special insert - The Rotary Club of Welland

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62399607 8 ROTARY SERVICE ABOVE SELF MAY 2007 Women at a co-operative in Cebu, Philippines, have 10 new sewing machines on which they have already made more than 200 each of togas, graduation hoods and caps. The revenue from the rentals of these items helps them to support their families. An autistic school in the same community has new educational equipment, a playground has been improved and the Don Bosco Orphanage School has cabinetry tools for trades training. A day care centre in Iloilo, Philippines has new educational materials and a Rotary grant is helping some economically disadvantaged teenagers in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Some volunteers in Tanzania, who are trained in basic health care as part of a home-based care team, have bicycles to carry them on their weekly trek of many kilometres through the dusty, mountainside paths to reach their patients. Piotr Sukharevich is able to leave his home in Belarus and stay with the Graham family, as part of a program to provide a health respite from the radiation effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986. These are some of the recent projects that have received financial support from the Rotary Club of Welland. The club earmarks about 30 percent of the money it raises each year for grants to support projects in developing countries. “Our club is fortunate to have members who are very experienced with international work,” said Cheryle Slattery, director of International Service. “Doug Johnson and Jos Nolle, in particular, provide guidance for sustainable projects to fund and give first-hand reports on how the club’s investment has improved the daily lives of people in developing countries,” said Slattery. Johnson has been involved with projects in the Philippines, Azerbaijan and Nicaragua through his volunteer efforts for the Canadian Executive Service Organization (CESO), which provides volunteer advisors to businesses and communities that are unable to access commercial consultants. Johnson and his wife, Helen, left their laptops in Baku, Azerbaijan, to help get a local Rotaract Club started. This project takes street children and brings them into a foster home to provide clean clothes, a medical exam, and to educate and rehabilitate them socially. The Rotary Club of Welland also provided a grant to the Baku Rotaract Club to help fund a playground. International Service encompasses actions taken to expand Rotary’s humanitarian reach around the globe and to promote world understanding and peace. REACHING AROUND THE WORLD TO MAKE SMALL CHANGES Welland City Council... SERVING THE PEOPLE OF WELLAND. The City Of Welland Recognizes & Appreciates The Dedication Of The Welland Rotary Club and The Contribution They Make To Our Community. WELLAND CITY COUNCIL Rotaract is an international program for adults 18 to 30 years old, who want to make a difference. There are more than 7,300 Rotary club-sponsored Rotaract clubs with some 170,000 members in 150 countries. Nolle, director of International Education and Development at Niagara College, introduced the club to the opportunity to support the Yryapu Indigenous Tourism Training Centre in Argentina. The centre trains marginalized communities around Iguaza Falls, providing them with greater access to employment in the region’s burgeoning tourism industry. The training school project was a partnership among Niagara College, governmental agencies, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and various Rotary clubs. At a Rotary lunch meeting, Nolle reported that four billion people in the world each live on $2 a day, with half of them living on $1 a day. “Solutions for world understanding and improved quality of life can occur through the smallest projects and the smallest of acts,” said Nolle. The club helped fund the expenses for a first-year medical student, who volunteered as part of a surgical team, on a twoweek trip to the Dominican Republic organized by Medical Ministries International. Sarah Aldrich received help with her expenses to pursue volunteer activities with Hands @ Work in Africa, an organization focused on helping with the AIDS epidemic. “I knew going to Africa that I wouldn’t be able to change the world, yet I did hope that I would be able to make some small change, somewhere,” said Aldrich. “As I sat on the plane, trying to put together the fragmented pieces composing my African experience puzzle, I realized that Africa has made a far greater change in me and given me far more than I could have possibly left in it. My goals in life have changed. And so my African journey will continue on, regardless of whether or not I’m on the African continent.” The club helped cover the travel and accommodation expenses of Jackie VanLanVeld to travel to Ukraine. VanLanVeld is manager of speech and literacy programs at the Niagara Peninsula Children’s Centre. She was invited to travel to Ukraine as part of a team of experts to provide consultation and education to local educators and health officials on the latest concepts and techniques Peter W. McDowell Vice President Investment Advisor CIBC Wood Gundy is division of CIBC World Markets Inc. CIBC World Markets Inc. 1 St. Paul Street Suite 1003 St. Catharines, ON L2R 7L2 Tel: (905) 988-2960 Fax: (905) 988-2970 Toll Free: 1-800-263-7264 peter.mcdowell@cibc.ca 62448617 Children in Bangladesh enjoy clean and safe water from a water pump installed through a Rotary project.PHOTO ROTARY INTERNATIONAL involving early childhood education and literacy. Rotary clubs often work together and grants are available at the district level for international projects. The Welland club recently supported the Rotary Club of Niagara Falls with a project for the Healthcare for the Tribal Communities in the Amazon River Basin. The project provides money for a hospital boat to deliver medical and dental services to indigenous tribal villagers who harvest the Brazil nut and live in jungle villages. In past years many Rotary Clubs in the district financed the construction of an Eco Lodge in a protected dry, tropical rain forest managed by a local organization in Ecuador. The next step was to assist some local micro businesses with a loan system to allow them to offer catering and cleaning services for the management of the organization that owns the new visitors’ lodge. Roy Sheldrick, a Rotarian from Ancaster, has worked tirelessly to build more than 100 wells for disadvantaged communities in war torn Haiti. The Welland club has sponsored 10 of those wells. 247 East Main Street, PO Box 67, Welland, Ontario L3B 5N9 Tel. 905.735.5684 Fax 905.735.3340 tbielby@ibwlawyers.com www.lbwlawyers.com 62448566
YOUTH EXCHANGE A LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE Young people who are selected to take part in the Rotary International Youth Exchange program usually describe their year as a life changing experience. The program provides students from 15 to 19 years old an exchange opportunity to spend one year living and studying in a foreign country. Each year about 7,000 young people take part in the program, which has been running for more than 30 years. “Our club got back in the youth exchange program in 2004-05 after being out of it for a few years,” said Ray Tisi, who co-ordinates the program for the Rotary Club of Welland. This year the club is sponsoring two outbound students, Ray’s daughter, Stephanie Tisi, who is in Taiwan, and Meghan McNaughton in Brazil. The club is hosting Shoko Yamamoto from Japan. All three students will be returning to their home countries at the end of June. It takes the whole club to provide a meaningful experience for the students, who stay with three or four different host families during their time in Welland. Club members are encouraged to include their youth exchange student in their regular weekend plans includ- The Graham family: Sandy, Hugh, Sarah and Jory Graham in the back row, with Amy Graham and Piotr Sukharevich, from Belarus, in front. Above: Stephanie Tisi, right, is shown with one of her youth exchange host families at Far Glory Ocean Park in Hualien, Taiwan. Left: Rotarians Bernie Law and Alison Brown admire the traditional garb of Shoko Yamamoto, youth exchange student from Japan. ing dinner, shopping, special trips and other activities. The successful candidates for the next year are Tory Damude, who will be going to Japan, and Tyler Zurick, who will head to Thailand in July. Two inbound students will come to Welland from Belgium and Brazil. Piotr is one of the family BY HUGH GRAHAM Piotr Sukharevich is our “summer” son and brother. He comes from the village of Svaryn in the Brest region of Belarus. Piotr is one of about 30 children who come to our area through the Belarus Children of Chernobyl Foundation, a Rotary District 7090 approved project. The program is designed to offer a health respite from the radiation effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986. Our family got involved through our membership in Rotary. The Rotary Club of Welland sponsors Piotr’s travel to Canada each year and he becomes a member of our home for the summer weeks. This year is Piotr’s fifth summer with us. He enjoys typical activities like swimming lessons at “the pit” in Fonthill, riding his bike around the neighbourhood, playing soccer with the same group of kids each year, and sports camps like basketball, soccer, and golf. Having Piotr stay with us has educated our family to the differences, and the similarities, with other countries and cultures. Each year the experience continues to enrich the lives of Piotr and all of us. Hugh Graham is a member of the Fonthill Rotary Club and Assistant District Governor of Rotary District 7090. Sandy Graham is a member of the Rotary Club of Welland. MAY 2007 SERVICE ABOVE SELF ROTARY 9 testimonials ANDY GLAVAC, CFP, EPC Owner, Glavac Financial Planning Services Rotary District 7090 Rotary Foundation Committee - Area 7 Specialist Member since 1997 I have been in Rotary since 1997. My best experience was becoming club president in 1999/2000; I grew as a person, speaker and leader. That same year we hosted a Youth Exchange Student from Brazil. This experience impacted our entire family. He is still a part of our family to this day. RAY TISI Owner, Raymond Tisi, CA Member District 7090 Youth Exchange Committee Member since 1997 I greatly enjoy my Rotary experience because I feel like a small part of a very dynamic, benevolent organization that improves the human condition locally and around the world in large ways and in small ways. I have met many terrific people who have the same goal from all corners of the world at the Rotary International Convention in San Antonio, as well as locally at many District and Zone meetings. I feel like I have vastly broadened my exposure and contribution to the world, and all the while having a lot of fun doing it. ROY TIMMS Owner, Timbro Group of Companies Member since 1987 Rotary has offered us opportunities to participate/ contribute to international projects for the good of humanity and make a difference in the lives of less fortunate people thousands of miles away from Welland.
Page 1 and 2: GET GET GET IT IT IT IN IN IN GEAR
Page 3 and 4: testimonials ALISON BROWN Owner A.P
Page 5 and 6: The Rotary Club of Welland's Andrew
Page 7: RYLA: Rotary Youth Leadership Award
Page 11 and 12: Sue Dolan, centre, is shown at Omoa

special insert - The Rotary Club of Welland

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