Dear Rotarians,
 

Whew!  We made it through another Rotary year, and it’s always a flurry (I’m hoping that word will help you cool off) during the month of June to make sure we make our club Foundation goals by June 30.  Thank you to all the Presidents, Presidents-Elect, Club Treasurers and Club Foundation Chairs for promoting and processing the Foundation giving in your club this past Rotary year.  It takes teamwork, and your efforts are greatly appreciated.  Thanks also to those on our District Foundation Team—John Wasta, Fundraising Committee Chair, and Amy Weber, PolioPlus Committee Chair—for their work promoting the Annual Fund and PolioPlus Fund across the District.  It will be a few weeks before the final totals are in as it takes the Foundation staff longer to record the large number of gifts they receive at year-end. 

 

At the end of May 2019 you have given $213,205 to the Annual Fund, leaving a balance of $10,000 to raise to meet our District goal.  Thank you!  Once June’s totals are added, I’m confident we’ll exceed our goal!  

 

At the end of May 2019 you have given $185,254 to the PolioPlus fund, shattering the goal of $58,536 for our District.  Thank you once again!  This includes the $100,000 gift from our generous Major Donor in the District, but even without that we exceeded the goal.  That number will also grow once June’s totals are added.  The children of the world are safer from contracting polio because of you!   Final totals coming next month!  

 

 

Congratulations to the Spencer Rotary Club for becoming a 100% Paul Harris Fellow Club!  By turning 15 Sustaining Members of the Rotary Foundation into Paul Harris Fellows using a combination of gifts and matching points, the club reached the banner recognition.  Special thanks to Bob Rose, club treasurer, for spearheading the effort.

 

 

We are pleased to report that the Global Scholar application for Connor Roth, who originally was exposed to Rotary through the Belle Plaine Club, has been submitted to The Rotary Foundation for review and approval (we hope!).   She is planning to earn a master’s degree in peace and conflict resolution with a gender-based violence focus, at Sussex University in Brighton, England.  The Highdown Rotary Club is looking forward to hosting her, and the Waverly Rotary Club is gladly serving as the Sponsoring Club.  Once we get approval from TRF, we’ll introduce you to Connor.  

 

 

We extended the call and wow, did you respond!  With over $100,000 in DDF to give away this year for District Grants, we were worried about reaching that level in grant requests.  On the June 15 deadline we totaled $117,000 in grant requests, from 25 clubs across the District.  Seven clubs submitted two grant applications.  Thank you for such a terrific response!   The Grants Committee will be meeting on July 9 to decide who will be awarded a District Grant for 2019-20.  Stay tuned! 

 

 

Eight rural communities and three large-scale farms in southern Nicaragua now enjoy safe drinking water through a project spearheaded by the Waverly Rotary Club in partnership with Waverly-based Self-Help International.

 

The project funded 11 locally appropriate water chlorination systems that provide 1,849 Nicaraguan residents and farm laborers with daily access to safe drinking water and prevent transmission of water-borne diseases.

 

In addition, local clean water committees (known as CAPS) received training in leadership, financial management and technical maintenance, so they can effectively manage the water chlorination systems.

 

“This training is critical to ensuring local community ownership and project sustainability,” said Nora Tobin, Self-Help executive director. A total of 399 community leaders, nurses and government officials were involved in the 20 training sessions.

 

The Waverly Rotary Club contributed $5,000 to the project from funds raised at a Fall Feastival dinner and a Rotary Meltdown raffle based on the time of day a fish habitat would fall through the ice at a local pond. Additional funds, including a Rotary District 5970 Community Grant totaling $3,962 and a $5,000 gift from a Charles City Rotarian, brought the total to $13,962.

 

Waverly Rotarian and past district governor Richard Moeller, who served as project lead, said the clean water initiative addressed three of the Rotary Foundation’s six areas of focus: water and sanitation, disease prevention, and maternal and child health.

 

“We were pleased to partner with a local organization whose expertise will ensure this effort’s long-term success,” Moeller said.

 

La Vainilla is typical of the eight communities benefiting from the Rotary/Self-Help partnership. Before installation of the chlorinator, its 235 residents used water directly from a gravity aqueduct threatened by contamination from erosion and animal pasture runoff. The community’s newly elected CAPS organization learned about the Self-Help program in late 2018.

 

“We decided that chlorination would be good for our community,” said Obdulia, a La Vainilla native, mother of two children, and CAPS treasurer. “We always used to doubt if the water was okay to drink, and we didn’t even know that the water was contaminated until Orlando (Self-Help Clean Water Program Officer) came to do the water contamination test for us.”

 

The water sample was taken at the water basin where community members get their water.

 

“I watched the change in the water in the little bag that Orlando left at my house, and I inspected it every 12 hours. When we saw the change in color, we immediately told everyone who used that water not to drink it until we’d installed the chlorinator,” Obdulia said.  “We showed the little bag of contaminated water to different community members so that they would see the kind of water we were drinking!”

 

 “Today, we drink chlorinated water. We drink it confidently knowing that it is safe to use,” Obdulia said.

 

According to Tobin, community members report feeling healthier. And Self-Help’s experience indicates that after a CTI-8 system installation, local school teachers consistently report an increase in daily classroom attendance and observe fewer bouts of diarrhea, which often prevents children from going to school.

 

Thanks to the determination of local CAPS members, the generosity of Rotarians, and their partnership with Self-Help’s clean water program, La Vainilla has joined countless other Nicaraguan communities that now have access to safe drinking water and the opportunity to live healthier, more productive lives.

 

                            

                       

                         Orlando Montiel Salas, Self-Help Officer, explains operation
                                     of the chlorinator to committee members in LaVainilla.

                       

                                   A clean water committee member displays a water sample tested for                                               contamination. The dark color indicates it is unsafe for drinking.  

 

Thanks to the Self-Help organization and the Waverly Rotary Club for partnering on this life-changing project for the people of Nicaragua.  Keep doing good in the world!

 

Yours in Rotary,

 

Don Meyer

District Foundation Chair