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CC Rotarians aid Christmas Island

Contributed by: Sharon Maybee on 11/7/2006

Commerce City Rotary is cleaning up for Christmas -Christmas Island that is.

25 Commerce City Rotarians, hosted by George and Sharon Maybee,worked on Nov. 4 to clean, package and crate over $200,000 worth of medical equipment and supplies that will be shipment to the island.

Kiritimati (Christmas) Island is in the South Pacific, 1,200 miles south of Hawaii in the Republic of Kiribati. This neglected, tiny atoll with 7,000 residents is facing unprecedented environmental, social and economic challenges.

The Rotary's World Community Service (WCS) project is comprised of three phases aimed at providing basic health care and safe drinking water. The first phase is centered on providing much needed medical equipment and supplies to a five-room London, Kiritimati hospital and the three village clinics. This phase is well under way with the help of Colorado Orthopedic Clinic and Porter Hospital donations and the remainder of items being provided by other local medical providers and Project C.U.R.E., a local non-profit agency that specializes in providing medical items to third world and underdeveloped countries. Packaging and crating supplies were provided by Home Depot of Brighton and Whatley of Commerce City.

This shipment of medical items, is scheduled for mid-December and will be routed through Honolulu and transferred to the motorized sailing vessel Kwai. The budget for the medical shipping cost is $20,000 of which the Rotary Club has raised $7,000 to date.

The second phase of the project is centered on providing safer drinking water for the island's residents. The primary problem with the current water supply involves bacteria, but the alarming and very serious problem found in some residential wells is the presence of elevated levels of nitrates. Elevated levels of nitrates are extremely dangerous to pregnant women and infants under the age of six-months, these elevated levels of nitrates can cause Blue Baby syndrome. The total for this project will be $75,000 to $100,000.

The third and perhaps most exciting phase is the establishment of four permanent medical clinics for use by visiting medical professionals in aiding the local residents with much needed medical treatments. The clinics will include vision; dental; pediatric and general medical care. The estimated budget for setting up and equipping the clinics is $150,000 to $200,000 and completion is scheduled for mid 2009 or sooner depending on facilities and funds being made available.

"I was moved by everyone's willingness to take time out of their lives to add quality to someone else's," Rotary's President, Lisa Riggi said, "This is only the beginning; we will make a difference in the people's lives on Christmas Island."

Commerce City Rotary and the Friends of Christmas Island project are asking for financial and technical support. The total three-phase three-year project expenditure will be $300,000. Tax-deductible Contributions may be sent to: Friends of Christmas Island, Commerce City Rotary Foundation, Inc, P.O. Box 1882, Commerce City, Colorado 80037. For further information, contact George Maybee at gkmaybee@aol.com.


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Submitted By: DR. SEAN REIF D.C.
posted on 11/8/2006 @ 6:31:08 PM
Rated Story
“Two elements have contributed mightily to the success of Rotary. They are: first, the friendships formed in Rotary; second, the fact that many of our Rotary clubs have really done things; the members have literally thrown off their coats and pitched in, not with a view to obtaining credit for themselves or for their clubs but for the purpose of making this a better world in which to live. It has been a gratifying relief to a rather blasé world to see big business men throw aside conventions and give passion for love and justice, opportunity to express itself in humble deeds. We need at times to get our ungloved fingers into the soil.”
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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

John Eisel

Denver , COLORADO

John Eisel has posted 2865 stories and 12 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. John Eisel's average story rating is 4.39.
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