Welcome!

Our eClub: 9 Going On 10!

In April, our eClub celebrated nine years of exploring what technology and the internet can do to serve the service of Rotary.

Original picture of the 11 charter members given the charter at the district conference by DG Greg Podd.

The coming twelve months, from May to April 2014, count us down to our tenth anniversary, and I hope our members and guests will offer suggestions as to how we can celebrate all that the club has accomplished. This is also a chance for us to do -lots- of service, which seems to me to be a good way to celebrate, Rotary-style.

Our club has been exploring ways to help members partner with clubs and other organizations in their communities to accomplish great things small and large, and one element of that is what we call "Min-e-Grants" - grants of up to $500 to help with worthy efforts.

Below are the latest two additions to that line-up; read, enjoy, and start thinking of ways you can get involved in our service efforts!

Water and Sanitation for Hospital Maternity Ward ($500)

- There are over 40,000 women of childbearing age served by the Makumbi District Hospital outside Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe. This grant will enable the maternity ward of the hospital to have clean water and sanitation through the drilling of a new borehole and repair or replacement of existing toilet facilities. The project lead is Harare Central Rotary, whose members regularly visit the hospital and have made a long term commitment to support and upgrade it. Member Beth Wexler, who proposed this project, visited the hospital last fall while in Zimbabwe and has met the implementing Rotarians on the project.

Saturday School For Guatemalan Children ($500)

- El Hato, Guatemala, is an impoverished village in the hills above the old capital city of La Antigua Guatemala. The village is inhabited by indigenous people of the Kackchiequel ethnic group who also speak Spanish. In 2008, when members Ginny and John Dugaw first visited the village, the Rotary Club of La Antigua Guatemala had been working for several years to improve the local school so that children would actually graduate from primary school. The numbers graduating from the equivalent of the sixth grade were very low and in past years there had been none and the club was excited to see five students graduate one year with one student going on to secondary school in another town. This grant will help purchase needed materials and supplies to offer Saturday studies for students in the village.