Twenty-five Rotary Clubs in northern CT and Western MA (Rotary District 7890), including Enfield, have joined together to fund a project that will bring fresh drinking water, sanitation facilities and hygiene training to three needy communities in Guatemala. Pictured below are Elin Lawrence, Enfield Rotarian Milt Rosenberg, Rotary District 7890 Governor Christine Burns and Manchester Rotarian and Project Chairman Rick Lawrence. 
Twenty-five Rotary Clubs in northern CT and Western MA (Rotary District 7890) have joined together to fund a project that will bring fresh drinking water, sanitation facilities and hygiene training to three needy communities in Guatemala. Including matching funds from The Rotary Foundation and those contributed to ALDEA, the Cooperating Partner NGO, a total of $154,174 was raised. Adding this amount to the funds raised during the previous fourteen years brings the sixteen-year total to $1,523,063.
Contributing clubs from Connecticut were Avon-Canton, Bristol, East Hartford, Enfield, Farmington, Hartford, Kensington-Berlin, Manchester, Newington, Rockville, Salisbury, Southington, South Windsor, Suffield, Thomaston, Torrington-Winsted, Watertown, Wethersfield-Rocky Hill, and Willimantic along with Massachusetts’ clubs in East Longmeadow, Holyoke, Northampton, Pittsfield, West Springfield, and Wilbraham/Hampden.
Also contributing funds were three Rotary clubs from neighboring Massachusetts/Rhode Island District 7950 – Chariho, Wakefield and Westerly, RI; five in southeast Florida’s District 6990 - Ft. Lauderdale North Beach, Hallandale Beach/Aventura, Hollywood, Pompano Beach and Miami Shores; two from District 6930 – Boca Raton and The Northern Palm Beaches, FL; three from District 5030 in Washington – Lake Forest Park, Edmonds Daybreakers and University District of Seattle; one from District 7980 – Niantic, CT; one from District 7410 – Hazleton, PA; one from District 7430 – Bethlehem, PA; one from District 7730 – South Brunswick Islands, NC; and the Rotary Club of La Antigua, Guatemala in District 4250.
These funds will pay for the materials needed to complete gravity fed water system with gray water filters, vented pit latrines and improved vented stoves for the 210 families (1,281 people) who live in the rural community of Tonajuyu, Guatemala. All labor is provided by the men and women in each village. These projects continue the goal of Rotary International to have every Rotary Club support an international water and sanitation project every year. By working together, pooling their resources, and obtaining Global Grants with matching funds from The Rotary Foundation, the Rotarians have been successful in adding size and strength to their chosen projects.
District 7890 Water Committee Chair and Manchester Rotarian Rick Lawrence again spearheaded the drive to raise the necessary funds by making presentations about the project to the Rotary clubs throughout northern CT, western MA, and central RI as well as several clubs in southeastern FL. In March 2024 he and his wife, Elin, will travel to Guatemala to visit the village funded through this Global Grant. As done for the past 14 years, he will document photographically the improvements and expressions of gratitude displayed by the members of the village, utilizing these during his presentations and showing the Rotarians how important their past contributions were to these indigenous Mayans.
The project’s implementation will be coordinated through the host partner, the Rotary Club of La Antigua, Guatemala, and its cooperating partner, ALDEA (formerly Behrhorst Partners for Development), a non-profit organization with ties to over 90 communities in Guatemala. ALDEA helps train community-chosen people as a health promoter, a village dispensary manager and someone to oversee use of medical emergency transportation funds. ALDEA also provides extensive training in sanitation, personal hygiene, maintenance of the water system components, micro loans, nutrition, including help in school and home vegetable gardens, as well as educational talks about family planning and birth spacing. In Guatemala over 50% of children suffer from chronic malnutrition.
This Rotary project will help address some of the basic causes of poor health in this area and will help the villagers address basic sanitation – water systems, gray-water filters and latrines – in order to help prevent the constant illnesses that afflict the population, particularly children.