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THE SUNDAY SANTAN SUN NEWS | JULY 31, 2022
For more community news visit SanTanSun.com
Rotary mag features Sun Lakes Rotarians DR. HONORA NORTON Guest Writer
Rotary International’s Rotary Magazine, with over 1.2 worldwide subscribers, recently featured the Rotary Clubs of Gilbert and Sun Lakes as champions of a Navajo Water Project. In 2016, members of the Rotary Club of Gilbert attended a water conference in Phoenix and learned from a representative of DigDeep about its work in the Navajo Nation and how it was bringing water to the people living there. DigDeep delivers a 1,200-gallon cistern, which is then buried outside the home. Technicians plumb a sink, water heater, filter and drain line; where families don’t have electricity hookup, a solar panel is installed with battery array and electrical hookup to provide electricity to power the pump and lights. A tanker truck arrives and fills the cistern with clean water through an above ground valve and the homeowner receives training to operate, maintain and repair the system, as well as a number to call should problems incur. All this enfolds over 24 hours. The Gilbert Rotarians learned that each installation costs $4,500 and worked with Rotary International District 4185 in Mexico to co-sponsor a global grant to support the Navajo Water Project.
Gilbert and its international Partner in Mexico, the Rotary Club of San Andres Cholula, launched the first phase of Navajo Water Project. Backed by a $78,000 RI Global Grant, they provided home water systems for 18 families – the 64 individuals near Thoreau, New Mexico. The magazine said Curt ward, a member and past president of the Rotary Club of Gilbert, was a relative newcomer to the Southwest. “I moved here from Iowa in 2014, and water poverty was a new thing to Sun Lakes Rotarian John McKoy presented overview of me,” he told the magazine, Navajo Water Project featured in Rotary Magazine at a which said that even berecent Rotary Club of Sun Lakes dinner meeting. fore the pandemic, Ward (Courtesy of Sun Lakes Rotary) had begun reading about the water problems in the With the assistance of Jim Bissonett, Navajo Nation and he was shocked to RI Arizona District 5495 Rotary Foundalearn that while the average American tion Chair and RI R-Club Southwest, a uses 80 to 100 gallons of water per day, global grant was initiated. the average Navajo uses only seven. Bissonett said the real story is the “And in some cases,” Ward says, “it’s Navajo Nation is in our backyard. He less than that.” recalled the eagerness of Gary Whiting In 2019, the Sun Lakes Rotary Club of the Rotary Club of Sun Lakes, a past partnered with a sister club in Ontario, RI District Governor, offering to underCanada, and completed the second take a similar project. phase. They provided home water sysIn May 2018, the Rotary Club of tems to 33 families – that’s more than
100 individuals –with the support of a $144,000 global grant. The final tally for the third global grant for the Navajo Nation totaled $395,000; its international partner was the Rotary Club of Merida-Itzaes, Mexico and its host club was the Rotary Club of Four Peaks in Fountain Hills. Because of quarantine restrictions, DigDeep could no longer interact directly with residents of the Navajo Nation. During the first 18 months of the pandemic, DigDeep delivered more than a million gallons of water ad setup temporary water access tanks at almost 1,500 homes. The Rotary Magazine article goes into detail about the Navajo Water Project and life within the Navajo Nation. At a recent dinner meeting, Sun Lakes Rotarian John McKoy provided an overview of the Navajo Water Project and its significant impacts. McKoy, Whiting and Sun Lakes Rotarians Peter Meade and Stan Kaufman participated in the Sun Lakes portion of the Navajo Project’s RI Global Grant. McKoy and Meade presented the project at the 2018 RI International Conference in Toronto, which had over 25,000 attendees. Additionally, at the RCSL meeting, Mr. McKoy shared his childhood experiences as a member of the Oklahoma Chickasaw Nation and later in life his interactions with Sanders, Arizona, Navajo Nation schools.
EV women’s group helps never-kill animal shelter BY LEANN LANDBERG AND SUSAN BARLOW Guest Writers
When you look into the eyes of an animal you have rescued, you cannot help but fall in love. Living this, experiencing this, seeing this, time and time again is how the volunteers at Saving One Life continue to find the motivation to work grueling hours and endure the heartache of realizing how many mistreated animals there are in our community. Saving One Life is a never-kill rescue, not a no-kill shelter. Never kill means that the organization will go to extraordinary measures – beyond what no-kill shelters/rescues will do – to save an animal’s life. Animals are not euthanized unless there are truly no other options and no chance at survival. Saving One Life not only rescues animals and places them in loving homes, but they also help families with beloved pets financially and emotionally during times the families cannot afford their care. The organization often says that once an animal is part of Saving One Life, it is always part of Saving One Life. They will always be there to help when needed. In 2019 alone, the people serving this
One of the chapter’s members, Melissa Clayton, is the volunteer director at Saving One Life. Melissa strongly encourages those interested in helping to consider adoption, fostering, volunteering, or donating. While it is hard work, the payback is significant. No matter how close we are to another person, few human relationships are as free from strife, disagreement, and frustration as the relationship you have with your pet. 100+ Women Who Care Valley of the Sun is a group of like-minded, passionate women who want to connect to one another and to their communities. The ladies are leveraging their resources so their quarterly gifts of $100 per member add up to a significant donation to a local charity. Since the chapter’s inception in 2015, almost $1M has been given to The 100+ Women Who Care Valley of the Sun members in the East Valley raised $5,600 for local charities. This group of women the Saving One Life never-kill shelter. At the presentation were, from left, Leann Landberg, has learned that giving back is better Melissa Clayton, Crissy Haidos, Susan Barlow and Jacqueline Destremps. (Special to STSN) together. To learn more about 100+ Women Who Care Valley of the Sun low even though they welcome animals or to register for their upcoming giving nonprofit saved over 1,400 animals and circle on Aug. 18, visit 100wwcvalleyoftthat are often on death’s door. did so on less than $250,000. hesun.org Earlier this summer, 100+ Women Who They pinch every penny to ensure no Care Valley of the Sun presented Saving animal will perish. They fight for every To learn more about Saving One One Life with a donation of $5,600 on life that enters their door which is why Life, visit savingonelife.org. behalf of their East Valley members. their euthanasia rate is so astonishingly
