WITH EVERY PROJECT, ROTARY IS CHANGING THE WORLD FOR THE BETTER

ROTARY - A SERVICE CLUB WHICH ENABLES MEMBERS TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO LOCAL COMMUNITIES AS WELL AS TO THOSE FAR AWAY – IS AN ORGANISATION REPRESENTED BY 1.4 MILLION MEMBERS IN ALMOST EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.

Rotary clubs are run by an annually elected board and the Malta clubs form part of District 2110 (Sicily and Malta) which has over 3,600 members in 100 clubs. Malta has two clubs and there is also one in Gozo. The first was Rotary Club Malta, which was established in 1967.

You may notice information boards which showcase projects which have been sponsored by the various local clubs, including respite homes, sensory rooms, natural habitat planting, a children’s ambulance to name but a few.

Furthermore, the Rotary Foundation transforms financial gifts and funds raised into service projects that change lives both close to home and around the world. The Rotary Foundation helps Rotary members to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace by improving health, providing quality education, improving the environment, and alleviating poverty. Since it was founded more than 100 years ago, the Foundation has spent more than $4 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects. Rotarians celebrate the Foundation on February 23rd.

A CURRENT MALTA-BASED PROJECT

Hospice Malta has embarked on an ambitious project to build a new in-patient care facil ity in Santa Venera which is being called St Michael's, to accommodate sixteen in-house patients. Rotary Club Malta, together with Rotary Club La Valette, are working to raise the € 120,000 required to equip and furnish all the bedrooms. This project is being undertaken with the support of a grant from the Rotary Foundati on, as well as the support of companies and individuals that have assisted Rotary in its fund raising.

Ongoing Work

Dar il-Kaptan was Malta's first Respite Home for the Disabled and allows parents of children with disabilities the opportunity to leave their children in the care of professionals for those short periods when they are unable to provide the care themselves. The club has funded all sorts of equipment, specialist beds and three equipped vans, three extensions to the existing building, and is currently working on a cold store. The home has also benefited from maintenance days where volunteers from the community and local companies worked together to refurbish facilities and individual members have dedicated their time by offering their own professional skills to help with these projects and to run the operation on a day-to-day basis over the years.

Helping Communities Overseas

Recently, Rotary Club Malta completed a project to build the Rotary Malta Parents Primary School in the village of Kankuji, in the District of Luwero, Uganda which is providing education to over 450 local children.

This is the second school the club has built and is the result of an investment by the club of over €130,000, of which €72,000 was provided by the Government of Malta’s Overseas Development Aid fund, managed by the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade and the rest was through fund-raising activities.

The project involved the preparation of the land, the design and construction of the classrooms and administrative block and toilet facilities, as well as all the fixtures and furnishings. As a part of Rotary’s Empowering Girls initiative, a particular focus was also placed on the washroom facilities for girls, who would otherwise be disadvantaged in their schooling.

WE’RE THIS CLOSE

S ince 1985, Rotary has led its primary project for the global eradication of Polio which has reduced annual infections from 360,000 to 30 in 2022. Polio is a debilitating contagious disease, usually effecting children and results in severe disability or death but can be halted through mass vaccination programmes. Together with its partners, the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, CDC and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, nearly three billion children worldwide have been vacc inated.

VISITING ROTARIANS ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND ANY OF THE CLUBS’ MEETINGS:

Rotary Club Malta: Corinthia San Gorg - Monday, 19:00hrs

Rotary Club La Vallette: Intercontinental Hotel - Thursday, 19:00hrs

Rotary Club Gozo: Calypso Hotel, Marsalforn - Thursday, 19:30hrs