Our Club Projects

Our club is proud to support projects focused on community service, youth services, and international service. Keep reading to learn more.
 
COMMUNITY SERVICE
 
Meals On Wheels
 
  
Meals on Wheels and More is one of the largest meal-delivery organizations in Central Texas, distributing 3,000 meals each business day to homebound older adults and people with disabilities.Today, Meals on Wheels and More provides service to nearly 5,000 persons in need with the help of more than 7,000 volunteers offering programs designed to keep our clients healthy and living independently with dignity. 

In partnership with Austin University Area Rotary Club, our club has a team of volunteers who deliver meals to others in need, which also helps loneliness, depression and stress. Each volunteer has only one day per month of meal delivery, so it is a light-duty but important service project that consists of delivering meals and food to persons who are not able to cook, due to their age, or medical condition. It takes only about 45 minutes to pick up the meals from a Meals on Wheels distribution site and deliver to homes of the needy clients.
 
 
Pecan Springs Elementary School
 
This a comprehensive project to support early literacy and youth development at a low-income elementary school in the Austin area. Since its inception, the e-Club has been actively involved in this project in partnership with Austin University Area Rotary Club, Austin Cosmopolitan Rotary Club and East Austin Rotary Club. This project focuses on helping low-income school children with reading and improved discipline and character building.
 
Approximately 95% of the students at Pecan Springs Elementary School get free lunch or subsidized lunch under Title 1 USC. 
  The e-Club will continue to support this character-building program in grades K-5 at Pecan Springs Elementary. EAFK is an integrated character education program that is modeled after the Rotary Four Way Test. Monthly character traits are taught and students who best display these traits are recognized at awards assemblies. EAFK creatively teaches and encourages students to become civil, service-oriented people during their most formative years.
 
We have built an outdoor learning center to provide a unique, learning experience for these young students.
We have provided new bilingual culturally appropriate board books for young children through Reading Is Fundamental program of BookSpring. This program allows every child to take home two books every year. In addition, the school library will receive 550 books to be lent to students during break periods such as Christmas and Easter.
 
The project supports the Rotary Foundation’s Area of Focus of Basic Literacy and the Rotary International’s Youth Services Avenue of Service.
 
How Can YOU Get Involved?
 
Members of the E-Club, Downtown Austin and the University Area RC jointly sponsor and attend monthly knighting ceremonies at the school, mentoring and reading to the younger students, helping 4th graders with writing skills, and Reading is Fundamental presentations to assist the service club aspect of EAFK.  Rotarians accompany the Student Service Club on their monthly service projects and they practice “Service Above Self”.
 
Adoption Match
   In June our club plans to have an Adoption Match Day.  Foster children who can be adopted and people who want to adopt will have a day of fun activities and games so they can spend time together in a fun relaxed situation.  Our club members are working on the plans and will set up and work the games, serve the meal and have prizes for all kids who are there.  It is a fun rewarding time for service.   

YOUTH SERVICES -  RYLA
RYLA is an important part of our Club’s Youth Services program. Our members will serve as Program Director and Medical Director,  and will assist with registration. This year our club will also pay for a meal and help serve it.  We always have a great time seeing all the kids and the fun they are having at this amazing leadership camp.
 
 
How Can You Participate?
We often need drivers to take campers home after camp. We also usually need servers for one of the many meals prepared by the RYLA staff and assist in doing dishes and cleaning up after the meal. The Rotarian volunteers serve over 2,500 meals to campers, counselors and staff during the camp.  Because of the volunteers, the District is able to keep the cost of the camp to a reasonable rate and allow more Rotary Clubs to participate. 

INTERNATIONAL SERVICE
 
Schools in Nepal
Our club is working with the Rotary Foundation and four Rotary clubs in Biratnagar, Napal to improve their schools.  The work includes sanitation, separate bathrooms for boys and girls, clean drinking water, repair the roof, desks, e-learning system, white boards, walls in the school.  Several clubs in D 5870 are partners.  Our club is the lead club on the grant and has been involved in the grant as the clubs in Nepal do the needs assessment and budget.  A picture of one of our partner clubs in Nepal is all women and their photo is on the Homepage of this website.
 
 
  GLOBAL Grant Ethiopia GG1988574    Clean Water for Healthy Communities
Primary Partner Club:   RC of Northwest Austin and the Contributing Partner Club: E-Club 5870 Rotary Club  
  This global grant will provide 20 rural community sites with access to clean water from new wells or developed springs in the area south of Addis Ababa in the Awassa region. The project will organize each community for the site, establish a water committee that opens a bank account, collects and deposits initial water fees from users, and provide a series of W.A.S.H training sessions (water, sanitation and hygiene ) for all ages in the community. The water committee will also be trained in sustaining the water site. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K2vN0Fsu4L5tiwrOjluRe7XN4plh-hHp/view?usp=drive_web
And here is the website of Water to Thrive who is our cooperating agency that does the technical oversight with our project, and we use their arrangements to do the actual work--the social action arm of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekene Yesus.  Water to Thrive provided their 1000th well this past  April.
watertothrive.org 
 
Adopt A Clinic In Guatemala
The Project.
Tricia Johnson made a trip to Guatemala in April 2016 and the Rotary and UbF Team she was on identified a clinic, La Parroquia of La Zona Reina, that could use our help. This a potential project for the E-Club and is being supported by other Rotary Clubs. The Corpus Christ Evening Club is leading the project and other clubs in addition to the E-Club are contributing funds to the cause. The project is being funded through a District Grant to purchase much needed equipment for this clinic.
 
Background Information:
The clinic is currently being run by a Cuban doctor, nurses and a overall staff of approximately 20 people. The clinic operates in a remote area but serves an approximate population of 20,000 residents. The local municipality is working to build additional clinics for this area; however, the immediate need for equipment is the most pressing. A list of the equipment is available and will be provided upon request. In general, the list is comprised of basic medical equipment, software, projector, printer/scanner, generator, hospital beds and ambulance equipment. This clinic is currently supported by one ambulance. 
  
 
The Rotary E-Club of 5870 is working with the Corpus Christi Evening Rotary Club, other Rotary Clubs and District 5930 to support the project financially and volunteering.
 
 
Rotaplast
 
Rotaplast  International, Inc. is committed to helping children and families worldwide by eliminating the burden of cleft lip and/or palate, burn scarring, and other deformities. Working with local professionals, Rotarians, and other organizations. Two members of our Club joined Rotarians and other volunteers as part of a multidisciplinary team to provide free reconstructive surgery and ancillary treatment to Faridabad India during November and December 2015.  The team included plastic surgeons, anesthesiologists, OR nurses, pediatricians, orthodontists and a PACU nurse.
The host hospital was Sarvodaya Hospital in Faridabad, India.  About 100 patients came for surgery, but some of them had to be turned away for a variety of reasons.
This mission was sponsored by Rotary Districts 7450 and 7430 with support from the Rotary E-Club of 5870, and hosted by the Rotary Club of Delhi Vasant Valley with support from the Rotary Club of Faridabad Central.  The Members of the Rotary Club of Delhi Vasant Valley were there everyday helping with registration and transportation and logistics.  They fed the team delicious Indian food every day for lunch, provided a van for transport, and helped the Rotaplast team in whatever was needed.
When Rotary Clubs and Districts work together, great things happen.  Without the support of Rotary Districts 7450 and 7430, the Rotary Clubs of Delhi Vasant Valley and Faridabad Central, the Rotary E-Club of 5870, Texas, all the local and international volunteers as part of the Rotaplast Team, tens of little smiles would not have been saved!