International Service News
Posted by Douglas Johnson
Great and Generous 7090 Clubs
The great and generous heart of the District 7090 Rotary clubs was in action recently. The Rotary Club of Welland’s International Committee was searching for funds to support a project in Candelaria, Philippines.
The club has been working in Candelaria for a few years - previously funding audio-visual educational equipment for 24 elementary schools, 2 special education schools and 5 high schools. The new project arose due to a new strategy by the Filipino government to train high school students in vocational skills to prepare them for the world of work. While teachers were trained, and some new schools built, little was available to provide training equipment in cookery, bakery, electrical, welding etc.
Our partner club in Candelaria undertook to investigate the equipment needs of the 5 high schools and the funds required. The sum was more than we had available, so we turned to the clubs in our District 7090 to raise the funds sufficient to yield the required $100,000, utilizing a Global Grant and grants from 2 districts.
While we only needed $5,000 US, it presented us with what we thought would be an enormous task. Low and behold, within a month, we received the required funds from 11 Clubs (Buffalo, Dundas Valley, Fonthill, Grimsby, Hamilton East Wentworth, Hamilton at 5 aka Tonic), Lancaster-Depew, Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, St. Catharines South and Simcoe), with others willing to contribute. This generous exhibition of cooperation reveals the power and potential of District 7090 clubs to support projects by a club without the financial capability to complete a worthy project.
Pictured - students at the Bukal Sur NHS Cookery and Bread & Pastry Class. The gentlemen in blue shirts are Rotarians from the host Candelaria Rotary Club.