President Wendy called the meeting to order at 6 PM and led us in the pledge. Dan Whitney led us in prayer.
Guests and Visiting Rotarians.
| Gilcrest, Bill |
Rotarian |
| Gilcrest, Julianne |
Rotarian |
| Grausteru, Alan |
Speaker |
| Grausteru, Joan |
Speaker |
| Interact, Claire |
Guest of Member |
| Interact, Cristina |
Guest of Member |
| Interact, Hayden |
Guest of Member |
| Kaik, Kensley |
Guest of Member |
| Lovering, Linda |
Guest of Member |
| RCEF, Alexia |
Speaker |
| RCEF, Harrison |
Speaker |
| RCEF, Jeanine |
Speaker |
Announcements
- Thank you notes from The Food Pantry, Lakes Region Visiting Nurses, Loon Preservation Committee, Lakes Region Symphony Orchestra, and Kelli Giowey for a scholarship.
- Dues for police detail are going up for the Fishing Derby.
- Dean announced that our exchange student, Dariana from Romania, has arrived. She was in Interact back home and will be joining Interact here.
Program: Micro Loan and Solar Report
Gary introduced the speakers. Alan Growstein chairs the board of RCEF, Rwanda Children’s Education Foundation, and reports on progress from the microloans.
Rotary Clubs in Meredith, Gilford, and Laconia sponsored. RCEF is currently sponsoring 140
school-aged children in Rwanda and helps their parents start businesses of their own. The
Rotary Global Grant made this possible. Microloans are given to parents for their businesses so that they may begin to support their families without assistance.
The project was initiated in 2018 by the Gilford Rotary Club, and loans started to be distributed in April 2019. 138 beneficiaries received loans totaling $53,821.00. All reports have been filed with the Rotary Foundation. A new round made loans available in February of 2023 by RCEF.
A special thank you to Gary for writing the grant and overseeing all of the details of it!
Janine from RCEF then spoke with her son, Harrison, translating. She gave a very heartful
presentation on the effects of genocide in her community and thanked the Rotary Club from the bottom of her heart for helping her people. In her own words, “Rotary made women smile in Rwanda again after the genocide. You can see smiles in their eyes; the men, too. The genocide in 1994 took all of their happiness away. Due to the generosity of Rotary, you have brought joy to their hearts, and you are special to me. You have changed their lives. I want to impress on you how important what you are doing is for these people.
“RCEF was started by my husband and me to support ten kids in Rwanda to go to school. It was important to me because I couldn’t go to school when I was a kid because my parents didn’t have the means. My uncle was paying for school, but when I was in Middle School, he got sick and told me he couldn’t pay anymore. I had to stop going. He died and left five kids. When the genocide came, all five kids were killed, and I was fortunate to survive. Because I couldn’t attend school, I decided to get married at 18. My husband has been a wonderful man to me.
“Because of what happened to me, I wanted kids to have a better life and more options. With your generosity, you have helped me reach those goals, and thank you. We not only help the kids, We also help the parents.”
Janine then showed slides of businesses that parents started, including a flour business. This woman’s daughter was able to go to university. She has hired 25 workers and has expanded her business. Rotary sponsored sewing classes, and some opened sewing and tailoring businesses with machines given to them by Rotary. Another opened a variety store. They also built a large chicken coop and have an egg-raising business. Eggs are very expensive in Rwanda, and it’s hard for people to get eggs.
Genocide memorials are all over Rwanda. 1 in every 10 Rwandans were killed. Rotary laid a wreath at one of the sites in December to honor the victims. Janine lost over 200 family
members of the genocide.
Janine introduced Alexia. During the genocide, her mother was pregnant with her, but her
husband and all of her children were killed. Janine believes our purpose on earth is to change things to make lives better. Thank you to Rotary for helping to make this change.
Alan finished the presentation by explaining that they are building safe and secure housing.
Typical low-income families rent mud huts, and RCEF wanted to get as many of them into the new
housing. The people took great pride in their new housing and planted their own food. Also, they were able to use some of the Rotary funding for solar units.
RCEF aims to make larger loans to proven beneficiaries so that they can get their children from sponsorship, and RCEF can bring new children into their place.
Interact has sponsored a student named Samuel since 5th grade, who is now in 10th grade. Interact presented Janine with a check for Samuel’s sponsorship next year. If you wish to help support RCEF, Gary will send out a link with more information.
Happy Dollars
- Gary, for sailing with Harry..a 9.5 day! Dean is happy the grandkids are in town.
- Tiffany had a challenging week, and coming to Rotary has lifted her spirits. Ray had all four kids home for a week.
- Jim Whitehouse for time with the grandkids.
- Heidi for Dan, who weathered the rain helping her with a construction project.
- Tim for for Sept 30 Pig Roast return!
- Kensley Kaik for Rotarians buying mums and supporting her dance competition.
- Bill for finishing up a big project and celebrating on a boat cruise.
- Peter for surviving a trip through Newark Airport.
- Bruce for time with the grandkids and hanging with Dean’s grands.
- 50/50 Winner Bill Whitehouse, who donated it to RCEF
President Wendy led us in the 4-way test. The meeting adjourned at 7:12 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Erin M. Apostolos
.png)
