Tuesday's meeting celebrated the community groups that we funded through our Community Grants program, and also gave the group a chance to catch up on this school year's projects for the West High and City High Interact groups and the West High Black Students Union.
There is a United Way Day of Caring that the ICARP clubs are participating in on June 13 from 1-4 at the North Liberty Food Pantry. More participants are needed. Rotary will also be participating in the June 21 Gay Pride parade. Sign up for these events through SignupGenius.
All of the Interact and Black Student Union representatives gave updates on their activities. West High Interact/1440 donated to a school in Mexico including backpacks. They participated in the Walk for Water to the Iowa River to get a feel for what people in African villages must do to get water every day. The City High Interact has been stocking the Shelter House with clothing this year and did a fundraiser that helped Open Heartland. One idea for next year at City High is to promote international travel and interaction with students from other countries. Doing food drives has also been a successful project for the City High Interact. The West High Black Student Union is preparing for a June 19th celebration for Juneteenth.
The representatives from ICCSD Healthy Kids Program, Free Medical Clinic, CommUnity, and Open Heartland talked about how $2500 each agency received from the Iowa City AM Rotary will be used. Dr. Beth Phohl from the Healthy Kids Dental Clinic is using the donation for dental instruments and educational materials. Healthy Kids saves families in need by scheduling consultations, xrays and cleanings all in one visit for the school-age children the clinic serves. Dr. Cecilia Norris, Free Medical Clinic director, is focusing on women's health with their grant. She commented that since Planned Parenthood received cuts in funding from Iowa's state budget the Free Medical Clinic has received an 800% increase in requests for service on women's health issues. The Free Medical Clinic has started giving classes in contraception as a response, and that seems to be helping to prevent unplanned pregancies. Kelsey Callaghan, Development Manager for CommUnity, noted that our grant will go towards funding a mobile food pantry. CommUnity is working to raise the last $50000 it needs to fund that new vehicle. The new vehicle will save on expensive maintenance costs, will have refrigeration for food stuffs, and will be more convenient both in loading and for shoppers. Deb Dunkase, Director of Open Heartland, indicated that its grant will go towards fighting food insecurity among client children. Open Heartland started initially as an agency to fight hunger among immigrant children in the community. Five years ago they served 90 families monthly with food deliveries and now they serve 200 families monthly.