Education - The education committee continued Columbia Center Rotary's ongoing commitment to provide scholarships to college bound seniors at Tri-Tech and Southridge High School. We also continued our participation in the Rotary Youth Leadership Academy. We worked with CBC's Trio programs that target low income students who are or would be first generation college students. Highlights included a dinner meeting with high school students and a lunch meeting with current CBC students to discuss the importance and value of college education. We provided four scholarships to students in the program. We worked with WSU Tri Cities to provide scholarship assistance to students enrolled in WSU Tri Cities next year. We were also a major sponsor for the Lit Fest writing competition and began work with Junior Achievement to help expand their program to middle schools.
Community Service - Some highlights of our community projects include: La Clinica automobile child safety seats; Children's Developmental Center, autism program; Children's Developmental Center, tools for speech therapy; Jubilee Youth Ranch; an apple gleaning project for 2nd Harvest; Coats for Kids; Mid Columbia "Reading & Ready" supplies; Christ the King 6th graders Suitcase Program; Boys & Girls Club, Music & Arts Center; Early Head Start, home visit supplies; Grace Clinic; Finley Community Center; Senior Christmas Baskets for the Aging and Long Term Care; Meals on Wheels, gas cards for delivery volunteers; Boy Scouts of America Scoutreach program for Spanish language program training and materials; Cooper's Corner; Keewaydin Plaza Holiday Event; Royal Family Kids Camp; the Benton-Franklin Volunteer Center; Domestic Violence Services, painting materials; The First Tee Columbia Basin; Tri-Tech Skill Center, play-ground equipment; Highlands Middle School, baseball; Benton Franklin Substance Abuse Coalition; 2nd Harvest Food Bank to acquire a fork lift; Pasco Young Life; Regional Chamber of Commerce, 4th of July at Columbia Park to sponsor the children's play area; and Beads Behind Bars/Girl Power Through the Allied Arts Association.
International Service - Our club participated in the Rotary Youth Exchange program with one exchange student traveling from Richland to Tepic, Mexico, and hosting a student from Tepic, Mexico. We visited and were visited by the Tepic and Tepic Paradise clubs, and were the lead club for the District 9100 Group Study Exchange Team from Ghana and Sierra Leone and the District 3190 Group Friendship Exchange Team from Bangalore, India. We completed projects the SIGN in Nepal and a water project in Bolivia. We worked with the clubs in Tepic to provide school equipment for Zapote de Pichacos, a "Puppets of Light" program, provided hearing aids, and a chemotherapy ward. We provided two for Comfort Stations for female students in Bangalore India and a Aphaeresis machine in North Thane, India and Usingen, Germany.
We completed grant projects: to provide a Secondary school Classroom in Zapote de Pichacos, Mexico; a medical support in Belize; and to provide malaria nets for two villages in Papua , New Guinea.
Special Projects - The Special Projects committee focused on beautification and amenities for our communities Lewis & Clark Heritage Trail. Park benches were installed along a portion of the Sacagawea Trail on Clover Island and along the Heritage Trail in Richland. By far the committee's premier project for this Rotary year was planning, costing, and hiring a sculptor and design approval for a life-size bronze statute of Sacagawea that was permanently placed in Richland's Wye Park.
Polio Plus - Our club supported Rotary's world-wide effort to eradicate polio from the planer and club and its members contributed over $34,000 to help Rotary International match the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's $100 million contribution to Rotary International for the eradication effort.
