The clubs of District 5400 have a long history of partnering with the clubs of District 4400 in Ecuador to identify, fund and complete humanitarian projects. Four members of the Boise Rotary Club (PDG Kevin Learned, Todd Fischer, Mannie Liu and James Slover, and James’ wife Pam Becker) traveled to Ecuador in October to continue to foster warm relationships with Rotary Clubs there, visit former exchange students, view completed projects, and identify new projects where we can collaborate.
We attended a project fair where clubs in the District presented their proposed projects. Here’s reality from one of the slides:
The tanks hold clean, chlorinated water. This $100,000+ project was completed below budget and brought clean water to each home in three villages of subsistence farmers about 50 miles South of Quito. With the significant savings from the project we we able to expand it to another three villages. The project was a four-party partnership between the villagers, the Ecuadorian Rotarians, the Idaho/Eastern Oregon Rotarians, and the Rotary Foundation. The villages supplied the labor (including hand digging a 3 kilometer trench for the main pipe); the Ecuadorian Rotarians provided the engineering and project supervision, our clubs provided most of the funds, and the Rotary Foundation provided the matching funds and grant oversight. Our lead club was Blue Lakes-Twin Falls. Blue Lakes was joined by Boise, Boise Centennial, Boise Southwest, Boise Sunrise, Buhl, Burley, Idaho Falls, McCall and Nampa.
We returned with a new project to bring clean water two new communities, Romerillos and Pilopata. The total project cost is $61,000 which means we need to raise about $18,000. The Rotary Foundation will provide a 2.5:1 match to get the project funded.
We would be pleased to present a program to your club on our trip, this and other projects, and our next trip currently planned for summer 2020. And, of course we need funds for the Romerillos/Pilopata project. We invite your club to join the Boise and Blue Lakes Twin Falls Rotary Clubs who have already made a commitment to the new project. Contact Kevin Learned, 208-989-7164 orkelearned@gmail.com if your club would like to contribute to the project or to schedule a presentation.
Posted by Kevin Learned
