Our Projects
"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service to others." -- Mahatma Ghandi
Spotts Park
The Cecile Crighton Spotts Newlands Park was opened by Rotary Sunrise in September 2010. The parcel was donated by Rex Crighton, in honor of his wife Cecile, whom the park is named for.
The Park is an important part of the community in Spotts, as it was designed for the community residents to have a safe place to go and something to do. The Park is recognized as an important part of community building, allowing residents to come together and share with each other.
The Spotts Park boasts numerous sitting areas, tables and benches, swing sets, a barbecue pit, a basketball court, and a large sanded playground. There are also restrooms and pathways for public use.
The Park is maintained by Rotary Sunrise annually and as needed intermittently. It is located on the corner of Chime Street and Mocking Bird Crescent in Spotts, Grand Cayman.
Rotary Sunrise invites you to visit our Park anytime!
A community that comes together grows together.
Buy-A-Kid-A-Book
Every year, Rotary Sunrise's Literacy Committee spear heads the "Buy-A-Kid-A-Book" project. This project seeks to raise funds through public donation, either monetary or new/used books, to purchase and supply books for Reading Partner programs at various public schools. More than 250 public school students have directly benefited from the program since its inception in 2008.
The aim of the project is to improve reading and comprehension levels of the participating students. Each participant receives a book as a personal gift from Rotary Sunrise for successfully completing the program.
The books the Club have purchased and donated to the various public schools range from Fiction to Non-Fiction, vary in reading ability level, and have also been bilingual Spanish/English reading books for the three primary schools with the greatest number of ESL (English as a Second Language) students.
A book is a gift you can open again and again. -- Garrison Keillor
Guaruma Project
Honduras has become known as a dangerous country, with one of the highest murder and violence rates in the world. Drug cartels have quickly become entrenched in the communities, recruiting young people to join their ranks. One of the principal goals of the Guaruma project is to engage children in learning activities, to teach them about the natural environment and how to protect and nurture it; the teachers at Guaruma use the medium of photography to teach children to capture what they see, and use computers and IT to share the information.
Teachers of this program are graduates of the program themselves - this allows them to remain within their communities and provides them with a sense of purpose to ensure the younger students are engaged in meaningful activities, thus keeping them away from a potential life of criminal activity. The graduates also host jungle treks and water activities on the Rio Cangrejal. Rotary Sunrise pays for internet access which is the only connectivity the schools and greater community of approximately 900 people have to the web.
Funding also goes toward a multiplicity of things including daily school lunches, computers, machine repairs, printers, cameras, craft materials and a small stipend for the local teachers (the graduates of Guaruma). Rotary Sunrise has also funded a university education for a Guaruma graduate, the first in his community to achieve tertiary education.
Rotary Sunrise runs yearly medical missions to Guaruma with the assistance of volunteers from the Heath Services Authority (HSA) and the Rotaract Club of Grand Cayman.
In September of last year Sunrise medical volunteers met two local doctors recently completing medical school in Tegucigalpa. Originally from Las Mangas, Drs. Melvin and Anna are very familiar with community members and will be treating patients on an ongoing basis. Rotary Sunrise will continue to assist with the medical portion of the program, assisting Drs. Melvin and Anna in situations where they may need professional guidance.
This year, four doctors and seven staff nurses used equipment and expertise to diagnose and treat ailments for community residents, providing in excess of US$1,500 in purchased and donated medications.
The Rotary Club of Grand Cayman Sunrise has supported the Guaruma Project for over ten years. All volunteers fund their own international airfares, local accommodation and meals as part of this charitable effort.
To learn more about the project, visit www.guaruma.org
Tree Planting
Last summer, Ian H.S. Riseley challenged every Rotarian to plant a tree by Earth Day 2018.
Rotary Sunrise accepted the challenge and initiated the Tree Planting project which encompassed planting trees at multiple locations. The first was at the proposed East End Speedway, where a total of 65 palm trees were planted over a large expanse of land. The second location was another Park which Rotary Sunrise sponsors and maintains annually. The third and last location was the new soon-to-be Hospice location.
In total, Sunrise planted 75 trees, exceeding the Past R.I President's goal of one tree per member.
Cambodia Water Project
In a very remote and poor area of Cambodia (Veal Veng District in Pursat Province near the Cardamom Mountains), children and teachers are forced to use the nearby bushes and undergrowth for relief as there are currently no restroom facilities in the local Primary Schools.
Rotary Sunrise has partnered with The Rotary Club of Phnom Penh, to provide latrines for approximately 210 people, comprising of 12 adults (teachers) and 198 children, ranging in age from 5-17.
The toilets at each Primary School would be connected to rainwater collection systems to provide cistern water. Each latrine has its own water storage for flushing and hand-washing. There is a gravel soak-away below the taps. The tanks fill with rain from the roof, and should this empty during the dry season there is a plentiful supply a few meters away at the school’s water collection tanks. The collection systems were recently installed. Full of initiative, Rotary members are working for a stronger, and better tomorrow. This project is in its final stages of planning and will be fully executed in the short months to come.
Annual Car Raffle
The Rotary Sunrise Annual Car Raffle is the club's biggest fundraising project, bringing in on average over USD $50,00.00 each year. All proceeds from the raffle are used within the community, both locally and internationally.
This year's raffle was drawn on April 13th at A.L. Thompson's. To see who our winners were, check out our 'Sunrise Car Raffle' page.
WE TAKE ACTION
Each day, our members pour their passion, integrity, and intelligence into completing projects that have a lasting impact. We persevere until we deliver real, lasting solutions.
BOTH LOCALLY
Club activities, social events, and volunteer projects offer networking opportunities that build personal and professional connections, build and develop communities and change lives.
AND GLOBALLY
We work with groups and organizations of all sizes to accomplish even more. For more than 110 years, we’ve bridged cultures and connected continents to champion peace, fight illiteracy and poverty, promote clean water and sanitation, and fight disease.
Join Rotary’s 1.2 million neighbors, friends, leaders, and problem-solvers who see a
world where people unite and take action to create
lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.
