2019 Rotary Club of Charlottetown Royalty Advertising Supplement

THE ROTARY CLUB OF CHARLOTTETOWN ROYALTY IS YOUR VEHICLE TO SUPPORT GREAT CAUSES

and community building both here and around the world. We help you make an important difference in the lives of people you know, people you see every day, people you don’t know at all, and even people far around the globe whom you’ll never know. But every one of them is grateful to you. We’re grateful too, because without your support of this annual publication, the funds wouldn’t exist to make that difference. Thank YOU! On these pages are just a few of the projects you can take credit for!

KAGENI WOMEN FOOD EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM The rainy season starts in late March, early April in the region of Meru, Kenya.

There is almost no rain during the dry season stretching from June to October.

In Kageni, an area close to the town of Nkubu, many households do not have any form of water storage and women walk, on average, five kilometres to fetch water. The area operates mainly on subsistence farming, growing crops of maize, beans, pigeon peas, bananas and a few vegetables. Conditions during the dry season can be very bad. Last year, the Kenyan countryside experienced a severe drought, causing havoc to crops and people going hungry.

With water being a scarce commodity, it was imperative to find a sustainable solution to bring food security to the area. In 2017, our club, under the leadership of Rotarians Winston Johnston and Tom Campbell, started to work on a project which would empower the women in Kageni and bring food security into their households. Working closely with partners having a long experience on the field, Farmers Helping Farmers and the Rotary Club of Nkubu, Rotarian Winston Johnston designed a water storage and food production program which will benefit 50 families in the region and provide them with the tools for long term economic sustenance.

Women, selected in the program, will receive water tanks for their household needs and drip- irrigation systems for their fields. They will also be trained in efficient crop production, marketing of harvesting surpluses, food nutrition and financial literacy. By providing them with core resources and training, the goal is to give them economic empowerment which will, in turn, enable them to send their children to school and aim for a better future.

This program will also better equip them with strategies to survive through long periods of drought. It is hoped that they will become confident mentors and share their know-how with other groups. To date, water tanks are being installed in time for the rainy season. FHF members are on site to facilitate the tank distribution, provide training and getting the women ready for the planting season.

It took the generosity of the whole community to bring the funds to the table. The project which requires an implementation timeline of three years is being financed through a Rotary International Global Grant and contributions from the District and regional clubs. The total project is costing $ 87,000, with a direct contribution of $40 000 from our club. This contribution has only been made possible through the generosity of all the businesses participating in our Advertising Supplement every year. Thanks to the support of our community, every day we are getting one inch closer to our goals of saving mothers and children, promoting education, fighting diseases, providing clean water and grow local economies.

MENTOR AWARD

TEEN MENTORING With the support of the Rotary Club of Charlottetown Royalty, Big Brothers Big Sisters has been able to dramatically grow our Teen Mentoring program across PEI. In Partnership with Leadership classes in Intermediate and High schools, teens are matched with a child in an Elementary school. Students meet with a child for one hour per week during the school semester or school year. Each week, the mentors have the opportunity to make a difference in the life of younger students while chatting, playing games, making art work, or engaging in physical activity.

Elementary school children who need a little additional attention and support are recommended for the program by a classroom teacher or guidance counselor and are students. The mentors encourage their mentees to become more successful in school by offering attention and encouragement, and by helping them to have positive social and learning experiences.

When we launched the program in 2015, we matched 42 Teens with their mentees. In Year 2, the number more than doubled to 128. With the financial support of the Rotary Club of Charlottetown Royalty we have dramatically increased the number of schools and students involved, and in 2017-2018 there were 359 Teens matched across Prince Edward Island.

The Rotary Club of Charlottetown Royalty’s three year, $90,000 commitment to Teen Mentoring has allowed us to rapidly grow the program. We are currently partnered with eight high schools, four intermediate schools, and seventeen elementary schools.

The financial support provided has covered everything from mentoring training and oversight, mentoring boxes filled with games, art supplies and activities for each school, travel and a dedicated Mentoring Coordinator.

Although support for young children is the focus of Teen Mentoring, we have found that the impact for the teens is remarkable. High school teachers have commented on the very positive curriculum outcomes that their students have demonstrated as leaders by becoming a mentor. Elementary school staff members have also commented on the unique relationships developed during the teen matches and on the positive outcomes they’ve witnessed.

We thank the Rotary Club of Charlottetown Royalty for its support.

Each year, the Rotary Club of Charlottetown Royalty proudly presents the Mentor Award to a candidate who has played an important role in a member’s personal and/or professional life. Typically, the candidate will have held a position of senior responsibility in an advisory or teaching role. As well, throughout their chosen endeavour, they are considered to have demonstrated, to a high degree, the ideals of Rotary. These Mentor Award recipients are to have had a positive influence on the careers or lives of others with whom they have been in contact. In conjunction with the award itself, the recipient receives an Honourary membership to the Rotary Club of Charlottetown Royalty.

The 2018 Mentor Award recipient was Gary Schneider. For over 40 years Gary has been PEI’s foremost protector of its forests, wildlife and the environment in general. Gary moved to PEI in the late 1970’s and soon became part of a four person co-operative in Kings County that carried our a variety of silver culture treatments in Island forests.

In 1991 Gary went to work for MacPhails Woods on an ecological forestry project. Gary saw this project as a way to demonstrate sustainable management and restoration of the Acadian forest.

This project developed to collecting seeds, a plant nursery and the planting of native species. Gary used his position at MacPhail’s Woods to develop environmental education for Islanders young and old. He runs summer children camps, hosts elder hostels visits and leads owl prowls. He runs tours for UPEI and Holland College students, holds workshops on owls, tree and shrub identification, bird identification, native plant landscaping, forest restoration and proper pruning techniques. As well, he has published many information pieces on wildlife, habitat, native shrubs and trees, and has contributed to many other journals and publications on the environment.

The Rotary Club of Charlottetown Royalty is proud to bestow the Mentor Award to Gary for his outstanding contribution to the environment of PEI.