Bristol Noon Rotary Club Members Do Work In Haiti
October 11, 2010World Community Service projects have taken on a much more personal meaning for a group of Rotarians and Rotaract members who recently returned from Haiti. On September 16, 2010, a team led by members of the Bristol Noon Rotary club traveled to Port-Au-Prince, where they spent six days living in an orphanage in the village of Bon Repos. In addition to three members of the Bristol Rotary Club and two members of King College Rotaract, the team also included members of three local churches that helped sponsor the project.
The planning for this trip began in 2009 when the Bristol Rotary Club began working with Yves Regala, a Haitian missionary who oversees several schools and orphanages in Haiti. During that process, the club was fortunate to find local individuals, businesses, and organizations with whom they could partner to help meet the needs of two of those orphanages. The first orphanage was the Bon Repos Orphanage, home to the team during the September trip. The Bon Repos Orphanage is the residence of twenty boys and also serves as a school for fifty children and the distribution center of food and supplies to a community of over 600 people. The second orphanage was the Good Samaritan orphanage, home to over 100 children who have been living in tents since the destruction of their dormitories during the January 2010 earthquake.
As the January earthquake added greatly to the challenges faced by each orphanage, club members sought to assist with disaster relief while also continuing with plans for the original projects. Among those projects were the installation of electrical wiring and lights through much of the Bon Repos Orphanage and the distribution of diapers and personal hygiene items to the Good Samaritan Orphanage. In addition to those items, the team delivered a solar oven, solar lights, tools, food, toys, and school supplies, most of which was donated by the Bristol Noon Rotary Club. The team spent time evaluating and initiating future projects as well, including a water filtration system to provide clean water at Bon Repos and sponsorships to provide food and medicine at Good Samaritan.
The Bristol Rotary Club hopes to organize two return trips for 2011, and is also currently working with another local organization to ship further supplies down to the orphanages. Further information on those trips and the projects currently in progress may be obtained by visiting the www.orphanagehaiti.org website or by e-mailing info@haitiansupportalliance.org. View additional photos in our Photo Gallery