Last week's meeting included a presentation by Marty Pease of the International Projects Alliance (IPA), a consortium of several District 5050 Clubs working in partnership with the Rotary Club of Copan Ruinas to better the lives of the Mayan people in the western region of Honduras. Marty is a member of the Rotary Club of La Connor and spokesperson for the IPA. Our Club joined the Alliance a few years ago and we support one of the educational programs. A few of our members further support individual students through another IPA program. IPA began ten years ago with a seemingly simple idea. Founder Peter Martin was vacationing in the area when he saw a need that has since blossomed to supporting families in 38 villages in the Copan Ruinas region with education of the children, agriculture education, micro economic opportunities education, water and sanitation projects and more.
Education programs include Adopt-A-School and Adopt-A-Dream where Clubs and/or individuals can sponsor students and/or schools to pay for the education from grade school through college.
There are currently 14 District 5050 Clubs that are part of the IPA. Click this link to learn more about the IPA, the wonderful programs they are doing and how you can support them. You can even go on a visit with them in Honduras. They generally go twice a year (February and November). Thank you to Marty for her annual visits to update us on the great work of the Alliance.