Boulder Rotary helping the world with "amazing" projects

March 25, 2009

Boulder Rotary helps the world

BOULDER – Earlier this month a visitor at the Boulder Rotary Club pronounced its list of international projects “amazing.” Following is a summary of those projects, all coordinated by the club’s World Community Service committee.

Isla Solarte, Panama: Rotarian Dennis Frohlich is putting together a project funded by a Rotary Foundation Matching Grant to provide a reliable pathway for the people, primarily school children, to travel between two different sections of the village. The footpath has been continually destroyed by rains and consequent flooding.

Kisumu, Kenya: Rotarian Darryl Brown is using funds from the club’s annual Signature Event to supply 500 chickens, nine dairy goats, a livestock shelter and feed, and a source of porridge flour mix that will provide an orphanage in Kisumu with a sustainable food supply.

Dominican Republic: Dr. Peter Ewing, Boulder Rotary president, is the primary Rotarian behind sending three 40-foot containers to the Dominican Republic. They are filled with medical supplies and equipment from Project C.U.R.E., a nonprofit based in Denver that collects used and new medical equipment and supplies. The containers’ contents, worth about $1.8 million, will supply the major pediatric hospital in the Dominican Republic.

Kisiizi Falls and Jinja, Uganda: Another 40-foot container of used medical equipment and supplies arrived in Kisiizi Falls on March 6. Boulder Rotary partnered with Boulder Valley and Tempe South (Arizona) Rotary clubs on this project. Another container will be shipped soon to the Agatha Foundation in Jinja shortly. Rotarian Rod Tuenge is overseeing these projects.

Thrissur, India: Working with Rotary Clubs in Boulder; Augusta, Georgia; Michigan; and India, Dr. Richard Bedell put together a matching grant for an inpatient hospice unit in Thrissur. The hospice is staffed by an all-volunteer network of doctors, nurses and staff.
Kigali, Rwanda: Rotarians Rod Tuenge and Lanny Pinchuk are working with the University of Colorado chapter of Engineers Without Borders on a clean water and micro-enterprise cookstove project in Kigali.

Northeastern Brazil: Rotarian Bob Leutwiler’s program to build 160 tanks for water storage in the Fulnio Indian village in northeastern Brazil is nearing completion. With these in place, the Fulnio Indians will have a reliable source of drinking water throughout the dry season.

Santiago, Chile: The World Community Service committee is partnering with a Rotary Club in Santiago to purchase a Special Transit vehicle for an orphanage there.

In addition to those projects, the Boulder Rotary Club is involved with eight other Denver-area and Boulder County Rotary clubs and a club in Columbia, Mo., working on health and clean water projects in countries including Nicaragua, Guatemala, Zimbabwe, Haiti, Burkina Faso, Cuba, and Nepal.

More information on these projects may be obtained from Rod Tuenge, Boulder Rotary Club, chair of the club’s World Community Service Committee, 303-449-0431, or lrtuenge@msn.com

For more information on Rotary, see www.boulderrotary.org


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Contact: Sue Deans, 303-579-9580