Greetings from the Gabby Governor
Did You Know?
When I was younger, I tried to start a hide-and-seek team. It didn’t work out. The really good players were hard to find.
Should everyone have access to clean drinking water? What about water for cooking meals, bathing, or DRINKING? This is something most of us take for granted. We know clear, clean, drinkable water will always be there.
This is not the case in many parts of the world. Women and children can spend more than four or five hours, each day, walking to get water. And, in many cases, this is water from the local river. More than 800,000 people die each day from diseases contracted from drinking unsafe water.
I am asking every club in the district to be part of a district-wide effort to raise funds for HANWASH. WHY HAITI? First, Why Not Haiti? To be a little more specific, HANWASH has started an initiative that will provide the entire country with access to clean water. It has been discovered that well-meaning organizations, like Rotary, have in the past, gone in and provided what they believed to be a solution to providing an area, in great need of drinkable water, a water well. A few years later the well stops working. No one in the area knows how to repair the well, and even if they did no one knows where to get the needed parts. So, the well stays broken! HANWASH has come up with a solution to the problem. Folks from the local area are part of HANWASH. Locals are also taught how to maintain the water system. In addition, parts are found locally. And, the missing puzzle piece has been identified. Locals are also charged a small fee to have this service. We now realize that when someone pays for something they put a greater value on it. HANWASH is not a short-term band-aid. HANWASH is a long-term solution! We all know Haiti is one of the hardest places in the world to get anything accomplished. Rotary feels if it can accomplish this goal in Haiti, it can do so anywhere in the world.
Ryan Rowe, Executive Director of HANWASH will be a featured speaker at our district conference in May. Wouldn’t it be great if we could present him with a big fat check to help support HANWASH efforts? (Note: PDG Brain Hall, from the Covington Club, is also HANWASH treasurer. Give Brian a call and he will gladly speak at your club.)
The goal is to have every club in 6840 take part in this very meaningful service project. Let us join forces so that together we can make a difference. We can’t change the whole world but we can change the world for one small part of it. PLEASE SAY YES!
Checks should be made out to: Rotary 6840 Foundation, c/o Brian Hall.
Information on HANWASH can also be found on the district website. Or, give me a call.
Yours in service,
Vicky Gutierrez
It’s a Great Day to be a Rotarian!
Remember to have FUN!!
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