Where our money goes. . .
Posted by Patty Burnett on Sep 21, 2016
The Board of Directors recently approved an impressive list of charitable giving for the 2016-17 Rotary year, totaling more than $23,000.
At the top of our list, we continue to give scholarships to college or trade schools in the amount of $10,000 or more per year. We also will sponsor a senior high recent grad for a year abroad through the Rocky Mountain Rotary Youth Exchange program.
Our philanthropy and service projects are heavily focused on children and youth. We will spend $1,800 to send four students to the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards camps next summer. Students always report to us, "It was life-changing."
Our Four-Way Test Essay Contest touches every elementary school child in grades four, five and six, at a cost of $2,500. Students solve an ethical problem, using Rotary's code of ethics called the Four-Way Test, then write essays. Winners are honored at a lunch and given bookstore gift certificates.
We will allocate $1,000 next year to provide backpacks and grade-specific school supplies to two classrooms at Bishop Elementary School, where most students qualify for the free lunch program.
We will hold a holiday party for Head Start children at The Village School for Early Education, providing 45-50 kids with a huge Santa sack of winter clothes and toys.
We also will contribute $1,000 to Integrated Family Community Services, the largest nonprofit social service agency in our neck of the woods.
We continue our commitment to the community of Gueoul, Senegal, where our $2,500 contribution, matched by Rotary District funds, helped launch a program to teach English as a Second Language to girls, so that they might qualify for the local college.
Other allocations support Rotary International's campaign to eradicate polio from the world, $1,000; join a grant empowering women in Zimbabwe, $500; give $500 to Bessie's Hope, a program that connects youth with nursing home residents who don't have family support.
Our small club makes a big difference in our community and the world.