(Video) Doing Good in the World [] Midday Rotary Club

by Lee Carter

You may know the Midday Rotary Club for the many projects it has completed in San  Miguel de Allende. This small club of less than 30 people has brought investments of more  than one million dollars to our community in the last ten years. This club has built more  than 1425 rainwater catchment systems in rural communities throughout the  Independence Aquifer. Fifty-five dry composting toilets have been completed and another  135 are underway. Midday has partnered with CASA to provide a mobile library to rural  communities to boost literacy. We support the Deaf School founded by a Rotarian. We  have supplied critical medical equipment to our local hospital. We are forming beekeeping  cooperatives providing women with skills and income. We are launching new initiatives  with Apoyo Emprendedores to provide education and microloans to young entrepreneurs.

We are on the cusp of initiating a project that will help young women increase access to menstrual care and education which will keep them in school and provide them an equal playing field as they grow up.

How can a small group of people do this? We have the largest private service organization foundation in the world: The Rotary Foundation. Rotary is an international organization with more than 1.2 million members belonging to some 35,000 clubs in 145 countries. Our Rotary Foundation is valued at one billion dollars and our foundation’s simple objective is “to do good in the world”. Rotary’s international focus means that there are Rotarians throughout the world who want to promote peace and better understanding through the path of international service. For example, we have had more than 75 Rotary clubs contribute directly to the work we are doing here in San Miguel. Our club has supported international projects in Ghana, Thailand and elsewhere.

As we work locally to provide service and resources to our community, other Rotary clubs around the world are doing the same. In 2021, TRF made more than 2066 “global grants” at a cost of 130 million dollars. We made 467 “district grants” at a cost of 31.1 million. TRF made 55 “disaster response grants” at a cost of 3.1 million. In 2021 we awarded more than 25 million dollars in grants to support COVID19 related projects to meet community needs. Everywhere you go in the world, Rotary is there working to fulfill our mission: “to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace by improving health, providing quality education, improving the environment, and alleviating poverty.”

It was Rotary that started the international quest to eradicate polio from the world. Since 1985, through Rotary’s Polio Plus program, we have invested more than 3 billion dollars and our achievement is extraordinary. From 40,000 young children becoming paralyzed annually in 1985, the incidence of polio in the world is now down to double digits in only two countries. Not only have we invested to make that happen, but we have also made partnerships with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation who have also invested billions. We have brought the United Nations to the cause.

Our limitation at Midday Rotary for “doing more good” in San Miguel is simply we need that person with a dream and the persistence to pursue a project that will change lives. Our largest projects focus in seven areas of the greatest need: Peace and Conflict Prevention, Disease Prevention and Treatment, Water and Sanitation, Maternal and Child Health, Basic Education and Literacy, Economic and Community Development. The seventh area of focus we added this year: Supporting the Environment and Climate Change. There is no other nonprofit organization in San Miguel with the resources of Midday Rotary.

Every Rotary project starts with one Rotarian with one idea and a simple dream about how they can serve their community and bring about permanent and measurable change to those who need our help the most.

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