October 16, 2012
TO:Mrs. Mary Feldt
President, Madison West Towne-Middleton Rotary Club
CC:Mr. Svein Morner, President-elect
Mr. Stuart Herro, International Service Chair
Mr. Dan Fose, International Service Assistant Chair
FROM:Mary Beth Growney Selene
RE:HAITI CHILDREN’S PROJECT “FEED MY LAMBS” FOOD PROGRAM
Dear Mary Feldt;
On June 5, I submitted an approved check request to Club Treasurer Rich Cooper, asking that a $2,000 check be sent to the What If? Foundation. The allocation was included in the Madison West Towne-Middleton Foundation budget for the 2011-12 Rotary year.
REPORT:
a.)Our support of the Haiti Children’s Project, “Feed My Lambs” began in 2002 under the leadership of our past member, Dick Williams. Dick found out about the project through an associate whose daughter lives in Berkeley, CA. Margaret Trost visited Haiti several years ago and was astounded at the poverty of those living in the Port au Prince area. She started the What If? Foundation as a means to provide food to the children in the area.
b.)The Madison West Towne-Middleton Rotary Foundation has been sending $2,000 to the What If? Foundation to support the meal program. When we began four years ago, our assistance enabled the program to move from one meal per week to two meals per week.
c.)In 2011-12, with our ongoing support [and the support of many others], the program is now serving hundreds of children five meals per week. Margaret recently wrote, “Malnutrition has diminished among the children we serve”. For the majority of children, this is the only food they eat all week. The mission of the What If? Foundation is “Providing Hope and Opportunity to Impoverished Children in Haiti”.
We as a club, have served a small part in improving the lives of the children that the What If? Foundation serves. Through our generosity, we are providing hope to these children.
Additionally, the What If? Foundation sponsors the education of 30 children and a summer program is underway with literacy and agricultural classes now being added to the curriculum. The children now have a chance to get special training that will help them economically and socially for the rest of their lives.
We should all be very proud of our commitment to the children of Haiti.
Respectfully Submitted,
Mary Beth Growney Selene
Project Chair