International Service
In an effort to increase world peace and understanding among people of different nations and to improve the quality of life, our club provides financial support for all Rotary International programs, including Polio Plus, disaster relief, and safe drinking water/sanitation initiatives. Our club also works collaboratively with our twin clubs in the Dominican Republic and Mongolia to address the needs of the communities they serve.
Dominican Republic
When we began our partnership with the Santiago Rotary Club in 2000, one of the major identified needs was adequate medical and healthcare services. So our club took action. We raised funds and provided volunteers to renovate the Barrio Lindo clinic serving a poor neighborhood of the city. Together we started with installing flush toilets and a dental suite, and we eventually helped to build a new clinic. Our club also supplied an ambulance to provide emergency services for a remote village.
Together with Santiago colleagues we are also addressing clean water and education needs to give families more economic stability. We built a water-testing laboratory and continue to provide scholarships for vocational training of disadvantaged youth which will provide them with jobs and a brighter future for them and their families.
History of Twin Club in Santiago
In February 2000 a four-member team from our club traveled to the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola in search of an opportunity to contribute to Rotary’s avenue of international service. One member of the team spoke French, and I spoke Spanish.
Our initial foray was to Cap-Haitien on the northern part of the island, having been attracted there by the work of Mike DeWine, who was then a United State Senator from Ohio, and by an Ohio State University project with a vocational high school. As we crossed over into Haiti from the Dominican Republic in Dajabon, we had the distinct impression that we were entering into a much less developed setting – traveling on dirt roads and the beach to get to Cap- Haitien. Fortunately, our rented vehicle made it safely.
While in Cap-Haitien, we stayed with the OSU extension educator who was working on the vocational high school project. We attended a local Rotary Club meeting, taking advantage of our team member’s knowledge of the French language. We came away from this meeting somewhat disillusioned, however, since this club’s sole focus seemed to be on financial resources for its favorite projects.
From there we traveled to Santiago de los Caballeros, the second largest city in the Dominican Republic. Located in the Cibao Valley – the Dominican breadbasket – we visited the “Instituto Superior de Agricultura,” the major agricultural university in the nation. We also met with one of the local Rotary clubs through Cesar Cruz, a professor at the Instituto and a long-term Ohio State University associate. There we learned about the club’s ongoing attempts to provide health services to a poor neighborhood of Santiago – Barrio Lindo. We visited its health clinic, which was located in a small, rented house in the “barrio.” We also attended an evening meeting of the Rotary club and found its members to be very cordial, socially committed and dedicated to the well-being of the Santiago region.
This trip resulted in our ongoing relationship with our twin club in Santiago, built upon a mutual trust, respect and commitment. Today – twenty-two years later – our meaningful collaboration provides significant primary health care to over 10,000 residents of Barrio Lindo and its surrounding area and scholarships for its youth to undertake vocational training in high demand in the Santiago region.
Dave Hansen, International Service Committee
Mongolia
In 2017 our club began its partnership with our twin club in Narlag Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Promoting literacy was our first priority, and during the first year of our partnership, we gathered 1,000 early-reader books, which were distributed to approximately 800 children in under-served squatter towns.
With the support of District 6690 leaders in 2018, the club’s “Let’s Read” initiative turned into a statewide effort. Rotary clubs generated an estimated 40,000 books, many of which were shipped or hand-delivered to our club for processing, a massive undertaking.
The Worthington Libraries and the Friends Foundation of Worthington Libraries, which were among the original supporters of the Mongolian project in 2017, increased their support, providing not only books, but also warehousing space and technical support. Club members, their spouses and friends rallied to sort the books to ensure age-appropriateness and repackage them for shipment to Mongolia in late summer. 
In September immediate past president Tim Shear, who spearheaded the project, and Board Member Chuck Gibson arrived in Ulaanbaatar to assist twin club members in distributing the books to needy children in urban and rural communities across Mongolia. During their two-week visit they traveled 2,400 miles by van in seven days. Their trip took them to mountainous regions and desert areas. In the end, approximately 10,000 books made their way into the hands of children and gave a boost to literacy efforts in the country. Plans are underway to collaborate with other education NGOs to continue to provide opportunities for Mongolian youth to improve their studies with a focus on Whether in their local communities or around the world, Rotarians make a difference in the lives of others.
Leaders of our twin club, the Narlag Ulaanbaatar Rotary, and their neighboring club, the Ulaanbaatar Peace Avenue Rotary, visited our club in early 2018 to discuss the children’s picture-book project and further literacy needs in their country. Also part of the delegation was their non-governmental organization partners at the Mongolian Education Alliance. They were hosted by members of the club’s International Service Committee, who also led the delegation in several pertinent meetings and business tours within the area.
New Generations Service Exchange
Our club works with District 6690 leaders and other clubs to host visiting delegations and prepare young adults from our area to travel abroad.
The program is open to those between the ages of 20 and 45 who are in the early stages of their careers. It provides travel grants for a team made up of a Rotarian leader and up to four Rotarian or non-Rotarian members to exchange visits in paired areas of different countries. For three weeks, team members experience the host country’s culture and institutions, observe how their vocations are practiced abroad, experience service programs, develop personal and professional relationships and exchange ideas.
In summer 2019 our club participated with other clubs in District 6690 to host a delegation from Romania. The group included representatives from Romanian clubs and their associates. They discussed their country and its customs with all participating District 6690 clubs, met with public officials and business leaders, got a taste of campus life at Ohio State University and spent time with their host families from both clubs. After they returned home, a five-member team from our area made a reciprocal 21-day visit to Romania.
Contact us to learn about the next NGSE
program opportunity and how to apply.
Barrio Lindo Economic Improvement Project Highlights – 2000 to 2022
- Secured more than $100,000 in services and capital improvements in collaboration with our Twin Club.
- Constructed the Barrio Lindo medical and dental clinic serving 4,000 individuals annually from a community of 10,000 families.
- Obtained five Rotary Foundation Grants. The most recent in 2018 was in the amount of $35,000 for the replacement and upgrading of dental and medical equipment for the Barrio Lindo medical and dental clinic.
- Purchased equipment to establish a water testing laboratory in collaboration with other Rotary districts in the clean water/healthy families initiative.
- Funded 16, four-year scholarships for a vocational education training in collaboration with the Association of Industrialists of the Northeast Region (AIREN), a business development association.
- Planned with AIREN and our Twin Club to create an endowment to fund four-year technical $2,000 scholarships for disadvantaged youth – current endowment level is over $42,000.
ROTARY SERVICE MATTERS
Moisés Marte grew up in Barrio Lindo, a poor neighborhood in Santiago. Moisés completed his four-year program of study at the Instituto Politécnico Industrial de Santiago (IPISA) and is now employed in the private sector in Santiago. He now supports his widowed mother and aspires to additional education.
In IPISA Moisés and other students are not only taught technical skills, but soft skills as well. They achieve the right academic level, and they are also instilled with values that are important in society and to employers, such as honesty, responsibility, discipline and a strong work ethic. One hundred percent of IPISA’s graduating seniors are either immediately employed, continue their education or both.
We have made a difference in the life of Moisés Marte and other economically disadvantaged students. We’re giving them an opportunity to succeed in life.
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THEN JOIN US IN SERVICE.
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making a difference.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
SCHOLARSHIP FUNDRAISER
The unemployment rate in the Dominican Republic for youth able and seeking to work is 30 percent. All it takes to fund one youth for one year of a four-year program is $500. At the end of the program, each youth will have the skills employers indicate they need to fill vacant positions and to compete in the country’s economy.
For each $12,000 raised, we can fund one scholarship per year in perpetuity. All funds will be received by the Dublin-Worthington Rotary Club Foundation and are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.
Become a part of a life-changing event. Help us assist youth in the Dominican Republic go from a life of assured unemployment and poverty to one of assured employment and self-support.
This project is a collaboration of: Dublin-Worthington Rotary Club; Santiago de Los Caballeros Rotary Club; The Association of
Industrialists of the North Region (AIREN); and The Instituto Politecnico Industrial de Santiago (IPISA).