Steve and along with other Ontario Rotarians created “Adopt A Village in Laos” in July 2011, with the primary mandate of providing new water sources and clean water, education facilities and educational sponsorship, hygiene training and hygienic toilets, with the greater focus being in the rural areas of Laos.  The work being done by Adopt A Village in Laos has been featured a couple of times in The Rotarian, most recently in July 2015.

Steve has visited about a dozen Rotary Clubs in the Lower Mainland in the past, and he visited my Rotary club in Ladner in September 2014.  His presentation was very, very inspiring to say the least.  I knew next to nothing about Laos and during his presentation, I learned about the impact being made in Laos by this Canadian charity. They are super effective with the funds they raise and very little goes to administration.  When a $120 donation is made for a water filter, a taxable receipt is issued.  The cost of the filter is $85 US funds and with the foreign exchange rate, $120 Canadian does not cover the transportation costs from the factory in Laos to the remote villages.  Literally, 100% of donations for water filters are used to purchase the filters; nothing is used for administration costs.  Steve does separate fundraising through out the year to cover admin costs. 

After his presentation of our Rotary club in 2014, I immediately started to help fundraise for Adopt A Village in Laos and (4) months later, myself and my wife Kathy traveled to Laos to be part of Steve’s team distributing water filters, school & dental supplies to several very remote villages in northern Laos which was and is a very rewarding experience.

I just completed my second trip with Adopt A Village in Laos in January 2016 with another Ladner Rotarian & her daughter along with my wife Kathy.  All four of us will be returning in 2017.  Thanks to Adopt a Village in Laos, some of the remote villages now have clean water, some have concrete schools that stand up to the weather instead of the original bamboo schools and some have community toilets in their villages but there are still many more villages that require clean water.  The people are so appreciative of this work being done by Canadians.  With the support of generous sponsors, we are providing longer, healthier, happier lives for these rural villagers.

I am planning my next trip to Laos for December 2016 – January 2017 and there will be up to (3) Ladner Rotarians including Past District Governor Sonia Baron joining Kathy and myself. 

Steve’s presentations are colourful, thought provoking and very informative.  I am sure your membership would appreciate hearing “first hand” about the good work being done by Canadian Rotarians in a country where we are really making a difference.

His website/blog is: http://adoptavillageinlaos.wordpress.com/ 

His Facebook link is: https://www.facebook.com/steve.rutledge.90

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call me. I look forward to hearing from you,

Mike Storey

Rotary Club of Ladner

Past President

Office: 603.946.9669

Cell: 604.830.1310

Background Information:

Adopt A Village In Laos is a registered Canadian charity issuing taxable receipts to Canadian donors. All of this work is done without remuneration of any kind to Steve. The funds raised through Adopt A Village In Laos are fully used for project costs in Laos. 

Every year, Steve travels to Laos for approximately five months, from November to March, to personally facilitate the projects for which he’s raised money. Steve travels to the remote villages to oversee and physically pitch in to help complete many of the projects. 

Steve has spoken to various Vancouver Lower Mainland Rotary Clubs and to numerous southern Ontario Rotary Clubs, which has resulted in some Rotarians traveling to Laos as a group to lend a hand with his ongoing projects. As it stands, Steve spends approximately 7 months per year raising funds for the much needed projects for the remote villages and travels to Laos for 5 months spearheading, dispersing the funds and organizing delivery of supplies (including the water filters) to the people in the remote villages.