To foster local economic and community growth and development, the United Nations’ newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals encourage us to focus on ending poverty, promoting gender equality, creating decent work and economic growth for all, and creating sustainable cities and communities. Here are just a few examples of how Rotary members help to grow local economies and communities:
– Ending poverty: Rotary First Harvest, a program of District 5030 (Washington, USA), works to relieve hunger by cooperating with growers and processors to connect farmers, truckers, food banks, and volunteers. Each year, Rotary First Harvest gathers millions of pounds of fresh, nourishing produce that would otherwise be wasted and delivers it to local food banks and food distribution programs serving families in need.
– Fostering entrepreneurship: Through a global grant, the Rotary Club of Real de Minas-Tegucigalpa in Honduras, the Rotary Club of Poway-Scripps in California, USA, and several other clubs from District 5340 (California) work with the Adelante Foundation to provide microcredit loans to help low-income women become self-sufficient business owners. Through this collaboration, Rotarians have provided business training and 600 loans to women entrepreneurs in Honduras.
– Empowering women: Former Ambassadorial Scholar Hannah Warren founded Jhoole, which invests in women weavers in Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh, India, to improve their wages and working conditions and create a better future for them, their families, and their community.
Throughout October, we’re celebrating our progress and commitment to helping grow local economies and communities. Read the Rotary Service blog for tips, resources, and inspirational success stories to help plan club and district projects focused on economic and community development.
This information was extracted from the October newsletter available on My Rotary.
For more information, please visit rotary.org