Welcome

I’d like to tell you about Hope for the Future I have involving all of you.  Are you aware that 800,000 people die every day from a disease they contracted by drinking unsafe water?  In Haiti, women and children spend 4-5 hours everyday walking to get water.  And, that’s from the nearest river where animals drink and bathe. My hope, and what I hope will now be your hope also, begins with this most basic of human needs --- drinkable water.  HAVING DRINKABLE WATER IS something we take for granted. 

But what if you lived in a place that didn’t have clear safe drinking water.  What if you had never seen water that was clear?  What if the only color your drinking water was brown?  The same water everyone washed their clothes in.  The same water the local wild animals drank and bathed in?  What if that was all you knew?  What if you were sick all the time and didn’t know why?  Drinking brown water and being sick was just the way things were in your world.

BUT what if you and I could change that for one person?  What if we could change that for one entire village?  That’s what I am asking you to do.  I propose that all the clubs in District 6840, come together and raise needed funds that will enable us to install a clean water system in a commune in Haiti. The program is called HANWASH.
 
You may ask WHY HAITI?  I answer WHY NOT HAITI.  I understand there are many places in this world that need clean water. I looked into several water projects including the HANWASH program.  HANWASH is doing more than providing a short-term solution by installing a water well that will most certainly break down in a few years because no one there has the knowledge or parts to repair it. HANWASH is implementing in a system where the local community is taught to keep the system running.  A system where the local community is charged a monthly fee for this service, where these funds are used to upkeep the system for many years to come.  HANWASH is not a short-term band-aid, it is the long-term solution.  I hope this a project you can get behind.   I am asking you and your club to hold a fundraiser that will help make my dream, and I hope now YOUR dream a reality.

 

If you would like someone to speak at one of your club meetings and get more information on the Water Project for Haiti, please contact PDG Brian Hall from the Covington Club.  In addition to being the Chair of our District Project, Brian is the treasurer for HANWASH.  We can’t ask for better oversight than that.  I ask that all donations be turned in no later than April 30, 2024.

Ryan Rowe, Director from HANWASH will be present at our District Conference.  I ask that you be there and stand with me as we present him a check from D6840, one that will make a difference for the people of Haiti.