Service Projects

Education/Youth

ROTARY PROMISE SCHOLARSHIPS
We established a permanent endowment that promises tuition-free enrollment at Jefferson Community & Technical College toward an Associate Degree or Certificate to qualifying graduates from two high schools in the Jefferson County Public School system. The high schools are among those with the lowest college attendance rates and a majority of low income families. Students must meet grade, attendance, and disciplinary criteria. The scholarship is designed to motivate students to be academically successful in high school and improve the college-going rate.

ROTARY HONORS SCHOLARS MENTORS
Rotarian volunteers lead monthly one-hour sessions with students at Western and Iroquois High Schools and Western Early College.

ROTARY YOUTH LEADERSHIP ACADEMY
We provide scholarships for students to attend a three-day leadership program.

UNSUNG HEROES
Each year, we are joined by other local Rotary clubs to honor one senior from each public, private, and Catholic high school for their school and community volunteer work. Each student who is recommended by their school counselor receives a cash gift and a certificate recognizing their “Service Above Self” achievements.

THEODORE BUERCK SCHOLARSHIP
Each year, we award two Unsung Heroes students a $2,000 renewable scholarship to a local four-year college that is matched by most of the institutions.

ROTARY LEADERSHIP FELLOWS PROGRAM
We provide selected graduates of the University of Louisville’s MBA program with a three-year leadership development program that enables them to broaden their business and professional relationships, improve their career potential, and contribute to the community. Each student receives a $5,000 scholarship. The program is a partnership between the Rotary Club, the University of Louisville and the family of deceased Rotarian Baylor Landrum, Jr.

IMAGINATION LIBRARY
We are a financial sponsor of this program sponsored by the Dollywood Foundation that mails an age-appropriate book each month to a pre-school child to encourage a love of reading and help prepare them for school. The program targets families in inner city zip codes.

HIGH SCHOOL SPEECH CONTEST
The Rotary Speech Contest engages students from high schools in the western half of Kentucky in a competition to present their personal insight and interpretation of Rotary’s annual themes related to “Service Above Self”. Students from schools in Rotary’s District 6710 are sponsored by their local Rotary Club and compete for cash prizes.

Community

LIFE CHANGE
This pilot program of Exercise, Recovery Adherence and Health Outcomes is for homeless men from the Louisville Rescue Mission. The goal is to improve their health, fitness, and health-related quality of life. It is a partnership with Bellarmine University, the Louisville Rescue Mission, and the YMCA.

REPAIR AFFAIR
We field a team of volunteers to support the New Directions Housing Corporation’s “Repair Affair” program which mobilizes resources and volunteers to make repairs on homes owned by low income homeowners who are elderly or disabled. The focus is on home safety, security, weatherizing, and neighborhood stability.

BOYS AND GIRLS HAVEN
A team of Rotarians will fund, renovate and furnish the recreation room at one of the cottages as part of a “Campus Revitalization” project supported by other businesses and organizations at this home for abandoned, abused and neglected young people.

SALVATION ARMY BELL RINGING
Each year, we provide bell-ringers to encourage contributions to the Salvation Army’s Christmas drive.

HONOR FLIGHT OF THE BLUEGRASS
We will sponsor members of our club who are World War II veterans on flights to Washington D.C. to visit the war memorials and reflect on the nation’s gratitude for their service.

International

POLIO PLUS
We contribute annually to Rotary International’s 32-year long campaign to eradicate polio in the world. The campaign is currently 99.9% successful. Rotary is in partnership with the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and governments of the world.

We partner with other Rotary Clubs in the U.S. or abroad to support the following projects:

BRAZIL
Sao Bernardo de Campo, Santo Andre and Sao Caetano do Sul: The local Rotary Club, in partnership with a hospital, established a Breast Milk Bank to increase rates of breast-feeding to improve the health and survival rates of babies. We will help purchase equipment to analyze the protein and carbohydrate content of milk to enhance the safety in feeding pre-term infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

COLUMBIA
Provide clean water, working septic systems, kitchen gardens and instruction on recycling and environmental protection in eight isolated schools in a mountainous area of Colombia until recently troubled by domestic violence.

EL SALVADOR
Armenia: Construct washable bathrooms for a rural school with 350 students to promote a safe, healthy and high-quality learning environment through the access to decent health services and basic hygiene education.

GHANA
Techiman: Provide 24 new wells, repair 16 wells, provide 10 new small town water systems, implement 150 micro-flush toilets with hygiene training.
Wa: Provide communities with clean water with three new wells, two repaired wells, thirteen micro-flush toilets and hygiene training.

GUATEMALA
Purchase start-up materials for 15 micro-business women. Mayan Power andLight (MPL) is a social venture that teaches young Mayan women about electricity, circuits and solar power, and incubates woman-owned solar businesses selling solar kits, LED lights and water filters.

INDIA
Provide support for a preschool project, Koshish, in a lower-class neighborhood keeping children off the streets.

Building check dams to harvest rainwater for use during the dry season. This will support two additional crops for local farmers each year.

KENYA
Build water purification systems, located at community schools, for two villages, on the shores of Lake Victoria and provide a permanent position for a Community Health Promoter.

Provide a water system for the village of Semi Kaima, Kenya. Our goal is to provide a sustainable, inexpensive source of clean water using a system that is controlled by the local community. The system will provide clean water for a community of about 3,500.

Provide a deep well with a pump, an 50,000-liter overhead water tank, water kiosk, laundry wash house with concrete tubs as well as a concrete trough for watering livestock in Kuna Village Kenya.