World Roundup – November 2014
Rotary Club of Versailles, France
Free vegetable gardens
‘Potalib,’ an international food-sharing movement was launched by the Rotaract Club of Versailles. More than 20 French institutions, local communities and corporations received the kit consisting of seeds for 18 different vegetables, information on how to cultivate them, and 12 wooden bins, each about a cubic metre in size and filled with around 270 Kg of soil to plant, grow, harvest, and eat healthy food.
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Rotary Club of Lublin-Centrum-Maria Curie-Sklodowska
Music for the differently-abled
Founded by Rotary members, the Music School for Children with Disabilities serves students with various disabilities, including Down’s syndrome, autism and visual impairments. The club, in association with The Rotary Foundation and the Henry Wieniawski Musical Society, which houses the school, provides financial assistance to meet the needs of the school.
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Rotary Club of Nkumba, Uganda
Improving healthcare
The club raised more than $2,000 to dig and construct a new latrine pit for Nkumba’s Kitala Health Centre. This centre is the only public medical facility in the area, serving a population of almost 600,000, most of whom can’t afford private healthcare. The club estimates the latrine pit will last upto 20 years.
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Rotary Club of Atlanta
Fight against human trafficking
The Rotary Club of Atlanta is helping homeless teenagers who fall prey to human trafficking by relocating them to Covenant House, the city’s only crisis centre for homeless youth. This year a candlelight vigil was held to raise awareness on child sexual exploitation. Funds generated by the event will be used to expand the Covenant House.
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Rotary Club of Koriyama West, Japan
Mending mental health
Under a Global Grant project, the club along with RC Englewood, New Jersey, USA purchased mobile video conference equipment for mental health clinics in areas affected by the Fukushima nuclear power-plant crisis. These tools connected mental healthcare providers in Japan with trauma experts at the Arnold Global Health Institute in New York, where psychologists treated survivors and witnesses of the September 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster.
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Rotary Club of Stavanger, Norway
Harvesting machines for farmers
Under a Matching Grant Project the club donated portable olive harvesting machines, nets and packaging devices to farmers from Germiyan village, Turkey, to enhance the quality of their produce, as the main economic resource of the region comes from table olive and olive oil production.
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Rotary Club of Beijing
Funds for children of AIDS patients
The Rotary Club of Beijing conducted HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns for both rural and urban communities. In association with China’s Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and The China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF), the club is funding children of AIDS patients to cover their schooling cost.
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Rotary Club of New York
Awareness against domestic violence
Members of the club along with Miss America Kira Kazantsev and Safe Horizon, an organisation that provides support and promotes justice for victims of crime and abuse, joined hands to create awareness on domestic violence. The event helped raise $3000 for Safe Horizon.