Our International Service
While much of our club’s efforts are focused on supporting and improving the College Park community, we support a number of international service projects, as well.
From our ongoing commitment to the End Polio Project to our support for children’s education in Ethiopia, we are doing our part to help improve the communities and the lives of people we will likely never meet. That is our definition of Service Above Self – something we believe is at the heart of every true Rotarian.
We are pleased that we have provided support of the following international service projects.
Building High School Classrooms in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
As the International Club of a Rotary Foundation Global Grant, we, along with our Host Club, the Rotary Club of Addis Ababa Arada, sponsored the construction of high school classrooms at the Kalala Learning Village in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. AdventHealth Global Mission Initiatives was our cooperating partner
Built gradually over 20 years ago, the school at The Learning Village began as a two-room school for 50 students. The school has grown and added a kindergarten program and an elementary school. In 2015-2016, grades 9 and 10 were added. The Global Grant was to build 11th and 12th grade classrooms so that students could complete high school on the campus. The classrooms are completed and in use beginning in 2021.
Sharing Smiles
The club has supported Sharing Smiles, a program that sponsors surgical teams—comprised of skilled cleft surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, technicians, and other volunteers—traveling to Mexico, Central America and South America to provide reconstructive surgery to children in need.
We have assisted by joining other Central Florida Rotary Clubs and supporting Sharing Smiles trips to Mexico, Peru and Bolivia with funds to serve local children and to train local professionals.
Polio Immunization
Ending polio has been Rotary’s top priority since 1988 with the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, in collaboration with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal disease that still strikes children mainly under the age of five in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Due to the combined efforts of Rotary, along with many other humanitarian organizations, the number of polio cases has been reduced by more than 99 percent, five million cases of childhood paralysis and 250,000 deaths have been averted.