The Twin Cities Rotary Club grew sewing skills into an industry. As their District Community Grant unfolded last year, the picture of success and excitement was easy to see. Women were given the tools to change their lives – 20 refurbished sewing machines and 4 industrial grade machines, scissors, thread and material and training to make them successful.
In cooperation with a local non profit, called Global CHE, classes were held monthly for 44 women and oversight for 1 year to assure their success. As part of the program, women made school uniforms which were mandatory to attend school, helping the children who could not afford a uniform. Three villages were directly impacted by the grant. Many items the women made were sold to help families with their health care. It is anticipated that a repeat of this economic development project will reach out to 8 clubs and impact over 177 women and their families.
The project totaled $13,243 with the Twin Cities Rotary Club putting in $3,500, the District adding $3,500, private donations of $3,811 and the villages putting in $2,432. The sewing machines were the biggest cost at $9,464 spent.
The Rotarians who worked on this community grant project and have more details of this story:
Michael LeClair was the grant writer making sure the paperwork was done. Club Chair of the Rotary Foundation, Jennifer Penfold helped with the financial side of the project.
Tom and Diane Schiefer traveled to Guatemala to assess the results of the project along with the club President, Joe Clark. CEO of Global CHE hosted and escorted them to review the project.
Twin Cities Rotary Club is a very active club and works on 1 or 2 community grants each year. They have 2 grant writers which help assure their success. Larry McGee is also a Twin Cities Rotary Club grant writer. Larry noted the club has done projects in India, Jalisco and Oaxaca states in Mexico, Bolivia, and Guatemala.
More information can be found on this District Community Grant by going to Dacdb.
Once signed in, go to District- Grants- and look thru the projects completed last year. Be sure to enter last year’s grant year in the top right. This information is available to all club members. Dacdb is the District’s data base, so even if a club is using Club Runner, all members can sign up for basic information such as grants and finding members contact information.
