November 30, 2006

2007 Club-to-Club World Service Projects Announced

The Club-to-Club program helps Quota clubs fulfill their world service mission by connecting Quota members who care with people in developing countries who need help. Quota clubs in 4 developing countries, India, Malaysia, Fiji, and the Philippines, are seeking support for hands-on service in 2007. They welcome and rely on donations from Quotarians worldwide to improve the quality of life in their communities. They offer livelihood skills training to help families survive; educational opportunities and day care for children; resources for special needs children and adults; housing for seniors and abandoned women and children; and such basic necessities as nutritious meals, shelter, medical care, and medicines for people who most need it.

The We Share Foundation Board of Trustees has approved the following 13 club-to-club projects for 2007. Donations to these projects are being accepted now. One hundred percent of your donation will go directly to service. If you or your club would like to donate to the Club-to-Club program, click here.

Quota International of Ba, Fiji
HART Education, Hearing Aid, and Medical Clinic Project
Ba Quotarians continue to improve the quality of life for the many disadvantaged women and children in the depressed HART village who face unemployment and are unable to pay for school. Club members also provide hearing aids and testing for low-income seniors and others, as there are very few hearing aid specialists in the country, and service is extremely expensive. New this year, the club will organize medical clinics and workshops for rural women to make available Pap smear tests and increase awareness of women's health issues. Club-to-Club donations will fund school fees and supplies in addition to food, clothing, equipment, and transportation for the hearing aid and medical clinics.

Quota International of Cebu, Philippines
Sawang Calero, Guba, and Talamban Day Care Centers and Feeding Programs
Since 1982 Cebu Quotarians have cared for the poorest of children in the fishing village of Sawang Calero, running a day care center, which now enrolls 130 children per year and targets malnutrition in addition to providing pre-school education and medical and dental clinics. In 1998, the club opened a second day care center in the mountain barangay of Guba helping 75 children each year. And in June they plan to open their third center in Talamban to benefit 120 children per year. Their model centers provide a daily nutritional feeding, which is often the children's only meal of the day, as well as teach the basics of reading, writing, math, and etiquette. Quotarian donations will fund feedings, medicines, multi-vitamins, uniforms, slippers, building maintenance, salaries, and holiday gifts at the three centers.

Quota International of Davao City, Philippines
Mindanao Neonatal Hearing Screening Center
Hearing screenings are not a standard of care in most hospitals in Davao City; the city of 1.2 million people has never had a neonatal screening facility with a full-time audiologist. Davao Quotarians are now changing that, working to promote universal hearing screening in Mindanao. Club members acquired space, purchased an otoacoustic emission machine, and set-up and now run a neonatal screening center at a local hospital. The club also provides free clinics and hearing consultations in many Davao communities. The club aims to reach additional municipalities, screening infants and toddlers, and to work with the city government to make neonatal testing a city ordinance. Donations will fund equipment and salaries for their hearing screening facility as well as supplies, transportation, and meals for their community hearing clinics.

Quota International of DLF City, India
Sunday Health Camps
DLF City Quotarians saw first-hand that the children of the laborers they were serving at their two charitable dispensaries were malnourished, inadequately clothed, and living in shanties. They realized the children needed regular care for their general health and nourishment, not occasional cures at the dispensary for simple or serious ailments. Thus began the Sunday Health Camp. Every Sunday 150 children come to the clinic to receive food, multi-nutrients, doctor check-ups, hygiene advice, and clothing. In 2007, the club will provide 5 ounces of milk daily to each child—due to the high cost of milk, the children had previously gone without. Club members continue to operate two dispensaries and a women's vocational center, but Club-to-Club donations will fund the weekly health camps, buying food, milk, medicine, multi-vitamins, and clothing for the children.

Quota International of Iloilo, Philippines
Educational Fund for the Leganes Resource Center for the Deaf
Iloilo Quotarians recognize that educating hearing impaired children will equip and empower them to become productive and self-reliant members of their community. Their challenge is to get families who often make no more than U.S.$5 a day to send their deaf children to school. The club's answer was to help establish the Leganes Resource Center for the Deaf in 1998. With Club-to-Club support over the years, the center has become a well-known school serving pre-school, elementary, and high school-aged deaf students at no cost to their families. Now the cost of transportation to the school prevents families from taking advantage of it. Quotarian donations in the year ahead will fund the transportation needs of the students as well as an allowance to increase teacher time at the center's new library from 3 days to 5 days per week.

Quota International of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Empowerment Development Program for Disadvantaged Women
Discrimination and violence against women is rampant in Malaysia, and often a hidden issue. Kuala Lumpur Quotarians, in conjunction with the Women's Aid Organization, are fighting back, providing aid to female victims of domestic violence and physical, sexual, and mental abuse through self-help and self-determination programs. They believe giving battered women knowledge, education, and emotional support will help them become more confident, independent, and empowered. Club-to-Club donations will help fund hands-on programs including art therapy; sewing; baking; computer and jewelry-making classes; English lessons; and yoga and line-dancing activities for reducing stress.

Quota International of Las Piñas, Philippines
Building Bridges for the Deaf
Until recently there was no place for deaf children from disadvantaged families in Las Piñas schools, so they simply stayed home. That changed when Las Piñas Quotarians set up two classes for children with hearing impairments in 2005. The classes are continuing today, bringing the children hope. Club members will continue to "build bridges for the deaf" in the year ahead, teaching 30 children, ranging in ages from 5-17, how to read, write, and communicate as well as how to cook and mend clothes. Quotarian donations will be used for books, school supplies, uniforms, cooking equipment, and school improvements.

Quota International of Legazpi-Mayon, Philippines
Stitch for a Living
By purchasing several sewing machines and offering training in dressmaking, the Legazpi-Mayon club hopes to help 10 economically disadvantaged deaf and hearing-impaired women feed their families today and in the future. After a year in the program, the women will have an opportunity to earn their own sewing machine. Sale of their dressmaking projects will generate revenue, which will be used to replicate the project. Quotarian donations will be used to purchase sewing machines, fabric, and other materials for the women to sew loungewear, pajamas, curtains, pillowcases, etc., which Legazpi-Mayon Quotarians will market.

Quota International of Manila, Philippines
Educating Disadvantaged Children
Manila Quotarians are tackling many obstacles to education in two impoverished indigenous and minority communities where children are malnourished and stigmatized for being different. There is no transportation to school, no food to give children energy to walk the long distance, and no books, supplies, or funds to pay school fees. Club members are helping to put more kids in school and keep them there to release them from a cycle of poverty and give them hope for a better life. They tutor students, run a feeding program, and have adopted an elementary school. They will raise funds locally to upgrade school conditions, as there is no water, insulation, or electricity and very thin walls, but seek Quotarian donations to help pay for basic school needs: nutritious food, tables, chairs, whiteboards, erasers, school supplies, and educational materials in addition to monthly tuition for the poorest children.

Quota International of Manila South, Philippines
Philippine School for the Deaf
Manila South Quotarians proudly support the Philippine School for the Deaf, which is celebrating its centennial year in 2007 and is the only government school for the deaf in the country. In addition to sponsoring the education of the whole senior class (2006-2007), they are supporting the nutritional needs of the multi-handicapped, hearing-impaired preschool children, supplying milk and multi-vitamins during their daily recess breaks. However, the students and teachers at the school lack the technology needed for basic educational resources: reading and testing handouts, activity sheets, workbooks, and sign language and speech materials. The school does not have a copier (mimeographing machine) to produce these essential tools for the students' academic growth. Club-to-Club donations will be used to purchase a copy machine, supplying a precious form of communication to the deaf students.

Quota International of New Delhi, India
Diagnostic Center at the Quota Home
The Quota Home for Abandoned and Destitute Women, run by New Delhi Quotarians since 1992, has served as a shelter for women and children with nowhere to turn, in addition to providing a school, literacy camps, vocational skills for women, and medical clinics for nearby slum dwellers. Club members are now adding a medical diagnostic center to fulfill a need for complete health care for the people served there. The center will offer regular pediatric check-ups, early detection of diseases, hearing and speech screenings, prevention of anemia and worm infestation, and advice in maintaining a healthy environment at home. Quotarian donations will fund medical supplies and equipment for a lab and a hearing and speech center at the Home.

Quota International of Sainik Farm, India
Home for the Aged, Preschool, Dispensary, and Muskan
Recognizing the need for extra care, affection, and understanding for people suffering from Down Syndrome, Quotarians in Sainik Farm are helping 80 students, ranging in age from 10 to 50 years, who have this genetic disorder, which causes delays in physical, intellectual, and language development. Their new Muskan project provides vocational training to build the students' self-esteem and help them earn a living. They are taught to make food items such as jam and cookies, candle-making, woodworking, embroidery, etc. The club continues to maintain a senior facility, a preschool classroom for disadvantaged children, and a dispensary with free medicines for people who can't afford to go to the doctor. Club-to-Club donations will fund craft materials for Down Syndrome students; maintenance of the home for the aged; food, clothing, and supplies for the preschool; and books and medicine for the dispensary.

Quota International of Talisay, Philippines
The Atis of Antique
From the moment Talisay Quotarians saw the neglected Atis people, a tribe of indigenous Filipinos from Antique, they knew there was so much they could do for them. This group of 52 families is mostly illiterate, malnourished, has poor hygiene and no means of livelihood. Their makeshift classroom is dilapidated, and the volunteer teacher is not able to come regularly. Club members plan to address the educational, social, and economic needs of the community by improving living conditions, offering medical assistance, and providing education and skills training. Club-to-Club donations will be used for supplies to improve the classroom, a teacher stipend, skills training, and livelihood development.

Home / Join / Help / Marketplace / Contact Quota / Site Index