The Weyburn Rotary Club has a role in helping with international projects, in addition to the many local projects and causes they give support to throughout the year.
The Weyburn Rotary Club has a role in helping with international projects, in addition to the many local projects and causes they give support to throughout the year.
Rotary members were given a summary of the international reach of some of their fundraising efforts, at their luncheon meeting on Mar. 6.
Anna Fish of the club's international service committee explained that the club gives support to a wide variety of projects, and with some of them, the contribution is multiplied through other sources.
In one program, a project for the Rotary District, entitled "Ripple Effect", the club donates $1,000 towards enhancing education for students in Guatemala.
In the shelterbox program, a tent and provisions are provided for a family of up to 10 people in disaster areas. The committee budgeted $2,000 for this project, then most recently, there were shelterboxes provided to victims of the typhoon in the Philippines, with some $2,100 in additional funds to help out more families.
"It has Rotary International support; they're ready to go at a moment's notice," said Fish.
Another avenue of assistance is through the Canadian FoodGrains Bank, where the club makes a donation, and it's multiplied four times through matching aid grants from the federal government.
Contributions are also made to the World Peace Project, towards a scholarship for the advancement in global citizenship; this is in partnership with the new Human Rights Museum under development in Winnipeg, and which should be open by this September, said Fish. The club contributes $1,000 for the scholarship, and $500 for the program.
A contribution of $2,000 is made to the Rotary International's most ambitious project, the polio eradication program, through which the goal is to completely eradicate polio from the world.
The Weyburn club has contributed a total of $18,000 to this cause over a period of years.
A new proposal for the club to have an international touch is to twin up with a Rotary club in western Nepal, in Dhangadi, to help children there be able to attend school. There is a possibility this project may be eligible for matching funds from the Rotary district, which would double any contribution from the Weyburn club.
