Our Club has continued its local and international projects. Over the past few months up until the end of April, the Club has carried out two projects in our NYC area and in collaboration with local Rotary & Rotaract Clubs, 4 other projects in Bangladesh.
Among the projects in our area, Club Members distributed grocery items, clothing, and subsistence cash to destitute immigrant families in the Ozone Park area. These families are recent immigrants from Bangladesh and have fallen into challenging times with their small children. They have lost their sole earning members during the COVID-19 pandemic and were in great need. Our sister Club the Rotary Club of Westchester joined hands with us by providing bags of groceries. The families expressed their gratitude to both clubs for coming to their assistance, in their time of need.Another project in our area was carried out under a District New Member Incentive Grant, which was topped up by a matching $250 addition from the Club. Member Asma Shams undertook this project, with the help of Yeasin Arafat by using the funds to purchase clothing for the Eid festival for distribution to families with mall children who have no means to celebrate Eid, These clothing purchases were also supplemented by gently used clothing received as donations.
The International projects were carried out in various places in Bangladesh and implemented with the assistance of local Rotary and Rotaract Clubs. One of the projects involved the reopening of a children's school in Rangamati that had been shuttered due to a lack of funds to pay teachers' salaries. Our International Projects Director Syed Mahfuz, while on a visit to Bangladesh, provided the critical base funds of $500 to jumpstart the process of reopening the school. The school is now operating well. Another humanitarian project provided much-needed funds jointly contributed by Club Member Ashfaque Salim and Charter President Bina Ahmad, to bear partial costs of urgent medical care of a long-time teacher of the Rotary Primary School run by the Rotary and Rotaract Club of Islamabad, Chittagong. Following the medical care, the teacher has recovered.
In collaboration with the same Rotary and Rotaract Club of Islamabad, Eid clothing was distributed to 45 orphan children in Banskhali, Chittagong. Our Club provided the funding for the clothing. And finally, under the supervision of our International Projects Director Syed Mahfuz, the 30 orphan girls at the Monu Mia and Sultana Orphanage in Chandpur were provided with Club Name and Rotary logo imprinted bright red T-shirts for the coming Eid celebrations.