International Committee

Posted by Harold Bischoff on Oct 21, 2016
 
The International Committee has had a busy fall. Read all about it here.
 
Quarterly Report of the Lima Rotary International Service Committee
The first quarter of the Rotary year is already finished and the International Service Committee wants to inform Lima Rotarians of developments of note.
 
GG15248442—District 4250 Sanitation Improvement Within the Watershed of the Merendon Preserve 
The most important step was the final sign off on Wednesday, July 27th of the Global Grant—GG15248442—District 4250 Sanitation Improvement Within the Watershed of the Merendon Preserve.  The final sign off by the parties participating in this Rotary International Global Grant initiates a process that will hopefully lead to the Rotary International Foundation funding the largest International Service project ever initiated by the Lima Rotary.  Rotarian Bob Ruehl has worked the past several years to put this project together. 
As with all International Service projects, the Host Club that the Lima Rotary will be working with is the Usula Rotary Club (Honduras).  The Lima Rotary is the lead International Partner for the project.  The proposal submitted stipulated a budget for the project of $197,001.00.  Other Rotary Clubs and Rotary Districts contributing to the project include:
Rotary Clubs:  Gateway-Thurston County (WA),  Archibold (OH), Lorain (OH), Oakville-Trafalgar (Toronto, CA) , Montreal (CA), Simi Sunrise (CA), Ojai (CA), San Miguel de Allende-Midday (Mexico), Scarborough (CA)
Rotary Districts:  District 7080 (CA), District 6600 (OH), District 5020 (WA)
As you may recall several years ago Rotary International developed Future Vision which sought to bring greater transparency and sustainability to how International Service project dollars were spent by the Rotary Clubs.  That process led to multiple Clubs and Rotary District’s working together to complete larger projects which will have a more meaningful impact.  Another key aspect of that program was to insure that the projects undertaken have the support of the communities and address the real needs.  This project, due to Bob’s efforts, has been focused upon meeting the needs of the local population to be impacted by the project and is working with a Host Club committed to a successful completion of the project.
We have recently learned that the next step in the Rotary International Foundation’s review process will be to send a Cadre inspection/review team to Honduras to meet with the Host Club and parties involved in the project.  That meeting will potentially occur during November of 2016. 
 
Committee Meeting Held on Monday, August 8th
The International Service Committee held one meeting during the quarter on Monday, August 8th.  The meeting was well attended and it was determined that a key focus –in addition to the Global Grant-- is to get additional Rotarians to  attend the Uniendo Project Fair (to be held in San Salvador, El Salvador) during the last week of January.  It is vital to get other Lima Rotarians involved in developing and vetting projects with other Clubs.  More information will be forthcoming in the near future on the Project Fair.
 
MESA Happenings
Gary Davis, Director of Operations & Logistics for MESA indicated the following items of note:
  • During the month of August MESA picked up 6 crank-up beds that Springview Manor here in Lima had contributed to MESA;
  • Also during August MESA shipped their first small container (20 foot long instead of 40 foot long) to Mexico where Resources Centers International (Mel Honig’s computer center project)
Will be implementing their first Center in Mexico;
  • Randy Box of the Waterville Rotary Club will head up the Rotary Tour for MESA in 2017;
  • The balance of the mortgage loan on the MESA warehouse is now down to approximately $25,063.00.  The mortgage was initially for $70,000.00.
  • Any Lima Rotarian can attend the MESA monthly Board meetings which are held at the warehouse at 1370 North Main Street, Fostoria, OH 44830.  The meetings start at 4:00 p.m. and are scheduled on the second Wednesday of each month.
The above picture is of the container that was recently loaded at the MESA Warehouse in Fostoria to be shipped to Puruandiro, Mexico.  Mel Honig, founder of Resource Centers International, will be leading a team of three educators fluent in Spanish to implement Resource Centers in 16 preschool classrooms between November 17th to 28th.  If you are interested in participating in this Mission you can learn more about this project at:  https://resourcecentersinternational.org/news-for-q3-2016/
 
Opportunity of a “Hands On “ Project
Sean McGhee, with the Swanton Rotary Club is looking for several additional Rotarians interested in working on three construction projects in Honduras from January 28th to February 4th, 2017.  This is the only time in 2017 that this type of project will be available and any interested Rotarians should contact Sean at 419-994-6391.  Sean has been involved in hands-on projects for over 12 years and has spoken to our Club in the past about his prior trips.  Participants are expected to pay their own expenses and can select which project they are interested in working.

Additional questions on any of the items noted should be directed to Catheryn Sarno or Harold Bischoff, International Service Committee Co-Chairs.