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"The Rotary Foundation is not [designed] to build monuments of brick and stone. If we work upon marble, it will perish; it we work with brass, time will efface it; if we rear temples they will crumble into dust. But if we work upon immortal minds, it we imbue them with the full meaning of the spirit of Rotary ... we are engraving on those tablets something that will brighten all eternity." -- Arch C. Klumph, 1916017 President of Rotary International. Here is how our Global Grant has made an impact on the world! Biddeford-Saco and Amman Cosmopolitan Rotary Clubs
About two years ago, Roland Gagne, Past President of the Rotary Club of Biddeford-Saco, was appalled by the daily onslaught of newspaper photographs and TV coverage showing the plight and suffering of so many children - refugees from the horrible and ongoing conflict in Syria. You probably remember those photographs yourself. Roland decided he could no longer be just an onlooker and that he had to do something.
He reached out and made contact with the Collateral Repair Project, a nonprofit organization that operates a community center in East Amman, Jordan. Working with Jordanian Rotarians, they put together a program to assist refugee children. The project provides school supplies, uniforms, and fees to enroll about 200 students in school. It furnishes special help to at-risk children falling behind in school and to 30 teens who have been out of the formal educational system for some time. The program also developed a child-focused literacy center with books, materials, and other technology and a special teen-leader training program to encourage mentoring of younger children.
This grant ended up being $187,301 and was the first Rotary Global Grant to assist refugees in front line situations. Ten District 7780 clubs contributed to the grant and $20,000 in District Designated Funds went toward it. So, any of you who contributed to the Annual Fund supported this grant. It is a wonderful example of the tremendous work being funded by our Foundation and how one person’s idea or concern can bring about life-changing opportunities for those in need.
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