Rotary Club of Concord's International Activities

During the 08-09 academic year, the Rotary Club of Concord hosted a Concord-Carlisle senior, a Rotary Youth Exchange student from the country of Georgia and a college student from Switzerland who is an Ambassadorial Scholar at Berkeley College of Music. Ambassadorial Scholars from South Korea, a physician studying at Harvard's School of Public Heath, and Austria, a student at Harvard Business School, made presentations at a recent Rotary meeting. In February Concord Rotarian Doug Detweiler led a team of four young professionals on a Rotary-sponsored all-expenses-paid vocational and cultural study exchange to the Philippines. Many of these projects are in partnership with other locally-based agencies. Scholarships for Cambodian students are administered through The Sharing Foundation, begun and headed by retired Concord pediatrician Dr. Nancy Hendrie. Through the Rotary Club's donation, 20 students will be able to attend college for one year. The water purification systems are a joint effort of the Concord and Bedford Rotary Clubs, along with support from the Rotary Club of Bhakatapur, Nepal, Rotary District 7910 and the Foundation of Rotary International. Called "Drops for Life", this project will help residents in Nepal manufacture and distribute low-cost, efficient, clay-based water purifiers for use in homes where there is no access to safe drinking water. Concord Rotarian Ann Trudeau sparked the collection of school supplies for children in Iraq when she became aware of the lack of such supplies in post-combat areas. Concord scout leader and parent Lieutenant Colonel Mark Merlino, serving in Iraq, has 25 schools in his patrol area and will deliver the supplies on behalf of the Rotarians and Concord-Carlisle Regional High School students who have collected them. David McWalter, Concord Rotarian, and his wife Grace delivered laptop computers to Jamaican school children enrolled in a school run by Concordian Alesandro Macone. Support for literacy in the Philippines was initiated by Rotarian Val del Castillo and Acton-based nonprofit Bagong Kulturang Pinoy Inc., whose goal is to develop a reading culture among children in poverty-stricken areas of the Philippines. The Club has provided funds and gently-used children's books for this program for many years. The Rotary Club of Concord is one in a worldwide association of Rotary clubs called Rotary International, whose mission it is to provide service to others, to promote high ethical standards, and to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through its fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders.