Happy Holidays from the Rotary Club of Grand Cayman Sunrise!  Please enjoy these photos from our last club meeting for 2014. That morning we welcomed 2 new members, played Christmas Bingo, heard updates from each of the Committees and took a group photo.

 

Rotarians and friends, if we don't see you at the Christmas Party on December 17th, have a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and peaceful New Year!

 

International paid for the purchase of a new wheelchair from the funds held by the foundation we support called Guaruma, located at Las Mangas in the Cangrejal Valley in Honduras.  The recipient is a young man named Gerson Dominguez who has cerebral palsy. His last chair was falling apart where the wheels themselves were irreparable.  Rotarians met him on their last visit to Guaruma. 
The wheelchair was sourced in La Ceiba by the Guaruma team and then delivered to the little town of Las Mangas where Gerson lives.  In the photos, you can see Gerson with his father and one of the Guaruma helpers, Gerson’s old chair, his reluctance to leave it, and then him settling in to his new wheels. Thank you Sunrise Rotarians!

 

There is no better way to break up your busy day than to take 30 minutes out to read with students on the LIFE Paired Reading program.  What started off as Rotary Sunrise’s volunteer reading buddies program has been adopted and extended by LIFE to cover all the government schools in Grand Cayman. 
 

LIFE runs 30-minute reading sessions at different schools on different days of the week throughout the school year.  All it takes is to travel to the school of your choice, sit and read with your reading buddy for 30 minutes, and have fun doing it!  Many schools have reading times around lunchtime so volunteers can fit the reading sessions into their lunch break. The best part is knowing that you have made a real difference to a student’s learning and hopefully helped them discover the joys of reading.  Many of our student readers are struggling with their literacy skills, and reading with an enthusiastic, patient adult is a great way for them to gain confidence and improve their reading skills.  LIFE volunteers also benefit from watching a 20-minute basic training video about paired reading strategies to help prepare them and to maximise the support for the students.  

The teachers are very grateful for the additional support provided by our volunteers, and the students love having time to read with their reading buddies. Here’s what two of our happy volunteers had to say:

And if reading once a week is too much of a commitment, why not pair-up with a friend or another volunteer and read every other week?  We welcome Sunrise Rotarians to join us in growing this wonderful program – please email Su Mander (su.mander@life.org.ky) for details of the reading locations and times or to request an application form.