2016-11-01 Interact’s Statewide Crutches 4 Africa Project

Interact’s Statewide Crutches 4 Africa Project

By PDG Art Harrington - Youth Services Chair 5490

“We need the help of every Interact and Rotary Club in Arizona to reach our goal,” says Bridget MacDonald, District Governor of Interact District 5490.

One thing you learn, when working with Interactors, is that they “Think Big,” and they believe in the power of the Family of Rotary to be able to accomplish incredible things to meet needs.

Consequently, our Interact District Council is challenging us this year to:

Collect enough crutches, canes, walkers, wheelchairs and other mobility devices to fill a 40’ shipping container they plan to ship to their international partners in Gilgil, Kenya, to distribute to those crippled by polio, accidents and birth defects in the Rift Valley of Kenya.
Select and send 4 of our top Arizona Interactors to Kenya in June to be hosted by the Interact Club of Trinity Mission School in Gilgil, Kenya, where they will be helping with the distribution of the devices we are able to collect
Raise a total of $18,500 to
- Pay the shipping cost to send the 40’ container to Kenya ($10,000)
- Pay the airfare to help send the four selected Arizona Interactors to Kenya ($6,000)
- Pay $2,500 toward the cost of a solar system for the Trinity Mission School (an orphanage) that will enable the students to read and study after dark

As Bridget explains in a video she has produced, with the help of David Talbot, the Colorado Rotarian polio-survivor who began Crutches 4 Africa as an international service project of his Rotary club, Interact District 5490 ran a pilot program last year to make sure the Interact Crutches 4 Africa Project, already being used by Colorado Interact clubs, would work in Arizona. If the test worked, they planned to expand the project statewide to all three districts this year.

Bridget says, “We learned a lot during our first year working the project, and we became convinced that this would be the kind of hands-on service project that would help energize every Interact and Rotary club in Arizona that would become involved with it — helping to give the gift of mobility to thousands of disabled people in Kenya.”

Storage for the approximately 3,500 mobility devices it will take to fill that 40’ container was a major problem the Interact leadership addressed last year. How did they solve it? They recruited a corporate partner for their project. American Furniture Warehouse agreed to allow their two AFW Super-Center Stores in Glendale and Gilbert to be used as drop-off locations. They also offered to store the devices in their central warehouse until they are trucked up to Mingus Union High School in Cottonwood on February 25^th for the Interact District Conference, where they will be sorted and wrapped for shipping. Last year, AFW even sent a truck down through the Colorado River communities to pick up the mobility devices the Interactors and Rotarians had collected in that part of the state.

And that Interact District Conference? Think bigger than our Rotary District Conferences. Last year the Interactors had 376 attending their conference, held at Central High in Phoenix; and this year they are planning for at least 500. Expect it to happen. These Interactors Think Big, and they work hard to make it happen.

Will your Interact club and Rotary club help? We suggest you download and have them listen to Bridget’s 6-minute video, https://youtu.be/iWMAxjdUaD4.

Inspire and energize your club this year by participating in this exciting Interact-led international service project. It is ideal for any size club. For more information and promotional materials, go to the Interact website, www.azinteract.com.