Photo: PNRC member Bret McKeand traveled to Caborca in February to take part in a district-sponsored polio immunization project. While there, Bret presented a check to the Caborca Children's Medical Clinic. The Peoria North Rotary Club joined with the Peoria Rotary Club to provide a $400 contribution. The club recently voted to provide an additional $500 donation to help the clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads uncertainty and hardship around the world, Rotary members and participants are innovating, caring for those affected, and showing that even at a distance, there are ways to help.
The Peoria North Rotary Club, which has for the past two months abandoned its weekly in-person meetings and instead shifted to weekly online gatherings, hasn’t slowed down in its commitment to local service.
Over the past 30 days, the club has donated over $9,000 to organizations and efforts to assist communities in Arizona and Mexico during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Valley View Community Food Bank, a nonprofit organization serving residents in the Northwest Valley, received two donations in April totally $5,000. The funds are being used by the food bank to purchase items to meet the growing demand for food. The shut-down of local businesses due to the pandemic and a resulting increase in unemployment has created a massive spike in food insecurity and an urgent need for food donations by community food banks throughout the state.
The club also contributed $2,000 to the Yarnell Regional Community Center to help with its senior center’s meals on wheels program.
Other contributions recently approved by the Peoria North Rotary Club:
- $1,000 to assist Rotary International’s efforts to supply clean water to residents living on the Navajo Nation Reservation. Lacking abundant access to clean water prior to the start of the pandemic, citizens living on the reservation have been especially hard hit by the COVID-19 crisis.
- $500 to the Caborca Children’s Medical Clinic in Mexico. The clinic serves a rural, poverty-stricken community Mexico.
- The club also recently contributed $525 to the “Jazz My Chair” project in Mexico. The project, supported by several Rotary Clubs in the United States and Mexico, employs disabled residents to repair wheelchairs.
Club President John Fairchild said Rotarians are known for their community service and club members prefer to do hands-on service -- but the current crisis has kept them for the most part, indoors and unable to physically help others.
“But that doesn’t mean we can’t be of service,” said Mr. Fairchild. “We want to do all we can to help, and making financial contributions to help people is one way we can be of service.”
Fighting disease is one of Rotary’s main causes internationally, so Rotarians worldwide already support efforts to promote proper hand washing techniques, teach people other ways to stay healthy, and supply training and vital medical equipment to health care providers.
Now they’re helping health authorities communicate lifesaving information about COVID-19 and donating protective gear and other supplies to clinics and hospitals that are under strain because of the pandemic.
Rotarians throughout the world are stepping up to help their communities during the pandemic. Examples include:
- In Italy, one of the countries that has been affected most, clubs are raising funds to purchase ventilators and protective gear for overstretched hospitals. And when the worst of the outbreak was raging in China, the district’s clubs raised more than $21,000 for protective masks to prevent spread of the disease there.
- Clubs in District 2041, also in Italy, raised funds online to buy protective gear for health workers who will care for COVID-19 patients at a 400-bed hospital being built at Milan’s fairgrounds.
- In Hong Kong, Rotary clubs have raised funds, packed medical supplies, and visited public housing to distribute masks and sanitizers.
- Rotary clubs in Sri Lanka installed thermometers in airport bathrooms and produced posters to raise awareness about the coronavirus for schools across the country.
- Clubs in Korea have donated $155,000 to the Red Cross.
- Rotary clubs in Nigeria’s Akwa Ibom state conducted a campaign to raise awareness about the threat of the virus. Members shared information about the illness and how to keep safe at two schools and distributed materials about using good hygiene to stay healthy.