BELLAIRE RESIDENTS BRINGING FRESH WATER TO HAITI!

NOT JUST GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY BUT TO THE WORLD!

Three Bellaire Rotarians headed back to Haiti August 21 to install a club-sponsored water treatment system at the Jela School in Limbé. The Rotary Club of Bellaire Southwest Houston donated $2750 for water-purification in addition to its earlier $6000 well-drilling grant that helped pay for the first water well at the school.

Club volunteers are teaming with the Jela Foundation, Living Waters for the World, and Solar-Under-the-Sun Houston on the treatment-installation trip. Until the purification system is operative, more than 400 Limbé children, many of whom are orphans and refugees from the January earthquake, must continue to drink from a nearby contaminated river where they also bathe and wash.

Dr. John Freeman of Rice University, who designed the solar-powered water-system, is being joined by fellow Rotarians Surpris Cherazard of Mass Mutual, and Past Rotary President Don Beckner on the mission. Powered by sunlight, the new Limbé facilities require no electric-grid or generator to operate, and also include a tank for unprocessed well-water that is suitable for washing. Cherazard was in Haiti when the January earthquake struck, and he and Freeman have returned several times this year to render humanitarian aid.

The August installation team is comprised of nine U.S. volunteers. The project’s financial contributors include members of Bellaire’s ChristChurch Presbyterian Church, St. John's Presbyterian Church, Pearland’s Covenant Servant Saviour Presbyterian Church, Living Waters for the World; Solar-Under-the-Sun, The Houston Rotary Club; New Covenant Presbytery; Restoration Global, and several private donors. At a total cost of over $22,000, the treatment facilities will provide between 300 and 600 gallons of clean drinking water per day in 5 gallon bottles. The Jela Foundation will own the purification system and operate it on an ongoing basis.

The Rotary Club of Bellaire Southwest Houston meets at 12:00 Noon every Thursday at BraeBurn Country Club, 8100 Bissonnet, Houston 77074. Recipient of Rotary District 2010’s Distinguished Service Award for diversity, public image, and community service, Bellaire/Southwest Rotary is one of more than 33,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries that provide humanitarian services and promote goodwill around the globe. More information regarding Rotary grants, membership, and charitable projects may be found on the club website at www.bellairesw.org. More information about the Jela Foundation’s work in Haiti is available at www.jelafoundation.org.