April 23, 2018
Announcements
Pres. Andy: District has provided us with a mix of red oak and maple saplings which will need to go in the ground in the next two weeks. There are two forests tracts identified in Durham. Let me know if you're interested in planting these ... He and Tom B attended the meeting of Celebrate Durham last week and met the Hannaford manager who offered to provide us with however many bottles of water we need for the 4th of July at no cost.
Tom B: We've settled on May 16th for the Route 4 cleanup. As usual, we'll meet at 7:30 at the truck stop where Bill will have bags and vests. Wear gloves and bring a stick for the bags.
Frank R for Brian F: We'll be planting vines again this year. It should take 8 people about 2 1/2 hours. May 19th at 8 AM.
Ric: Two of our members have had to drop out of the Channel 11 Auction. If anyone can step up, please let Ric know. Training will begin promptly at 5:15 PM on Friday, May 4th. The supervisor will release workers a few at a time for dinner during the auction. Wear your Rotary gear.
John: There are six students at Newmarket HS Interact who are interested in attending RYLA this year. The cost is $375. The club approved a motion to not award the scholarship at NHS this year in favor of sending more students to this leadership training.
Program
Marty Helman, Chairman of the District Rotary Foundation, shared her experience with a humanitarian grant project in Guatemala, particularly learning of the low literacy rate among adults there. That project is among thousands which we - not Rotary International - choose to work on. Their only guidance is that the project fall into one of the six Areas of Focus, e.g. Clean Water and Sanitation.
When we identify a project, we - sometimes in partnership with other clubs - raise seed money and send it along to District for a match. They will, in turn, send it along to RI which will match District's contribution 1 for 1 and our's 1/2 to 1. The club's contribution, then, is only 29% of the final amount. Where does District get its funding? Three years after the District's clubs' annual donations have gone to the Rotary Foundation, half of those funds are returned to the District. And half of that money is used for grant project matches.
The other half of that fund return is set aside at District to fund club applications for local grants of $1,000 to $4,000.
The Rotary Foundation's #1 priority (as it is for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) is eradication of polio.
Megabucks: $407
Editor: Ric
