“Welcome to Week TWO of RI’s Month of Youth Activities.
It’s the middle of May and very soon children in K-12 schools will be taking time off for the long-awaited summer holiday. Some lucky ones will go on vacation with their family members and loved ones; some will end up in camps and yet others will find themselves seated behind long benches at city parks for donated lunch bags provided by charitable organizations like Rotary International. The Minute this week, by Brad Webber, is culled from the current Rotary Magazine (May 2024) and is a testimony to how Rotary, through its Foundation, improves the lifestyle of all people, especially the underserved in poor communities of the world. According to the report, “a community kitchen built by the Rotary Club of Nuevo Santander at a local school is ensuring hundreds of children have meals in low-income neighborhoods of Nuevo Laredo, a city on the U.S. border. “Most of the houses in this area do not have running water or electricity,” says Club President Jorge Tello. The club launched the $150,000 project in 2018, and the kitchen at the Comedor Santa María school began operating in August 2020; meals were first served to-go due to the COVID-19 pandemic before the dining room opened in May 2021. “Operation costs for providing breakfast and lunch for 230 children every day is $9,300 a month,” Tello says. The funds are donated by businesses and individuals. Club members supervise the operation, and Rotarians are providing solar panels to the facility.”
Comedor Santa Maria School served more than 30,000 meals in 2023.” – Submitted by: Christopher W Knapp, District 6000 Foundation Chair
#Youth #ServiceAboveSelf #Rotary #TRF