International Service

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC? When you go on Rotary humanitarian trips, one gets to see first-hand the magic of how The Rotary Foundation can impact lives around the world.

Rotary Club of Saratoga has helped the communities around the world in the areas of basic education & literacy, disease prevention, water, sanitation and hygiene and food insecurity. The recent beneficiaries were schools in Santa Clara County - Franklin McKinley, Oak Grove, Morgan Hill, and Sunnyvale School Districts and their special needs students received a clear and immediate benefit from the project.
 
The Local Control Funding Formula in the state of California allocates funding to schools based on student enrollment and student needs. However, funding for students with special needs are not specifically called out in the Formula. Also, schools do not receive adequate funding to provide professional development for staff, purchase instructional resources or purchase materials for students. The learning needs of students with identified special needs often extend beyond traditional instructional methods and materials, and there are evolving professional best practices for meeting the needs of students with special needs.
 
This project spearheaded by Saratoga Rotary specifically benefits students with disabilities including autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as well as students with anxiety and trauma. This will be enabled by developing teacher knowledge around addressing the learning, self-regulation, and sensorimotor needs of students and the purchase of materials that address their identified special learning needs. The project was developed with trained personnel in the school district and includes training curriculum for special education teachers and occupational therapists. It also provides teaching and learning materials, kits for Occupational Therapists in the four districts, sensorimotor and self-regulation materials for the Sensorimotor Room at
McKinley School in San Jose. The grant will also enable fifty McKinley families to check out sensory kits for home use. This grant has been made possible with additional support from the Rotary clubs of Cupertino, Silicon Andhra, Bangalore West (India), Guadalajara (Mexico) and individual contributions from Rotarians in Suzhou (China).
 
 

Make a person’s life anywhere in the world a bit better, one International Rotary Project at a time, while making friends globally.

Over the last few years, this committee has fostered collaborations with other Rotary clubs all over the world. Projects range from a water tank in Brazil, toilet for girls in Arusha, Tanzania, clean water and toilets in about 20 schools in Bangalore, India. It is our responsibility to leave the world a better place than we found it, and nothing makes me prouder than saying that the Rotary Club of Saratoga is playing a vital role in this regard.

 
Over the last few years, this committee has fostered collaborations with other Rotary clubs all over the world. Projects range from a water tank in Brazil, toilet for girls in Arusha, Tanzania, clean water and toilets in about 20 schools in Bangalore, India. It is our responsibility to leave the world a better place than we found it, and nothing makes me prouder than saying that the Rotary Club of Saratoga is playing a vital role in this regard.
Through the NID (National Immunization) trip to Nigeria and West Africa project fair in Port Harcourt, we learned about the needs of the kids in Ugbolu, Nigeria that was being led by the Rotary Club of Central Asaba, Nigeria. The Primary School kids in Ugbolu School in Nigeria are very appreciative of the joint efforts of the all the clubs (Rotary clubs of Los Altos, North Stockton, Shasta, Burney-Fall, Dunsmuir, Sunnyvale (Sunrise), and Campbell) that contributed to bring it to fruition.

In 2018-2019, we put our funds to good use to help communities across the world.

We helped an orphanage with special needs kids in Guadalajara, Mexico.

In 2019-2020, we are finalizing a Global Grant project for special needs children in Okpanam, Nigeria.

We would love to hear from all of you, please bring in your suggestions and ideas for projects as you go touring around the world. The committee meets monthly to review ongoing projects and evaluate project proposals.

While doing the projects, you make friends with service oriented like-minded individuals all over the world!

Contact International Service Committee