Rotary Foundation
06/22/09 by Jim Lester -

Many of you contribute $100 or $200 to the Rotary Foundation. I thought you might want to know what $100 will buy.

• Textbooks for one elementary school in Zambia
• Hearing aids for children in Pakistan
• De-worming tablets for over 100 children in the Philippines
• Three cataract surgeries in India .
• A gift of US$100 or more changes and saves lives every minute of every day.

It's nice to know how our contribuions are spent.

Rotary Foundation
05/11/09 by Jim Lester - The Rotary Foundtion contributed $10,000 which provided small loans to 288 low-income women. In six months these women improved their businesses and living standards, lifting them out of extreme poverty. While local Rotarians had the opportunity to work together to develop the project and approve the system of loans, the participants learned to use, administer and benefit from financial credit. In the process, the women improved their self-esteem as they acquired entirely new roles of financial responsibility for their families. This program as well as Group Study Echange and many others are supported by most of you as you contribute to the Foundation each quarter.

Water system breaks new ground in Kenya
2/2/09- by Jim Lester- More than one million Kenyans live crammed into a 2-squaremile section of Nairobi called Kibera. The largest slum in Africa , Kibera lacks even the most basic human necessities. During the rainy season, manholes in the broken-down sewer system burst, discharging human waste into shacks.  According to UNHABITAT, one in seven children in Kibera die of infections or disease before age five. The Rotary partially funds a water distribution, storage, and sanitation system for 9,000 ofthe residents. Aided by a US$300,000 Rotary Foundation Grant, the project is building 10 structures containing showers, toilets, and clean drinking-water kiosks. In addition, a community kitchen will use methane gas harvested from a bio-gas latrine facility. The gas will also be used to heat water for the showers. Basic health, sanitation, and personal hygiene is another project focus. People in Kibera pay about eight times more for water than people [elsewhere] in Nairobi, The project will enable them to buy water at the cost that most people pay, so they can use money for education, medicine, food, and other expenses.

10/27/08- by Jim Lester- Through a variety of humanitarian grants awarded by The Rotary Foundation, Rotarians around the world have found creative and effective ways to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS and care for its victims. Rotary districts in Colombia are implementing an HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention campaign in Columbian high schools around Bogota . Through the use of guided mural exhibitions; over 200,000 students were reached with fife-saving messages about--HlV/AIDS. Separately, in an effort to meet the needs of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, Rotary clubs in Ethiopia are providing a used van, clothing, food, furniture, a computer and office supplies to an orphanage serving AIDS orphans in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  These are representative projects of how your Foundation funds are used.

YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ROTARY FOUNDATION MAKE A PROFOUND DIFFERENCE IN HELPING THE POOR AROUND THE WORLD. 

10/29/07 by Jim Lester- Rotary districts in Colombia and the U.S. have partnered to receive a Rotary Foundation Grant aimed at implementing an HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention campaign in Colombian high schools around Bogota . Through the use of guided mural exhibitions, over 200,000 students were reached with life-saving messages about HIV/AIDS. Separately, in an effort to meet the needs of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, Rotary clubs in Ethiopia and Spokane Valley-Sunrise, USA obtained a Matching Grant to help provide a used van, clothing, food, furniture, a computer and office supplies to an orphanage serving AIDS orphans in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.