Governors

V Muthukumaran

S Rajmohan Nair

500 Houses For Needy Families

Withan all-inclusive district theme of , Rajmohan Nair has unveiled his grand mission under VIBGYOR — Value-added education; Inclusion; Building responsible communities; Go green; Youth engagement; Old age people; and Reach out to rehabilitate and rebuild. project is building 500 houses for the homeless and needy families, “of which 200 were already handed over to the beneficiaries . We will complete and hand over the remaining 300 houses by June,” he says. The initiative is funded by AKS member Kochouseph Chittilappilly (`10 crore) and club donations. Governor’s Excellence Awards for Teachers (GREAT) are given to 150 teachers. Over 1,000 bicycles were donated to school-going girls . Each club has adopted a stretch of1.5-2km road as part of building a responsible community. While an ICU ambulance will be flagged off in Thekkady (GG: $80,000) shortly, four machines are ready for a new dialysis centre (GG: 32,000) at the government hospital, Palakkad. A GG application for $125,000 was filed for the next phase of artificial limbs project, an ongoing project by RC Coimbatore Midtown which had distributed over 25,000 prosthetics so far. His target for TRF giving is $2 million. A Rotarian since 1996, Nair says, “Rotary leaders PRIP Shekhar Mehta, Trustee Bharat Pandya, PRID Kamal Sanghvi and RIDs Venkatesh and Mahesh Kotbagi motivate me to strive for the betterment of society.”

Constant learning through interaction and networking with people in Rotary “helps me to grow as a person. Hence, I enjoy being in this organisation,” says Dr Jayagowri Hadigal. A paediatrician, maternal and childcare projects are close to her heart. “Our clubs across the four revenue districts are holding awareness camps and seminars on learning disorders among children throughout the year.” Medical camps are being held in rural areas on a weekly and monthly basis reaching out to villagers.

She will inaugurate two physiotherapy units (GG: $400,000) at Kundapur and Karkala shortly. A human milk bank will be set up at Hassan district of Karnataka, funded by a global grant of `40 lakh. “We have given 400 sewing machines to BPL women, and 150 more will be distributed by June 30.” For TRF, she hopes to raise $200,000 by the end of this Rotary year.

With 3,700 Rotarians across 88 clubs, “I have set a target of 10 per cent in net membership growth. We will be starting one new club this year.” A Rotarian since 2002, Jayagowri says, “Trustee Bharat Pandya is my role model in Rotary. I would like to be in Rotary just to serve the people. Also, as a Rotarian, you get to know people through interaction which is a great learning curve and rewarding experience,” she says.