Each year, the incoming President of our club nominates a charitable project to recieve our support during his or her term of office. Here are some examples of recent charities and projects we have supported in this way.
One Water Project
In 2007 – 08, during the Presidency of Maurice Robinson, the Club raised money to help fund a PlayPump® water system. A PlayPump® uses a specially crafted children’s roundabout to pump water from deep underground. So, as children spin on the roundabout, fresh, clean water is pumped from a borehole into a storage tank for use by the entire community.
It’s a simple idea but one that is changing the lives of thousands of African people. Now, instead of walking for hours to collect water, children can go to school and the entire community benefits from access to fresh drinking water.
A PlayPump® provides much more than clean water. It provides a community with a sustainable resource that saves time and energy and facilitates education, hygiene and health. Plus, excess water can be used to irrigate vegetable gardens, giving communities the opportunity to grow and sell their own crops. For more information about The One Foundation, click here.
Orhovelani Education Project
The Rotary Club of Witney has been involved in an international project with Parktown Excalibur Rotary Club, South Africa and The Rotary Foundation to support the Orhovelani Education Centre which helps disadvantaged children from a South African Township. The project, to paint and refurbish the school building also provided the basic education that was otherwise denied because they were deemed to have “learning difficulties” and excluded from other schools.
The project enabled a number of the children to gain work experience and skills development as they helped to carry out some of the work on the school. The skills learnt will greatly increase their chances of earning a living and escaping from the grinding poverty in the township.
The project drew on the resources of Rotary International through The Rotary Foundation to add extra financial impact and increase the potential for success. Over the years this type of ‘Matching Grant’ has promoted international co-operation between Rotary Clubs to the benefit of underprivileged people throughout the world.
The Rotary Club of Witney is privileged to have been a partner in this project.
Riding For The Disabled Association
Witney Rotary Club members visited New Yatt Riding for the Disabled for the official handover of the new Mobile Field Shelter. The shelter was funded by sponsorship of the Three Peaks Challenge undertaken by a number of Rotarians and friends. Past President Chas Ford handed over the new Mobile Field Shelter to Libby Hartwell RDA Chairman on behalf of Witney Rotary Club. The suppliers, Premier Shelters of Hereford supported the Rotary Club venture by waiving their normal delivery and installation fee. This enabled RDA to be supplied with a larger shelter than had originally been envisaged.
West Oxfordshire Vetka Association
On the 26th April, 1986 reactor 4 at Chernobyl exploded, spouting tonnes of radioactive material and air borne dust that reached as far as Scotland. Dozens died, but, more insidiously, the health of more than 3.4 million citizens was affected. The problem continues today 30 years after the initial explosion. The soil is radioactive and will remain so for the next 244,000 years before the levels will return to pre-Chernobyl levels.
The Vetka Association is a charity based in West Oxfordshire but with members nationwide. It supports schools, hospitals and sustainable development in the Vetka District of Belarus – the place in the world worst affected by the Chernobyl disaster.
David Tee, a member of the Rotary Club of Witney is a Trustee/Director of the Vetka Association and pays regular visits to the area to help with the locally based projects and to provide much needed training for the staff and volunteers.
The Rotary Club of Witney is offering financial support to this extremely worthwhile charity.