Zooming in on a global partner Rotary Club
The Rotary Club of Washington in Pennsylvania has partnered with Applecross Rotary on Global Grant projects in Kenya and our new project in Moora WA.
The connection is PP Chris Whelan and when he was searching for an international partner for our Mama Respond projects in Kenya (a requirement for the awarding of a Global Grant), he contacted a friend from his Alcoa days, whose wife Dorothy happened to be the president of a Rotary Club in Pennsylvania. And the rest, as they say, in history.
We recently connected our two Clubs via Zoom at 8am our time (8pm Penn. time) and Dorothy introduced her Club’s new President Kathy Sabol, to our members. And it was a good turn out by Applecross Rotary members too: 25 members and a potential new one.
Kathy’s Club has been going through a growth phase, with a lots more members, many of them being relatively young. They still meet weekly, but one of these meetings is a Happy Hour, much like our monthly Fellowship gatherings, and another is devoted to undertaking a community project.
Kathy emphasised a number of international activities, which cost her Club around US$5000 each. They are not contingent on being awarded a District or Global Grant as that takes too long (in her opinion)
One is an International Leadership Program which has a focus on Conflict Resolution and Peace Building. Unsurprisingly, as there is a nearby town with lots of families who originally migrated to the US from the Ukraine, modern Ukraine is a focus for attention.
Dorothy explained that another international activity was sourcing an automated potato planting machine to be used in the Ukraine, which had been great success. A third program was based around funding the creation of social clubs that help Russian speaking people displaced from Eastern Ukraine by the Russian war, to learn Ukrainian and thus integrate better with the locals. The social clubs reduce the high levels of tension that occur when the displaced people decide to stay!
Seems there is always something to learn when you exchange ideas with another Rotary Club!
STOP PRESS! Happy to report the board met after the presentation and confirmed our club will support $5000US for the legal Aid project that was still to be funded.
Here is the link to the presentation on YouTube
