angel had attended community college in Bellevue, Washington, he persuaded the RC of Belleview to contribute $4,500, plus the same amount of its district-designated funds (DDF). The RC of Pazardjik also contributed $2500, with The Rotary Foundation providing the balance. Angel traveled to Bulgaria to buy the computers and help set them up. To see Project details and graphics, view the pdf below.

Blessing the Computer Lab Project

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

From Left to Right: Rotarators

Jesse Czelusta, Silvia Battilana,

Angel Kelchev, and Maria Lazarova

The New Computer Lab

at Mathematical High School

of Pazardjik, Bulgaria

Presentation to Guests

To see Project details and graphics, view the pdf below.

Joint Project, Computers for High School in Bulgaria

2. Women's Literacy in Calcutta: $12,500

(Our club's contribution was $1,000.)

In mid-year we were asked by Lick Leon of the San Jose East Evergreen Club and Madhumita Bishnu of the New Ballygunge Club of Calcutta to contribute to their project to work with the Country Women's Association of India to teach literacy to the women in 10 villages where 80 percent of the women are illiterate. Literacy being the international theme this year, it seemed like a worthy project. We also often respond to such requests, because it gives us the opportunity to ask them for help in another year. (S.J. East/Evergreen contributed $5,000 (including our $1,000), the Calcutta District contributed $2,500, and The Rotary Foundation, $5,000.)

3. Eye Clinic in Afghanistan:

This was a Los Altos project. Again we contributed with the thought that we might ask for reciprocation another time. We do not know the complete details of the project.