HARLEYSVILLE ROTARY - ICEC2 LITERACY PROJECT

 
 
Members of the ICEC2 project team with Harleysville Rotary Club President Jim Heller gave a presentation to the Rotary Club on Wednesday, February 11, 2015.
 
Dear Members of the Harleysville and surrounding communities,
 
I am Frank Romano, Past District Governor of District 7430 in Eastern Pennsylvania USA and a member of the Rotary Club of Harleysville. As a member of the Harleysville community I would like to share with you a international project that we are working on. The Harleysville Rotary Club is in the process of applying for a Global Grant with an international host Club, the Rotary Club of Umuahia Central in southern Nigeria. In short, it is to establish an Inter-Continental Education Community Center (ICEC2) to bring literacy to a community of 23,000 people along with practical skills training for the adults and children in the community and ultimately be a model for other African communities to develop a local educational and economic environment. The goal is to change the culture in the region from a third world of poverty and dependence into a society of learning, advancement and independence. The people will be transformed from individuals without an understanding of how to control their own destiny into a healthy vibrant community of skilled workers and businesses. 
 
In the proposal, we are seeking $71,000 (US) to complete the first phase of the learning center. It includes a water well and attention tank, a solar engery system and an access road. We currently have $42,000 (US) between the Harleysville RC, through District GG funds ($18,000(US), the RC of Umuahia Central ($3,000 (US) and the matching $21,000 (US) of The Rotary Foundation (pending final approval of the application). Currently this is sufficient to fund the water well and retention tank, so we are seeking to find the funds to also complete the solar energy system and access road. The next phase of the project will be the main learning center building, which will contain an auditorium for large group presentations, computer labs and various size class rooms. The next phase will be the upper and lower grades school buildings. expanded enrollments will be require a dormitory for brooding students. The ICEC2 will be the resource for the proximate community and the region. Training teams, non-profits, medical teams, business educators, agricultural resource teams, etc. will have a facility to address the community. 
 
The planners of the Educational Center have already begun to develop demonstration orchards, and planting areas to validate the potential of the land. Several small food producing and processing operations are also planned. All these efforts are to be turned into learning opportunities for the local and regional inhabitants. The actual building of the sites on the campus will be used as skill training for the men and women to be used for community and business development.
 
Literacy is the key to personal and economic change. The ICEC2 will be the center for this change in Otampa and the Abia State in Nigeria.
 
We are seeking donations from the community to support this project. 
Make checks out to the Harleysville Rotary Club Foundation and write ICEC2 on the check
 
Mail your contribution to:
 
Harleysville Rotary Club Foundation
Attn: ICEC2
P.O. Box 326
Harleysville, PA 19438-0326
 

 

 

* Contributions are tax deductible as this is a 501 c 3 foundation
 
* 100% of the contribution goes to the project as Harleysville Rotary Foundation does not take an administration fee from contributions
 
* If you wish more information on this project, please e-mail me at fjromano@comcast.net or go to the Harleysville Rotary Club website www.harleysvillerotary.org or call us at 215-872-6875.
 
Thank you for your interest and service in Rotary,            

PDG Frank Romano, District 7430