The Rotary Foundation allows Rotary Clubs a unique opportunity to benefit from the internationality of the Family of Rotary and to magnify service and cultural opportunities. For example:
Rotary District 7730 has a significant, multi-year, International Matching Grant with Rotary Clubs in Uganda providing 100 Manual Peanut Shelling Machine parts and molds to Ugandan village cooperatives through a joint venture with The Full Belly Project non-profit organization. The project make a reality of the dreams of former Peace Corps volunteers who saw a need but could not make it happen on a large scale without the participation of Rotarians and funding through The Rotary Foundation. Rotarians had an audience with former President and peanut farmer, Jimmy Carter, this year promoting the much-needed effort.
Our Group Study Exchange Team paired four non-Rotarians and a Rotary Team Leader in a trek to Mexico during May, 2006. The team, composed of a college administrator, personal trainer, community college english instructor, middle school teacher, and a graduate student in social work, spent a month learning about the Mexican culture and the intricacies of their vocation as practiced in that country. It was a life-altering experience for the participants, an opportunity to be an ambassador for our area, and an opportunity to promote peace, goodwill and friendships among peoples.
Over $10,000 in Rotary Foundation Grants have been locally administered and awarded to local Rotary Clubs for service activities actively involving their Rotarians in service. Clubs have funded projects to build a confidence course at a local residential camp for troubled youth, to fund a book drive in Dhanbad India, to expand The Dictionary Project for third graders into a neghboring school district with no Rotary clubs, to dig wells in Ghana Africia, and to conduct community awareness events with a local community band, among other projects.Our Group Study Exchange Team for 2006-07 will pair four non-Rotarians and a Rotary Team Leader in a medical oriented team mission to Japan during October, 2006. The team is busily learning about Japanese language, culture, customs, dress, and food in preparation for the trip. They will undergo an intense language and cultural training session to be better prepared to interact with their Japanese hosts at work and at home during ther month-long adventure.
Numerous Ambassadorial Scholars are recent students in southeast North Carolina. Two Scholars from Japan interned with the TEACHH Centers in Fayetteville and Wilmington studying Autism. A visiting Scholar from Bangladesh, Muhammad Aminul Karim, is enrolled at UNC-Pembroke for the coming year. Scholar Jamie Fumo, a teacher in the Brunswick County School System, will be studying in Australia this year with plans to return to put her newfound diversity into play in her classroom when she returns.
For more information see: Rotary Foundation
See also: Foundation Chair