PP Roland Gagne, International Projects

Posted by Karen Chasse 
on Dec 09, 2015
 
 
Speaker – Today’s speaker was our very own PP Roland Gagne.  He had a nice slideshow with impactful videos from those we have helped internationally.  He covered four major areas:
  1. Our Lady of Perpetual Support in Kenya
    1. Our club has helped secure $9,124 in grants to help orphans with school fees, nutrition and office equipment. 
    2. Our club worked on a $20,000 District-funded grant in 2004 to help with a microlending program assisting individuals to set up their own small businesses.
    3. Our club helped with food and other basic needs during the post-election violence.
  2. Antoinette and Judith’s School Fees
    1. Anasthasia is our contact who has established this school for orphans.  She is a former sister who left because they would not let her work with AIDS orphans.  She sent a video thanking us for all we do.
    2. Our club supports Antoinette (8 years old) and Judith (12 years old) to attend school through our Clynk bottle program; however, we have only raised $1188 since inception and it costs $1124 for term one, $800 for term 2 and $800 for term three.  So…drink up!
    3. Roland shared a story and video of Juventia, a girl his family has supported for years.  She lost her parents three years apart and would not have been able to complete her education without help.  She is now four months away from graduating nursing college and would like to be a doctor. 
  3. Lac Magantic
    1. Roland passed around a book that showed the devastation of the disaster.  Our club was extremely involved in the immediate efforts and on October 29th, $446 million was finally released to the communities – 50% to the Quebec government for clean-up efforts and 25% for families of those who lost loved ones ($118 million)
  4. Iraqi and Syrian Refugees Grant
    1. Roland showed a video of the sights and sounds around Jordan while the kids spoke of their fear.  It was of one village in Jordan that had 200 refugee kids and allowed them to attend school.  This grant is currently being developed because it has to be self-sustaining at some point.  We are partnering with the Amman Cosmopolitan Club.