Things in the District are humming along. Club visits are happening and so are
Committee Meetings. The GSE team has been out and back, now we plan for
the returning team from Puerto Rico in June 2013.

One of the Committees meeting is the Celebrate 25 years of Women in Rotary.
Marion Stark and her committee are considering a date and place plus format for
this hopefully Sunday Brunch in March. Men and Women will be in attendance,
so be on the lookout on this date.

The Rotary Foundation Committee under the leadership of Arnie Quaranta met
and discussed a few things. First is that he is planning a joint Foundation Event
to be held concurrently with 7250 in November – Foundation month. 

ARTICLE CONTINUES
 

There has been a decision made that the District Simplified Grants will be
subjected to a point system to see who will qualified as we have a lot less funds
this year to use. The grants will be for a maximum of $500.00. Below is the first
draft of the point system. As soon as it is finalized it will be sent by email to the
Club Presidents:

1. Chronological order of submission of application = max 10 point
2. Completeness of application, per instructions = max 10 points
3. Club grant history
a. none previous =10 point
b. last year = 0 points
c. previous year =5 points
4. Uniqueness of project
a. New project =10
b. more of the same=5
5. Worthiness of the project to meet community needs
a. Meets needs of Area of Focus =max 10
b. Benefit to local community= max 10
6. Club financial contribution towards project = max 10
7. Percentage of Club Rotarians participating in the project (hand on) =max 10
8. Contribution history to the Rotary foundation = max 10
9. Completion of the last years grant in a timely manner =10
If you have any comments about this scoring system, please send me an email.
As mentioned above, this is the first draft………….

The committee then considered some grants using District Designated Funds.
These are projects that will be matched $1 for every dollar $1. by the foundation
and 50 cents on the dollar for each Club dollar that is submitted. Therefore,
please consider having your clubs donating to these projects. A donation of
$100 to thousands of dollars are acceptable.

1. $7,000 to help supply a school in India for day laborer children in India.
They are not allowed to attend school until they have lived in the town for
5 years at which time they are way behind in education. (Speak to Arnie
Quaranta for details
2. $3,000. To help get children out of child slavery in Cambodia (Speak to
Arnie Quaranta for details)
3. $7,000 Matching with the American University in Nigeria to assist a
Literacy Program through training teachers (speak to Irving Toliver for
details)
4. $1,0000 to help build a bridge for children to be able to get to school in
Nepal. (The Westhampton club is the leader is in this grant.)
5. $3500. to build a Special Education room in a school in San Juan, Puerto
Rico. (contact Linda Kerr for details)
6. $4,914.40 To support International Surgical Missions to Ecuador to bring
medical equipment and medicines to perform surgeries where no doctors
are located. (contact Raj Patel for details)
7. $2500. To support the Parents and Friends of the Exceptional Children in
Brazil which would expand a school. (contact Joe DeVincent for details)
8. $2500. to Haiti to continue the education about the availability of micro
credit.
9. $5000. to Gift of Life International to perform life saving surgery on 12
children in Haiti.

These are our goal for the year……and there is possibly more funds available if
you have a desire to submit a grant. To do the proper paperwork, talk to
George Solomon who is now the Grants chair.

The fascinating thing about these grants is that everyone of them has a contact
who has been to that country to see the need. That is not a requirement, but
having contacts with other Rotary clubs is.

Consider participating in these grants and of being a member of a District
committee. The more the merrier!