SF Chinatown members Liz Mark and Rhonda Pierce described the joy and rewards of volunteering with H2Open Doors during our virtual meeting on Feb. 10. Each has participated in multiple projects with the humanitarian organization, the most recent at a hospital in Guatemala.
They joined a group from the Santa Cruz Rotary Club, which funded a water filtration system for the hospital. Those volunteers along with H2Open Doors founder Jon Kaufman and local workers to install the system which daily provides 40,000 liters of purified water for the emergency and operating rooms, ICU, pediatric, neo-natal and other hospital facilities. The availability of clean water is expected to drastically reduce infections, sickness and deaths.
In a sister project, Rotary volunteers assisted local physicians to conduct a free eye clinic.”We tested 280 people and handed out 230 pairs of free reading glasses, plus 100 pairs of non-prescription sunglasses,” Liz said.
The two agree that participating in a H2Open Doors project is a life-changing experience. For more information, visit www.H2OpenDoors.org