Good Evening and Happy Monday Fellow Rotarians! I will be honest, I waited an extra day to release the spinoffs in hopes that someone would submit a member spotlight! Sadly, there were none submitted for this week. :(
Now, for anyone who missed this week's Zoom call, we had the pleasure of hearing from Jamin Gelder, Deputy Director of Pure Water for the World in Haiti and Honduras!
Pure Water for the World is exactly what it sounds like. Their ultimate goal is to provide pure, fresh, water to all corners of the world. With a earnest focus on the areas of the world that may not have access to the resources or knowledge necessary in order to provide fresh water to the members of their community.
Jamin took us through a few of the programs and showed how Pure Water for the World makes its mission possible. One of the projects was a handwashing station that was specific to keeping communities safe and clean during the novel Coronavirus outbreak. This project included a handwashing station that is foot pump operated, making it easy to have a contactless, seamless experience to wash hands in the community. This small feat is groundbreaking for them. They will now be able to wash their hands with a much lower risk of transmission of the virus, keeping them safe and healthy while allowing community members to maintain their hygiene in a contactless way!
Jamin also shared with us the struggles that COVID-19 has caused for the organization. COVID is stopping water purification projects in their tracks, posing a problem for traveling volunteers, and forcing communities that are already struggling to push their people and resources to the limit. We know that these communities need the services of Pure Water for the World more than ever right now, and it is heartwrenching to see the community struggle while not being able to help in the way that they usually would.
Jamin also showed us a video of a fellow Rotarian in one of the communities. He is holding up this brackish looking water that looks like it came straight out of the Hudson River and is telling the listener that this is the water that this community uses to drink, bathe, and cook with. I can tell you I would never drink that water. But I also would not want to bathe in it or cook with it!
I think everyone can agree with me that we can do better. We can do better than brackish "Hudson Riveresque" Water. We can do better than women, children, and elders walking MILES to get fresh water. And,we can do better by these communities by helping organizations such as Pure Water for the World, maybe even starting our own pure Water committee in the Glens Falls Rotary Club as someone had suggested on Thursday? Let me know! Reply to this email! What can we do to help these communities that are in such desperate need of something that we take for granted every day?
At the top of your spinoff (just like last week), you will see a box saying "Click this....". I have included a link to the recording of the Zoom meeting so that if you missed it, you can still catch up on Pure Water for the World and the amazing work that they do! You will have to enter a passcode when you click on the link, I have provided it above on the link so that it is easy to see and write down.
P.S. Please send me your Mamber Spotlight Submissions for next week! Nominate anyone who you would like that is part of the Rotary Club of Glens Falls! Send your submissions for the member spotlight to stepinic101@gmail.com to be featured in our weekly spinoffs!
Thanks for reading, and I can't wait to see everyone on the Zoom call this Thursday!
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