ROCKET STOVES FOR 12 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC FAMILES

Katie McVey, grand daughter of long-time Rotarian Sam Langstaff, has attended Rotary's RYLA and Young RYLA leadership programs and now is a student at William & Mary. With a grant from the Littleton Rotary Foundation via our International Committee, and in combination with other funds Katie has been granted, she will travel to the Dominican Republic on a project to benefit 12 families with the highly efficient Rocket Stoves. These stoves are designed to efficiently burn fuel, usually wood, thereby reducing harmful respiratory problems often associated with cooking fires in confined spaces. As Katie describes her work:

"I’m studying Finance with a concentration in Management and Organizational Leadership in the Mason School of Business. I’ve been involved with social venture in the past where I’ve gone abroad to Ecuador, South Africa, Mozambique, and Uganda. This semester I’m enrolled in a Social Entrepreneurship course learning the basics of how to organize a social venture. Through the course my professor is taking a select group of students to the Dominican Republic this summer."

"In the Dominican we are working with nonprofit organizations as well as the governmental organization to complete community evaluations of different areas. This is to ensure that different community needs are met. From there we will be working hand in hand with specific nonprofits to create a social venture that could potentially be successful business models.  Some examples from past years have been water filtration, fair-trade coffee, and artisans’ crafts sold in the United States. On one leg of our trip we will be completing community assessments while also building rocket stoves. Rocket stoves are easy to install and can provide cleaning burning fuel for multiple families. Our goal is to build enough stoves this summer to fully support 12 families."

This promises to be a very informative and interesting program so be sure to attend.