During the 2015-16 Rotary year, Oklahoma City Rotary Club will be involved with several Rotary Clubs in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Uganda, Panama, Columbia, Peru, Turkey and Rwanda to change the lives of people in those Countries and Rotarians around the world. We are working to establish new relationships with Rotary Clubs in Montenegro, Latvia and Bhutan to expand our activities and connections with an ever growing network of Rotarians. We are helping implement and fund medical equipment up-grade projects in hospitals in Eastern Europe, literacy training in rural Turkey, auto mechanic training for underemployed in Peru, brick making equipment to assist development of housing in Uganda, empowering women entrepreneurs in Rwanda and scholarships for medical students in Bhutan to train in the US. Several Rotarians will take advantage of travel opportunities to visit these locations to attend project dedications during 2015-16.
Club 29 has committed over $25,000 out of the 2015 and 2016 international projects budgetsto join District 5750 Rotary Clubs commitment of over $33,000 for a total cash commitment of $58,000 from District 5750 Rotary Clubs. Rotary Club money will be matched with $29,000from The Rotary Foundation. $140,000 District 5750 Designated Funds, matched by The Rotary Foundation, plus funds from other Rotary Clubs in our network of partners brings the grand total to over $650,000. OKC Rotary participation in these projects is made possible because each of us contribute annually to the Rotary International Foundation. Money contributed to The Rotary Foundation by becoming a Paul Harris Fellow and by joining the Paul Harris Society comes back to D5750 to be used in future projects where it is again matched by TRF. Each dollar committed by Club 29 Rotarians is multiplied over 26 times to make a difference in people’s lives.
Your money has grown by combining with fellow Rotarians, accessing District matching funds and taking advantage of Rotary International Foundation funds but the real story is we are saving lives, helping people to become self-sustaining and making a difference in this really, really small world we share with others; something about SERVICE ABOVE SELF.