Service Projects

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL SERVICE PROJECTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS

The Rotary Club of Millbrook is involved in several national and international projects and contributes to important international causes.

• Disaster Relief:   Supplies and support are sent where there is need: floods in Livingston Manor, NY; hurricanes and oil spills in Louisiana; tsuanami in Indonesia. 
  
  
• Contributions to Alden School Fund Raising Project for Shelter Boxes:  Each Shelter Box provides critical shelter, warmth, and basic needs for up to 10 people in a disaster area.  High quality items include: 10-person tent, 10 sleeping bags, water purification tablets, flashlight/batteries, rope, cooking/eating utensils, tools, stove, rain ponchos, etc. The Shelter Box USA organization pays for the box and the immediate transportation to a disaster area.  Each box is $900 and is stamped with a Rotary logo and the flag of the sponsoring Rotary club's country.
  
  
• Pure Water Contributions: Rotary contributes to water filtration systems in an effort to address the global water crisis which, according to the U.N., "is a threat to economic development, to poverty reduction, to the environment, and to peace and security.”
   
• Ethiopian Medical Equipment: Working with the Rotary Foundation, Millbrook Rotary generated funds to purchase wheelchairs for disabled victims in Ethiopa.  Excess funds collected from Millbrook Rotary and other Rotary clubs in the district are now being used to purchase wheelchairs from the Wheelchair Foundation, an organization that can produce and send wheelchairs (at  $150 each) designed specifically for the terrain where they will be used.  This Foundation matches a $75 donation to send wheelchairs where needed around the world. Many who need these wheelchairs are polio victims who move by crawling along the ground.
  
  
• International Adopt-a-Child in Ecuador:
  
  
• Contributions to the PolioPlus Campaign:
  Through personal and club donations, the Rotary Club of Millbrook contributes to the polio eradication program called the PolioPlus Campaign.
  1. PolioPlus Eradication Campaign:  Worldwide, eradicating polio is a top Rotary priority which requires the immunization of every child under five in the world. As a result of the efforts of Rotary and its global partners, more than two billion children have been immunized against polio since 1985. Rotary members will have given in excess of $500 million to the campaign by the year 2005, the target date for certification of a polio-free world.
  2. Rotary International's efforts to eradicate Polio have been so successful that Rotary is now the only United Nations non-governmental entity of the four-partner Polio eradication effort – Rotary International, World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).  
  3. If you are interested in learning how to make a donation, please Contact Us.
  4. (Tax-Deductible donations:  The Rotary Club of Millbrook has also established the Millbrook Rotary Foundation which provides a vehicle for tax-deductible donations for philanthropic purposes
     
     
• Polio Vaccines in India:                        
  Judy Bondus, club president (2005-2006), contributed her time and finances to fly to India in May to administer oral polio vaccines to children. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• International Exchange Programs: 
  The Rotary Club of Millbrook facilitates two kinds of Exchange programs. 
1. International Youth Exchange
   Generally three different families in the Millbrook school district (not necessarily Rotary members) serve as hosts for a student for three to four months each. In this way, Rotary shares students with more of the community and the students are able to experience different families' interests and lifestyles to get a better overview of life in the Hudson Valley.  Hosting is an opportunity to bring the world to your doorstep without ever leaving home, and provides your family with an enriching and unforgettable experience. In return, high school students from Millbrook are hosted by families in a foreign country. 
2. Group Study Exchange Program (business people ages usually 25-40)
   In this program, about five people from various professions from two countries are given the opportunity to live in each other's country for one month, all expenses paid.  The Group Study Exchange leader must be a Rotarian but the other participants are non Rotarians. Participants meet their professional counterparts in the host country, thus learning not only about the culture but how their profession is practiced elsewhere.