About Jefferson Ruritan

Committees

Report of the Citizenship and Patriotism Committee

Jefferson Ruritan Club

Chair:  John Lovell 

Project:  Africa Outreach Project

Notes:
Summary reports with pictures are available at www.AbleAndWilling.org
Letter of appreciation from MYRT School staff, addressed to Jim Carpenter and Daniel Ottemoeller.

Purpose:  to exchange friendship and information between the people of Jefferson and the village of Tshamalale, Democratic Republic of Congo and to provide an example of community service.

Activities:

Note: Jim Carpenter, a member of the Jefferson Ruritan Club and the Able And Willing Foundation, will be traveling to the Congo to assist in activities 3 - 6.  See interviews on local cable, channel 10 at 6:40 p.m., 8:40 p.m., 10:40 p.m. Thursday, July 11 through Monday, July 15 and all day Saturday and Sunday.

1. Write a letter of introduction from the members of the Jefferson Ruritan Club to the people of Tshamalale explaining how the club serves the community.
2. Contribute Jefferson Ruritan caps and T-shirts as tokens of friendship.
3. Conduct a seminar and workshop in Tshamalale on community service as exemplified by Ruritan clubs and other volunteer organizations in Jefferson.
4. Help in the construction of a classroom, library, and workshop in the village.
5. Help organize community service work in Tshamalale to support the school, scholarships for orphans, and improve life in the community.
6. Present donated laptops to the village school, hook up laptops to existing solar panels, and provide basic instruction to the teachers.
7. Present a report on the project to Ruritan members and other local organizations

Progress: 

The project was approved by the committee. The letter of introduction has been written and approved by the board and full membership.  The board and membership approved $200 to Able And Willing for scholarships for orphans in Tshamalale.

Jim Carpenter left on July 23 and returned on August 10.  The letter of friendship was translated to French and read to the MYRT school staff and their local supporters.  A letter from the school staff was read and will a translation will be posted. 

The Springfest T-shirts had multiple uses, serving as packing for computers and other equipment, "strategic gifts" in tight situations, uniforms for workers and workshop participants, and tokens of friendship to local students and community supporters.  The Ruritan caps were distributed to workshop participants along with certificates of completion.

Hundreds of pictures were displayed on the laptop computers as part of the Community Service Workshop.  The pictures were of the Ruritan butchering, Jefferson Carnival, Jefferson Springfest, Ruritan meetings, the Jefferson Volunteer Fire Department, the Lutheran's gleaning project, and other local activities.  The butchering was the overall favorite.    Workshop participants wondered at how so many people in the US (more than half) could afford to work for no pay.  The Boy Scouts were cited as a local example of volunteer service.  Participants jointly developed an inventory of resources in their community that could be used to support community service.  A list of possible projects was then developed based on the resource list.  The laser printer and six computers, resources brought by the Able and Willing team, were the focus of many innovative projects.

The Computer Workshop was very successful.  Participants (school staff and key supporters) were well motivated and learned amazingly fast.  Mr. Kabunda Katunga, the district Boy Scout leader who had some experience with computers, was very helpful in translating the instructions to French and local Swahili dialects.  Able and Willing will complete the new school building by October 1 and it will house the computer lab which will be powered by a diesel-powered generator.  (Solar panels were not used.)

A half hour PowerPoint slide presentation was made at the August meeting.  A presentation will be made at the October Ruritan Zone Meeting.  Presentations will be offered to other Ruritan Clubs (contact Jim Carpenter at CarpenterJ@adelphia.net )

Club Expenditures: 

• Man-hours:  200
• Dollars:  $200  (proposal approved by the board on July 9, 2002; approved by the membership in July's meeting.)

Benefits to Community: 

 The citizens of Jefferson gain an increased appreciation of the role of voluntary service in our community, how our basic democratic values contribute to the quality of our lives, and how the Ruritan principles and methods can be applied to improve the quality of life in all communities, regardless of their social, economic, political, and geographic environments. 

 This project also satisfies the Ruritan objective "to encourage and foster the ideal of service as the basis of all worthy enterprises by helping all members of the club and other persons in the community to understand that genuine happiness comes from doing things for others."