| ||
| ||
The traditional sale of Gift of Life (GOL) chocolate hearts for Valentine's Day will continue for Mother's Day, May 8th. This decision was made again this year due to the difficulty of reaching all clubs in District 7090 during the month of January and the first two weeks of February. Board members do their best to visit/contact as many clubs as possible for Valentine’s Day, but it is difficult in such a short period of time and in the winter. Because Gift of Life is a District 7090 project, we want to try to include all members in its support. This year, GOL provided cardiac surgery for the 40,000th child – a little girl in Kosovo. GOL was started by one lone Rotarian, a member of a Long Island Rotary Club, who encouraged his club in 1975 to sponsor a child he met in Uganda. GOL activities are now found in over 80 underdeveloped countries.
In April we shall begin contacting clubs that have not yet been contacted. Clubs may also contact us for a visit or to make a club donation if they wish to do so. We still have a challenge offered this year to all clubs in our district to match a donation by the Rotary Club of Eastern Hills. They donated $5000 again this year and are challenging at least one other club to meet that challenge. Perhaps your club will be the one to meet that challenge. We need to have $5000 for surgery for one child and every day in every country there are at least 100 children on a waiting list who will die without that surgery.
Contacts for more information or for scheduling a visit are:
Valerie Phillips, Chair at valeriephillips@rogers.com for the Canadian clubs
Pat Castiglia, Vice-Chair, Treasurer at ptcas34@gmail.com for US clubs