As the new Rotary year begins in District 5040, we usher in the Rotary theme of "The Magic of Rotary." This theme centers on engagement and Empowering Through Unity.
The Rotary Vision Statement encapsulates the start to the new year perfectly: "Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves."
When we break that down, it means that together, people create change, which equates to empowering through unity. You, the members of District 5040, are the magic. You are the magicians, through your projects, your work, and your contributions to Rotary, both locally and globally.
[photo of DG Drew Antrobus, wife and Rotarian Judy Smith, and Sherlock]
Binners' Project, a project on Makeway Charitable Society's Shared Platform, operates programs to help people improve their lives as waste-pickers. By helping improve the livelihoods and economic opportunities of those who need a hand up, the program also provides a community of social inclusion as the waste-pickers contribute to the environment with cleaning up trash from city streets and properties. With the support of $4,340 from the Rotary Club of Richmond Sunrise and a District Grant of $2,160.00 the Society was able to purchase uniforms for the Binners, imprinted with the Rotary logo, 60 long sleeve jackets, 60 Toques and 39 Binners kits for use over the following five years.
With a focus on Education and Literacy -- one of Rotary’s seven areas of focus -- up to 250 kindergarten children from public, private and French schools in Powell River and Regional District are receiving a book in a bag through the Rotary-sponsored “Read to Me” program. Funded by the Rotary Club of Powell River with initial support of a District Grant from The Rotary Foundation, the $5,420 program is intended to encourage parents to read to their children.
Surrounded by South Africa, Lesotho is a nation of 1.9 million people, 40% of whom live in severe poverty with income of less than $1 a day and 25% who are HIV positive. One result is 300,000 children who are orphans. The orphaned children of Lesotho are sometimes abandoned in trash dumpsters, toilet pits, or found alone in a forest.
Beautiful Gate is a non-profit organization that provides a home for younger Lesotho orphans up to age 6 and continually operates at full capacity. After that age, the children are forced into the broken and unmanageable foster system which leaves many to become victims of human trafficking or child labour. One of the world’s smallest nations, Lesotho is second in the world for child human trafficking.
To care for unadopted, older children aged from 6 to 18, the orphanage has now developed “Beautiful Gate 2: Peka Project” with support of $25,550 from some Rotary clubs in District 5040, led by the Bowen Island club, and a $10,000 District Grant from The Rotary Foundation. The Project is a farm, school and special needs facility as a caring home and community for these children. It gives the older orphans an opportunity to be children, give them a chance at life and ultimately find them adopting “forever families”, in Lesotho or abroad.
In the slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh, where Islamic extremists prey on vulnerable and uneducated women, the women are becoming educated and empowered to make positive changes in their communities and generate new economic opportunities. Children, in turn, have improved opportunities for breaking free of extremist ideologies and extreme poverty. Since 2006 the Amarok Society has been working to defeat ignorance through educating mothers.
Mothers in slum neighbourhoods educate children too poor for school. On a daily basis these mothers pass on their education they receive to their own and neighbourhood children in their own huts. Amarok Society rents a room in one of the poorest areas in the slums of Dhaka to teach 25 mothers who, in turn, commit to educate at least 5 children in their own homes.
Rotary Club of Powell River has led a $9,750 project to fund the Amorak Society along with the Rotary Clubs of Pender Harbour Madeira Park, Gibsons and Sechelt and with a $3,250 Rotary District Grant from The Rotary Foundation.
StoryWalks, of children’s book two-page reading stations, exchanged every two weeks or so year round, along a one kilometre trail provides an outdoor experience and an opportunity for children to read with adults, learn new words, describe things and events, enjoy and tell stories, learn how to follow a story in sequence, physically moving as a hop, skip, run or fly from page layout to layout, and hear and play with sounds and letters in words.
Literacy has been a top priority for the Rotary Club of Williams Lake Daybreak and that has continued with its new Satellite division in adding another StoryWalk along the RC Cotton trail off of Scout Island Nature Centre and bird sanctuary in the Williams Lake, BC community with $3,668 from the club and $1,386 in a Rotary District Grant from The Rotary Foundation.
In Powell River 180 grade 12 students graduating from Brooks Secondary School chose to attend the Rotary Club of Powell River’s Casino for Dry Grad after graduating ceremonies at a local recreation complex. Photo shows Quinn Carlson, Brooks Interact president and Grade 11 student, encouraging grads to try their luck at the Crown and Anchor wheel.
Rotary Hospice House is a 10-bed facility in Richmond, BC. providing medical care and spiritual care at the end of life for palliative care patients. The Hospice cares for up to 450 patients a year and serves over 1,000 friends and families of patients. Rotary Club of Richmond raised over $500,000 in 12 years towards building the Hospice which opened in 2005.
After 18 years of service in 2023 the Hospice needed to replace the outdated oxygen concentrator and, surrounding the property, a rotted fence which was considered a hazard for Hospice staff, volunteers and visitors. Rotary Club of Richmond addressed these needs with a a contribution $6,700 and additional support of $3,300 from a District Grant from The Rotary Foundation