11 MARCH 2021 - CLUB MEETING VIA ZOOM
Flag Salute: Dan Antokal
Four Way Test: PDG Bonnie Sirower
Members Present: Dan Antokal, June Bertini, Terry Ciulla, Jan Doornbosch, Steve Fox, Stuart Gold, David Kist, Vicky Meo, Amgad Wassef
Visiting Rotarians and Guests: John Cosgrove, Fred Rohdieck, PDG Bonnie Sirower,
Announcements:
- The March Madness pool is up and running. Only a few boxes have been sold so far.
Birthdays and Anniversaries:
- David Kist’s birthday was March 4
Sunshine:
- While Jan’s wife was recovering from a hip replacement she fell and now has a broken rib
Our thoughts and prayers go out to all who are currently contending with
adversity of one type or another.
Happiness:
- Everyone was happy to welcome our speaker Bonnie Sirower and John Cosgrove
- Terry was happy that past member Larissa Romero gave birth to a healthy baby girl
- Dan was happy at Georgetown’s basketball success
- Jan and Vicky were happy for a beautiful, sunshiny day
Program
On March 11, 2021 at a virtual meeting via Zoom, Park Ridge Rotary members welcomed PDG Bonnie Sirower and John Cosgrove of the Fair Lawn Sunrise Rotary Club, Their club is partnering with other clubs to provide desperately-needed clean water to an impoverished community in Juticalpa, Honduras.
The community of Juticalpa is located in the municipality of Santos Guardiola, Roatan Island, Honduras, 30 miles off the northern coast of Honduras in the western Caribbean Sea. Juticalpa has a population of 750 people. Only 60% of the community has access to a limited water supply. In the summer, water is available on one day every two weeks. In the winter, water is available only one day every week. The existing well does not recharge very quickly so it takes one to two weeks to fill the community water tank. The remaining 40% of the community has no access to water at all. None of the water is drinkable. Children currently take water from the existing well, drag it up the hill to their homes and pour it into large drums.
Fair Lawn Sunrise is one of the Rotary Clubs working with the Rotary Club of Roatan, Honduras (where Juticalpa is located) to construct a new solar-powered water well, which will provide potable water to all, and cover the remaining 40% of the homes and increase the number of liters available per house throughout the community. They will provide water, sanitation and hygiene training to adults and children and every household will have suitable water containers to prevent disease. Each of the 150 homes will also receive a home filtration system and a safe place to store the water.
The Rotary Fair-lawn am club to complete this project need to raise at least $70,000 and have already raised about $48,000.
The Park Ridge Rotary Club Charitable Foundation plans to consider a donation to help in this effort. More information is available at www.FLSunriseRotary.org. web site along with a video depicting the situation in Honduras on this Island where families cannot depend on any assistance from their government.