Rotary Club of Hemet P

Rotary Club Projects

Rotary has Four Avenues of Service:
     Club - Member Commitment to Rotary principles
     Community - Improve quality of life in our community
     Vocational - Promotion of fair workplace importance of upholding high
          ethical standards
     International - facilitating contact and exchanges in different countries
     Youth - This is being separated from Vocational as a separate Avenue

50 Year Project History We attempt to complete at least one project in each of these Avenues every year. Scan down to the bottom of this page and you will see a partial list of major projects we have been able to do since our Chartering in 1954. It amounts to more than $750,000.

--------------------------------------

--------------------------------------

Bench Rental

Our primary method of raising money for our Scholarships and other Community and International projects is our Bench Advertising Project. We have an exclusive contract with the city for Off-site advertising. No other organization can do this. Click Bench Rental for further information.

--------------------------------------

--------------------------------------

Alma Brook Memorial Nursing Scholarship

In addition we also have a separate 501-c3 Foundation. This is a $16,000 scholarship spread over 4 years leading to a Degree in either Nursing or Nursing Education. We cannot do more than one at a time, but we have been able to now graduate 7 nurses. This is designed to remain in perpetuity and we would greatly appreciate any donations made to this worthy 501c3 project to help the great need for more nurses.

2006-2007 Community Project
Our project this year was to purchase and donate a $2,000 commercial Refrigerator/Freezer for the Snack Bar at the City of Hemet Sports G. Roger Brubaker Park at 3703 W. Harrison in the south west corner of Hemet. The Snack Bar services thousands of children and adults from the basketball court, playground, picnic tables and an adjacent softball field complex operated by Hemet Youth Baseball and several other softball fields in operation.
--------------------------------------

--------------------------------------

2006-2007 International Project
This was done in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Cândido Mota. The site was at São Vicente de Paulo e Nossa Senhora das Dores Society, Cândido Mota, São Paulo, Brazil.

The São Vicente de Paulo e Nossa Senhora das Dores Society is a philanthropic institution that, since 1946, assists integrally and with good quality elder people, providing them with all resources necessary to have human life conditions. It's main goal is providing good life quality and the social inclusion of the elderly, making the place the most similar as possible to a normal house, so they can feel as if they were in their own homes. The institution assists 40 people full-time in residential system. Most of them are debilitated and dependent people.This project provides three apartments with material that supplies the basic needs of the elderly, giving them more comfort and security at an welcoming environment. The project will be finished in 60 days after receiving the grant.

The community of Cândido Mota has about 30,000 inhabitants, and they always helped the maintanance of the institution, which also receives public grants. So, as they have done for the last 60 years, the community will continue helping the maintenance of the institution.

--------------------------------------

--------------------------------------

2006 - 2007 Vocational Project - Scholarships:
Alma Brook: Sofia ***** $4,000 Nursing Scholarship (Second Year completed)
Alessandro HS: Jazmin ***** $200 Scholarship

2005 - 2006 Vocational Project - Scholarships:
   West Valley HS: Sofia   ***** $4,000 Nursing Scholarship (Freshman Year completed)
      West Valley HS: Sarah ***** $4,000 Nursing Scholarship (4th year, Graduated)
     West Valley HS: Nikole ***** $650 Nursing Scholarship
      Alessandro HS: Franswaun ***** $400 Scholarship (Outstanding Senior)

Install 9-10 extra large computer monitors in their computer training lab for vision impaired citizens, and their traveling van used for impaired vision evaluation. This is a $15,000 project. The BI covers the entire Inland Empire and we need help with it.
Contact Carl P Cardey or at 951-929-4941

Partnered with United Way to install a handicapped ramp for a senior couple in San Jacinto.

2005 Our International Project was for the Tsunami Disaster

After much consideration and many emails we decided to send $2,400 to the Rotary Club of Bali Ubud. Included in this sum was money collected by our Interact Club at West Valley High School. The money was to go for larger projects such as Orphanages, Hospitals, Schools, or even to replace fishing boats. The Bali Ubud club sent us the following report after a 6 day tour of the affected tsunami sites:

An early start and arrival in Banda Aceh at 10.30 am. Only time to drop our bags and we were off to schools to deliver computers and books. The first school was a private school SMA Granada. More than half of their students were lost and they have 179 left. The second school, next door was SMP 18 and they had not lost many kids but they had lost all their equipment and all the teachers had lost their houses. The water had gone up to head height in the rooms & offices. So, all was destroyed. The cleaning has been done but they are left with nothing. Both school were very grateful for donations.

After lunch I met with Steve from IDEP’s sustainable agriculture programme. Very interesting & hopefully they will get funding to build this up. Then on to SMA 6 and there we are faced with very sad situation. Their school has been totally destroyed and they are now borrowing another school in the afternoon. Only 30% of their students are still alive. From 55 teachers only 18 remain and all that survive have lost houses, families, & all their possessions. With the school went all the books, furniture, equipment and even the teacher’s uniforms. Such sad faces around the table, haunted by the memories and the weight of the experience. One teacher had lost her 2 children & her parents but still they go on, determined to educate the next generation and to empower them. The headmistress begs for more help. She is so grateful for what we are giving donations, from Rotary Club of Settle in UK. It will help them get on their feet, get their school back. No news yet on who, where & when their new school will be built but at least they have something now they can call their own’.

Then off along the coast road to Krueng Raya Village. Now we are see the real destruction, the extent of the devastation-land full of bits of people lives-fragments of bricks, tiles, tin wood a pillow, a broken table-fragments of a life that once was. Land, flat for kilometres, where once stood houses, villages, schools, shops – all gone, just fragments left & sometimes, occasionally a part of a wall. Devastation such as you can’t imagine where ever you look . Then camps –tents of all shapes, sizes, & colours. Every tent in the world is represented here. People sitting outside them with blank stares, nowhere to go, nothing to do. And barracks-long wooden structures. Some people have started to build their own houses from materials salvaged from the wreckage. Some are quite creative! We visit a camp and see the temporary school in tents. Several weeks ago the tents were ravaged by strong winds & torn. What will happen in the wet season? The area is beautiful; the coast must have been magical. Palm trees, rolling grass & grazing goats, & now also tents and rubbish and huge tanks for water. Women gathering at the tanks filling up jerry cans, children everywhere.

We stop at a camp to distribute some knitted teddy bears donated by Rotary Clubs in Sydney and are swamped. Children, adults, teenagers grabbing, pushing, pulling, jostling. We are under attack! Such is the boredom & the desperation to own anything that they will fight to get a teddy bear. The looks of disappointment on the faces of those who missed out are so bad but there weren’t enough for the hordes that came. Slightly ruffled we get back in the car & head off to see more destruction in Ulelhe. There a population of 6000 is now only 400. The place is flattened and much of it underwater. The sea has reclaimed land. There is water everywhere, and where it has never been before.

5 km s in land we come across a huge iron ship that was once a floating generator. It is now high & dry, and underneath it are, or were, people’s houses. The might of the sea carried it in-land but there is nothing else strong enough to move it now! It still works & is providing power to the local neighbourhood. Then on to Lhoknga Leupung-the same landscape – rubble, dust, felled trees, wood, bricks, mangled cars, boats. A thriving factory destroyed & the 400 workers all perished. A giant cement factory cut down. The sight of it all is overwhelming. The thought of it horrific, but the smiles & hopes keep you going.

Early start to the Airport to catch the UN chopper to Calang. Very tight control on weight – they even weigh you! The flight was noisy & bumpy but the view of the coastline incredible. The line of sand and silt covering what were once pristine beaches and inlets. Mosques standing majestically alone, surrounded by destruction. Rice paddy fields destroyed and with them, livelihoods. The patchwork of foundations of where houses once stood, another of paddy fields now brown & lifeless. The landscape filled with brownness, greyness, & blue plastic roofs of tents.

Mile after mile of nothing. The enormity of it all hits you. How can Aceh return to what it was? So many lost, so much to do. Hills shaved of trees showing how high the wave was when it hit the shore. Stone newly shaved shines white. Then we come across a bay-everything gone but a lone mosque. It’s hard to believe a sea so calm, so blue and so vast could wreak such devastation at exactly this time 8.30am, almost exactly 5 months ago. Sunlight glistens on the sea, all is peaceful, or so it seems. Smoke billows up from burning debris, little bits of people’s lives. The landscape is changed forever. The coast had moved and bridges are washed away. Parts of a road are visible but now that road leads into the ocean-roads that once took people home, took them to work. Now there are few roads& new lives to lead. There is a big contrast between the verdant green of the forest and the black brown sludge left in the Tsunami’s wake. The coast is monotone but further back the beauty of the countryside lives on. On the calm sea there are no signs of fishermen & no boats on the horizon.

We arrive in Calang and are met by Pak Andi our field officer there. He has a “motor becak” for us to ride in. It’s a clapped out motor bike with wooden side car where the 3 of us ride. It’s the best way to get around, until a big army truck passes by and we’re enveloped in a cloud of dust. We drive out to see the Rotary Adopt a Village project. Andi shows us the location of the well we will build to provide fresh water for the people. We also look at the location for Elementary School, mosque and possible Junior High School we will build. This is a village that lost everything-totally flattened. Only 22.3% of its inhabitants are still living, the others lost. No structure, not one. This is a community which we can adopt & help to grow. There is a lot to do but we feel excited by the prospect of a Rotary Village. With the support of clubs around the world are can make it a reality! We speak with the head of the village, the local elementary school teacher and the head of the Pesantren – a muslim boarding school. All are in favour of our plans. We have land and support, now we just need money! And we know it will be done.

Slowly houses are being built and people have built their own from salvaged wood. We distribute the teddy bears here & it starts off much more orderly but soon dissolves into a pulling/pushing match when the men & boys arrive. Everyone is desperate for hand outs, for anything. They have lost it all. Everything they now have is new, the rest is memories. Their wooden houses are small & simple but they are home. We sit in the teacher’s house & she serves us passionfruit juice. One wall is stocked with text books, reading books, exercise books that Rotary has donated for her school in a tent. They must all be stored in her modest house which she shares with another teacher. One living room, but its home!

We drive back to town for lunch and to check our emails. Aceh may have lost a lot, but it has more “hotspots” than anywhere else in Indonesia!. Slowly mobile phone coverage is being restored also. The UN camp is huge & the whole area is a hot spot for wireless internet connection. While I check my email, I receive great news-another $44,000 from Rotary Club of New York! I will look for a project for them maybe here in Sayeng. Back to the helipad for the trip back to Banda Aceh. We are nearly bumped off for more important UN staff but in the end can fly back. Arriving back in Banda Aceh we are met by Dedek. On the drive back to the hotel we pass the Mitsubshi showroom - & there’s our car getting its sticker put on. A donation from Rotary Club of New York which will be invaluable for the wonderful team of young volunteers who are working so hard as our fields officer in Banda Aceh, Calang & Meulaboh.

Out to the UN airport early in the morning to catch the chopper to Meulaboh. After an hour’s delay, we finally take off on the loud, shaky & long trip over the mountains. Arriving in Meulaboh & met by Pak Ganda, and on the drive to the hotel I am surprised how big a town Meulaboh is. It must have been quite a bustling town before the tsunami. In contract to Calang yesterday, Meulaboh still has houses & shops standing, though many were destroyed by the tsunami. We check in to the only hotel. We drive along a very bumpy road (the main road) to Sama Tiga, an area badly damaged by the Tsunami. Large barracks of refugees line the roads and there are many houses being constructed by various NGO’s – Salvation line Army, Mercy Corps, etc.

Aceh is truly a United Nations at this time. There are people here from every corner of the world, speaking a multitude languages, and practising every religion under the sun, or none, and all united in one purpose – to restore Aceh to what it was, to give the Acehnese back their lives that were so cruelly ripped from them. Cars, trucks, vans, even becaks bear th e the stickers of NGO’s from around the world. Indonesians employed as interpreters, as assistants, all working together. It’s an amazing sight!!

In Sama Tiga we see the destruction of the area. We visit the site where we will construct a recreation Centre, alongside the 118 houses S.O.S Children’s Village are building. We visit the Kepala Desa’s house - a white tent with an awning of traditional embroidery. There’s an upside down gumboot on the fence, and jerry cans of all sizes hanging from the fence. There are 4 men there sitting around & they invite us to join them. Over a fresh coconut juice, they tell us their stories. One man has lost his wife & child, another the same. One man lost his 4 years old child as she couldn’t hang on the slippery coconut tree. Sad stories, people who have lost everything but they can still laugh & enjoy what little they have left. They tell us how many are nervous about coming back, & how there’s no school for the children so they stay in the camps. Soon life will be better. Another man tells us how his fishing boat survived the Tsunami, but then was burnt, motor & all by the clean up crews! They can’t win!

We visit the 10 hectare site where Rotary plans to build a school, as well as the WACANA-mobile children’s library. We also see the site for the “Saung” where the WACANA will move to. It has been donated by the Rotary Club of Settle. The mobile libraries are a wonderful addition to the children’s lives. Pak Ganda and Danny arrange poetry & drawing competitions, outings to the beach to help them overcome heir fears, and have taught them how to hug. They bring books, puzzles, games, activities and the children love it. We visit one WACANA & some children do a traditional dance for us. In another room tiny tots are playing with Lego & doing puzzles, older boys are reading. It’s a wonderful sight!

We call in to the Bumi Sehat clinic in Sama Tiga also to see the team. They are doing a wonderful job and we are all impressed by the dedication of the staff & the warm welcoming atmosphere. We give them some of the teddy bears. We’re on the last box! They have lots of children visiting & babies being born so they will go to good homes. The teddy bears have been a huge success, and the mothers in Meulaboh begged to be taught how to knit. I’ll have to bring knitting needles (& someone who can knit) next time!

Once again a day filled with so much. The amazing stories & experiences! Wonderful people! Once again I am bowled over by the fantastic staff we have, everywhere. Pak Ganda & Danny in Meulaboh have given so much to the victims of the Tsunami, but in return they have gained so much, and they know it. These are the kinds of citizens the world needs more of!!

We didn’t start so early today as we couldn’t do the things we had to do until later. Our first stop was at SMPN 5 Meulaboh (Junior High School) where we presented school text books for the new school year beginning in July. We heard how over 100 children from the school were lost and 5 teachers. In each year where there were once 3 classes now there is just one. One teacher started to speak & couldn’t continue because of her tears. On speaking to her later, I discovered that her 4 1/2 month old baby was ripped from her arms in the tsunami, as well as losing her house & all possessions. Today, 26^th May, is exactly 5 months after the tsunami & many of them felt this. They spoke of how it is hard for them to concentrate & to teach to their capacity with the trauma they still have. They look despondent, lost and although they are smiling, the spark is lost. What they really need is counselling, but all they will probably get is time to heal their wounds. Even the students have lost the impetus and the will to learn.

They are lazy to come to school, and to work when they are there. Will this be a lost generation?. The school has new buildings donated by Norway but nothing it them. They ask us for a library and a paved area. We leave them, touched by the emotions they have displayed, and move on the next school M.A.N (Senior High School). This school lost 20 students and 4 teachers, and 30 other students are missing. 438 students lost everything and 187 students still are OK. One of the school’s campus is totally destroyed. This was for class I & all the administrative offices. We drove past it later & it is just a shell on the edge of the bay. We present text books to the students for the next school year, and the headmaster gives us a long list of things he needs/wants, including 70 mobile phones! We take a drive around the worst hit part of the Meulaboh & see the devastation. Everything is destroyed! A huge expanse of rubble & the odd wall or part of a kitchen remains. So many lives destroyed. It must have once been such a beautiful place to live. But now, people are afraid to come back. Stories of how people ran from the encroaching wave, how they shimmied up coconut trees, climbed onto roofs, took shelter in mosques, haunt us as we survey the total devastation. I can’t imagine how they can live with the memories.

After lunch we head out to Desa Sosoh to speak to some cacao plantation owners. Their trees, 27 hectare of them, were destroyed by the mud from the aftermath of the tsunami. They were at the end of the wave. It was metres high-trees, tables, wood, whatever was in the wave’s ways washed up here & killed their livelihoods. They take us out to see the location and prepare young coconuts for us, straight from the trees. We return to the WACANA in Sama Tiga to watch the drawing & colouring competition. The mobile library is held in a tent, which is not ideal but the more permanent structureis being built. There are not so many children today as their parents are involved in ‘Cash For Work’ programs & aren’t around to bring their children. We judge the drawings & colouring and present prizes & teddy bears & chocolates. It is amazing to see the boys coming forward first for the teddy bears & genuinely playing with them.

We venture back to town to confirm our flights for tomorrow at the UN base camp. What an extraordinary place! They sure have it made! Great tents, bathrooms, dining room and must importantly an internet cafe where all NGO’s can come & check or send emails. We want to be sure we aren’t bumped off the flights for tomorrow as we have a busy day ahead of us in Banda Aceh. We drive back out to the Bumi Sehat clinic at Cot Selamat to meet Christine, the place is a hive of activity at night with lots of children from the refugee camps drawing, writing and playing. Ros is working on them with trauma counselling & it seems to be working really well. It’s happy & relaxed atmosphere & the clinic is busy too. It’s a long, bumpy slow road back into town and we arrive back late. The people of Meulaboh and so friendly and welcoming. We have enjoyed meeting them and being part of their lives, even if only so briefly. The children at the WACANA-children’s mobile library are so sweet, and to see them hugging their teddy bears-big & small kids, boys and girls – is so very touching. I hope it will bring them some happiness in the sea of sadness they must endure.

Back to Banda Aceh on the UN chopper this morning ready for a big day. Once again, I am hit by the extent of the destruction from the air. It is incredible how the palm trees all along the coast have survived the tsunami & even grow now out in the sea! Other trees don’t seem as hardy & stand ghostly grey against the brown sludge. From the air Meulaboh’s area of destruction is much more shocking that it is when driving around. Much on the sides of the road has been cleared up/repaired but from the air the impact is huge.

On arrival in Banda Aceh, we are met by Rtn. Monica who co-ordinates the project and has organised our wonderful staff on the ground-Dedek, Mas Pur, Dani, Andy, Pak Ganda Raden & Mumun the driver (in our brand new Rotary vehicle donated by Rotary Club of New York. What a difference this will make & it’s a wonderful way to show our Rotary presence). These are some of the most dedicated, enthusiastic, compassionate, creative people I have met. They are young & energetic,ready, willing & able to help their fellow Indonesians at every moment. They have a wonderful rapport with the local people & are well respected in the communities they are involved with. They work so well with other NGO’s & at the grass roots level. They are invaluable to us & our projects!

After lunch we’re off to our brand new Rotary Youth Centre (RYC). The staff have obviously been working for days & nights – to get the place ready for the big ribbon cutting & ceremony. They have rented a lovely, spacious house to serve as the Rotary Youth Centre. It is complete with 2 computers, the beginnings of a small library & other facilities. It will also serve as a WACANA for young children and the uni students will help supervise this. For some of the students who have lost everything – parents, sibling, grandparents, house, possessions, this will also become their home. This is the first step in our dream to have a Rotary Youth Centre, complete with boarding houses, mosque, sports facilities, IT centre, library, bus, etc that will cater for up to 500 uni students. The house warming, presentation of the car & the official opening of the RYC was carefully planned by Dedek & Mas Pur – & what a great job they did! This is a wonderful donation from the Rotary Clubs of Settle.

The celebration kicked off with some small girls doing a traditional Acehnesse dance, resplendent in their costumes & make up. Then some of the other children sang songs they had written & poems. The song sang by a girl who had lost their parents & six siblings was in Acehnese, & everyone was in tears. Then, tiny girls read poems they had written with such feeling and emotion, and the tears kept flowing. Men, women, children, youth all united in the sadness of the memories of that fateful day.

Sitting there with tears welling in my eyes my only hope was that this RYC may be a place where they can be at peace, meet their friends and continue their studies so that they can make their own new lives. The students will be in their final year at uni & writing their thesis.

They have lost everything – houses, books, pens and sometimes even their lecturers. Everyone is building schools, but it is these students who have been forgotten. Rotary remembers them! We had a wonderful symbolic hand over of the car keys – they had made a huge key out of Styrofoam with the Rotary logo on it. Then the ribbon cutting to dedicate the RYC officially open. After a traditional religious blessing it was time for drinks and cakes, and a chance to talk to the students. We have asked them to tell us what they need – more books? Which ones? English lessons, computers lessons? We want the RYC to be alive to attract many students & we will grow with the needs. Once again a wonderful day in Aceh. Proud, gentle people ready to rebuild their lives from the rubble but they need our help, and they need a lot of it! There is still so much to do. We have big plans, and small plans. We are moving forward and have great staff to get us where we are going. Coming to Aceh has been an unforgettable & invaluable experience to me personally and as a member of the TDM Task Force. Now, I begin to understand the tsunami disaster & its impact.

On our way to the airport we visit a school to handover benches. The drive once again takes us past Krueng Raya & the impact is still as overwhelming to see the total destruction of lives. The school we are visiting is in Desa Ruyung. The area was devastated by the tsunami and the children are all refugees. Their school is 2 UNICEF tents and a sample house. The first tent has 3 dasses in it. We have had benches made with money donated by Rotary Club of Hamburg Namburg. These will be used as tables now with the children sitting on the floor but once their permanent school is finished (it is under construction) will become benches & we’ll give them desks. Some children sit on cement blocks, scavenged from the construction site others on the dusty plastic tarpaulin. The heat in the tent is unbearable and 3 teachers compete to be heard by their students. Not an ideal way to learn! Some classes have been taken outside under the tree where it is a little cooler. In the sample house children sit on the floor & use the floor as their table too. These children need tables & chairs.

Back to the airport to say a such goodbye to our wonderful staff of volunteers, without whom none of this would be possible. Things are really moving now. We have big plans and also small plans that will help day by day. We are there for the long run & we will make a difference.

Together we CAN make a difference!

N.B. Photos of our trip will be posted on the website shortly - Thank you http://www.rotaryubud.org/

2004 Oct. 23 our club was involved in the Hemet City Cleanup of the downtown area.

Oct. 14 We held our annual Dinner fundraiser. We had a Harpist who gave us great entertainment during the evening. We give thanks to the many local businesses who gave us many raffle prizes, and bought larger blocks of dinner tickets.

This allowed us to raise approximately $2,500 and the proceeds for this event help to finance our Rotary Scholarships, and other Community Project needs that we sponsor each year. The primary recipients are students from West Valley High School, Hemet High School and Alessandro High School. Many thanks to those who came and chose to support these worthy and needy Projects.

This was a joint project of the Rotary Club of Hemet, and the Hemet Sunrise Rotary Club. We were able to complete this project because of significant financial help from: A-1 Construction & Remodeling (Hemet); The Elks Club (Hemet); Wal-Mart (Hemet); and 84 Lumber (Beaumont): and our members who helped build the ramp itself. Without their support we could not have completed the ramp. Our Thanks and Gratitude go to them all.

Also many thanks to Marilee Reyes of the Press Enterprise, who gave us great press coverage which helped us raise the money.

Press Enterprise, May, 2004 by Marilee Reyes:

Ramp wrap-up: If you haven't been following the installments in this column, Carl Cardey of the Hemet Rotary Club is the man behind the new ramp at the Hemet Ryan Air Museum.

One day last year, Carl wanted to visit the museum, but he couldn't do it because the museum had no wheelchair ramp to accommodate Carl's wheels. Being a member of Rotary and familiar with its many service projects, he enlisted both Hemet Rotary and Sunrise Rotary to solve the problem.

It couldn't be just any ramp, though. The construction had to fully meet all governmental requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Sturdy, it's built of redwood and made secure with a metal railing. They just installed the metal handrail last week and got it painted last weekend.

Next comes the ribbon cutting and dedication with the chamber of commerce at 8 a.m. Saturday before the air show.

In a happy e-mail, Carl wrote: "Oh yes, since it was my idea, I made it up the ramp even before we had all the panels screwed down. I wanted to be sure I was the first one."

He agreed that the museum has a lot of artifacts and was especially impressed by the library's selection of written materials on flight.

Museum docent Don Forsythe, our man on the inside, said during the air show, the museum will be open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. -or "0800 until 1500 hours," if you want to get military.

Don also mentioned that Airport Cafe owner Aurelia Holmes provided plenty of ice water and use of the restaurant facilities to the ramp workers.

Press Enterprise by Marilee Reyes, June 5, 2004.

Airfield Museum Dedication - 8 a.m. The Rotary Club of Hemet is proud to announce a dedication ceremony of a new wheelchair ramp at the Ryan Field Museum, 4280 Waldon Weaver Road, Hemet, adjacent to the Hemet-Ryan Airport. The ramp provides wheelchair accessibility to the museum.

In 2001 Richard Stacey, Chief of the Hemet Fire Department, joined our club, and shortly thereafter told us of a critical need in the San Jacinto Valley. Riverside County owned a fire safety trailer, but due to heavy increased usage would no longer be available for our Valley. After discussing it, it was decided that it was a doable project if we could get help in raising the money.

In the end, $37,000 was raised, which bought the trailer, and established a fund for maintenance and training. This was a true community project and major contributions were given by: the 3 Rotary Clubs (Hemet, Hemet Sunrise, San Jacinto); our Rotary District 5330; Rotary International headquarters; The Elks Club of Hemet, Wal-Mart; and dozens of local people donated smaller amounts.

A Word that no one wants to hear: The latest fire death figures show that nearly 5,000 Americans die in home fires annually. The vast majority of these fire victims are ELDERLY citizens and CHILDREN. These statistics dramatically illustrate the need to increase our fire awareness. Education is a powerful tool in fighting fires…and a potential life saver.

Enter the Fire Safety House manufactured by Mobile Concepts: A mobile “classroom” featuring rooms, and real-life hazards – like smoke and heat. This creates an environment that provides children with the knowledge needed to prevent fires, and the steps to follow if they find themselves in a fire situation. Mobile Concepts combined the best know-how in the R.V. Industry along with the ideals and suggestions of fire and accident prevention specialists from across the nation.

At the same time it is ideally suited to give our Senior citizens the same preventative information about fires and other safety hazards they face. It is a hands-on learning tool that prepares our community for the unexpected experiences of fire.

The vital need for this type of training in our community for both children and seniors has been met previously by a trailer owned by Riverside City Fire Department, but their usage has become so great it is no longer available.

The need remain(ed) to continue this kind of education and the Hemet Fire Department with the help of the three Rotary Clubs of Hemet/San Jacinto began a fund drive to enable the purchase of a new one. This trailer is available to service Hemet, San Jacinto, the entire San Jacinto Valley, and Idyllwild areas.

After the death of his wife Alma Brook, our member Art Brook, a club Past President, and also a District Governor of our Rotary district 5330, established this scholarship to honor her lifelong service as a nurse with unusual compassion. It was his wish that we could occasionally find a graduating HS student with those same compassionate qualities, whose lot in life would not afford him/her the opportunity to attend college.

This scholarship is for $16,000, dispersed $4,000/year. It is normally awarded to a graduating HS student who has shown superior effort and achievement in HS, AND has completed the 400 hour ROP nursing course in HS. It must lead to a 4 year BA/BS degree in Nursing or Nursing Administration.

To date, we have had three students who have completed their BA/BS: Rachelle, Heather, and Lisa. We now have Sarah who has completed her first year and is starting her sophomore year. (Last names withheld to protect their identities.) To all these students: we are extremely proud of their endurance and sticking with it, and trust that they will pass on the lifetime of compassion and love of Alma Brook, to the many patients they deal with.

1999 - Opening with a gift
by KATIE ORLOFF the Hemet News by May 5, 1999

It is a gift that will open worlds. Eric Knapp, diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at the age of 6, is a quadriplegic at age 18, He lost his ability to hold a pen and write over the years, but never his ability to think and learn. He is a person with a mind full of ideas, but with very limited means of expressing them.

The West Valley High School senior got a tremendous surprise when he attended a Hemet Noon Rotary Club meeting at The Anchor Tuesday with his parents, Nancy and Lonnie, and brothers Jamie, 14, and Dusty, 11. The club donated, a computer equipped with the "Dragon Naturally Speaking" software program,which will allow Eric to Perform all the computer's functions Using his Voice instead of a mouse and keyboard.

The computer, a Pentium 2 with 128 RAM and a 10 gigabyte hard drive, can record a voice at up to 310 words per minute. Eric will also have access to the Internet, allowing him to look up Web sites and send e-mail using voice commands, according to Jerry Garber with E & H Business -Services of' San Diego, which assembled the computer and will train Eric on the software.

A Printer donated by West Valley High School's Interact Club will allow Eric to print out papers or whatever else he needs. Eric, who wants to go into either computer programming or computer animation when he finishes college, smiles as he thanked his benefactors. "The last time I used a computer, it was when I was in the tenth grade and I had a lot of trouble because I couldn't move my hands," he said. "Now with this, I will be able to do everything I need to do."

The opportunity is like walking out the front door for the first time and seeing a whole new world, according to John Bradshaw, Eric's teacher with West Valley's Home Hospital program. "He reads all the time, but he's not able to put his hands on things," Bradshaw said. "That's what this has done for him." Bradshaw describes Eric as an enigma, someone who wants to know about everything. Eric's demands for information often test Bradshaw's own limitations, he said, admitting that he can't keep up with his student's requests for lessons in higher mathematics and space travel.

Bradshaw is in his second year as Eric's teacher. The Knapps moved to Hemet from Palm Springs about a year and a half ago. The relationship came as a Pleasant surprise to the Knapps. In Palm Springs, Eric had struggled in mainstream classrooms with little extra help, according to Nancy. At tile time he could still write, but not as quickly as his classmates. Yet he was often expected to complete tasks in the same amount of time. After moving to Hemet, the Knapps discovered the Home Hospital program. It allows Eric to continue school in his own home. Wary at first, they soon warmed to the program.

"It was like a whole new world when John came. He went right into Eric's room and jumped right into it Nancy said. "He challenged Eric's mind and Eric challenged his right back." Eric has a type of muscular dystrophy that strikes only boys, Those who have it rarely live beyond 16, according to Nancy. She said doctors gave him about two months to live four years ago after an emergency tracheotomy to remove mucous blocking his air passage.

Lonnie quit his teaching job two years ago to stay home with Eric. Despite the grim prognosis, Eric has been going strong ever since, according to Nancy. She said Eric serves as an Inspiration everyday when they come into his room to help him up or give him breakfast. His smiles, she said, dispel all normal gripes about struggling thorough a normal work day. "He would give anything in the world to be able to get out of bed," Nancy said. "And you look at him and you think, 'I'd better be thankful I can do it.' "

Rotary President Carl Cardey, himself in a wheelchair because of a September 1995 accident in his motor home, shared A personal philosophy with his club that he said fits Eric perfectly.

Since that time, Eric has gone on to San Jacinto Community College, studying computer graphics design, and graduated with highest honors, and motivating his father and younger brother to graduate with him. Since then he is able to do some computer design from his home, all being controlled with his voice. Eric is truly a role model for young people who find that they have severe disabilities to live with.

In celebration of our 53 years, here is a partial list of projects we are doing, have done, and a minimum of money either donated or raised:

Locally more than $250,000 in our 52 years history
Nursing Scholarships 5 students     $ 63,000
Fire Safety Training Trailer for Hemet Fire Dept.
           $34,000
High School Student Scholarships. Approx. $50,000+
           Hemet HS, West Valley HS, Alessandro HS
                   Art, Music, Speech, Trips, Leadership Training
Voice controlled Computer for a HS quadriplegic student.
            $ 5,000
Handicapped Ramp for Ryan Field Aeronautical School
            Museum
Built two Rotary Parks in Hemet
            Senior Softball @ Kirby & Latham
            Downtown @ Florida & Buena Vista
Ronald McDonald Camp for seriously ill children
Hemet T.H.E. Center, Horses for Paraplegic Kids.
Paid off YMCA mortgage (later became Valley Restart)
Painting Valley Restart
Lasagna Dinner – Simpson Center – many years
Hemet City Bench advertising

INTERNATIONAL

Rotary International Foundation Donations:      $508,036 over 52 years (6/16/06)
Capetown, So. Africa Dermatology Nursing Education
            Program   $ 2,000, matched with 3 other clubs and Rotary
            International for a total of $18,000.
Mexican Orphanage – Colonial Vicente Guerrero near
           Tecate, Mexico     - Built a Kitchen, and donated a bus
Sponsored an Orphan Korean Student to US for College in
GSE (Group Study Exchange) India, Japan, England,
            Scotland, Russia
Library of Congress International Program, Home Hosting
           for Russian Professionals
Helped Fund Russian Orphanage Equipment
A Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. 1 year in foreign college
Home Hosting Student Youth Culture Exchanges, shared
           with San Jacinto RC
Sister City projects: Cootamundra, NSW Australia;   & Japan