HAITI FUNDRAISING DINNER A SUCCESS !!!!
On June 1st, 275 people gathered at the Hilton Garden Inn to support the Rotary Club of Saskatoon Nutana's intiative to reconstruct the Greffin School in Port Au Prince, Haiti that was demolished during the devastating earthquake that struck the island in January 2010. Our special guest speaker was Senator Pamela Wallin who shared her experiences as a journalist, a public servant and growing up in Saskatchewan. Ian Van Norman, a former member of Nutana Rotary and our partner on this project thru his own charitable foundation gave a picture presentation on the reconstruction of the school and their future plans. Peter Eyvindson, another former club member entertained us with an inspriring childrens' story.
Almost $ 30,000.00 was raised to support our total committment of 100k and we would like to thank all those that attended and those that made in-kind financial contributions.
Senator Wallin, with Rotarians Dorothy, Bill & Boris
To mark its 50th anniversary in 2011, the Rotary Club of Saskatoon Nutana and its Charitable Fund committed to fund the reconstruction of Greffin School in the amount of $100,000 over five years. The Van Norman Charitable Foundation has agreed to match Rotary’s contribution by funding the costs of schoolchildren who attend the “Rotary” school. Governments publicly fund only about ten percent of elementary schools in Haiti.
The now reconstructed school is located on the outskirts of Port au Prince and consists of four classrooms, a kitchen, cafeteria and office areas. The school reconstruction was carried out by Free Methodist Church volunteers from Canada and the United States, working with local construction workers. Reconstruction started in the fall of 2010 and was completed in the spring of 2011. Teaching staff at the school is recruited and monitored by Compassion Canada. The school is open to all children and there are no restrictions on school attendance. The original school had approx. 60 students enrolled and the new school is able to have over 400 students attend.