Critically needed clean water for Mexican areas an RCF goal
Rotary Club of Farragut is taking “heart” and participating in a project to help bring fresh water to nine schools in Mexico by obtaining district grants to install irrigation systems.
The project is part of Heart to Heart, a cooperative effort between U.S. Rotary Clubs and Rotary Clubs in Mexico, Rotary District 6780 Gov. Ron Appuhn explained during an RCF virtual meeting Wednesday, Feb. 16.
“All the Rotary Clubs in Knox (County) are participating in these two projects,” said Becky Duncan, RCFs’ chair of the international committee and co-chair of the grants committee with Mary Ann Imgram. Within the six clubs involved, “we’re doing two different projects, so (the district) asked our club to sponsor one of the projects, and the club in Bearden is sponsoring the other.
“Then all the other Rotary Clubs in Knoxville are contributing to them,” she added. “With Rotary being who we are, it’s for service for others, and one of the focuses of Rotary International is clean water.
“We do a lot of different things within Rotary — a lot of different projects in Rotary — but providing clean water to everybody is a real priority. So, this is an opportunity in Mexico where we’re doing this. We’ve got these different schools, but they don’t have clean water.”
In her grant application, Duncan stated, “We are partnering with the Pachuca Sur Rotary Club in Mexico, who will oversee the installation of the filters and training and education of the users.
In addition to RCF, the other five clubs involved are the Rotary Clubs of Bearden, Knoxville, Knoxville Breakfast Club, Knoxville Volunteer and North Knoxville.”
Duncan explained the six Rotary Clubs in Knox County will contribute $4,500 for the project, which would be matched by a Rotary District 6780 grant for a total of $9,000. Additionally, she said the Pachuca Sur Rotary Club in Mexico and other Mexico entities would provide an additional $3,000 to support the project to install irrigation systems.
“San Agustin Tlaxiaca is a rural, semi-urban municipality near the city of Pachuca, Hidalgo, where there is a high degree of marginalization and poverty,” Duncan stated in the application. “Many of the people in the communities lag both socially and educationally; suffer from lack of economic development, industry and commerce and migration; and are marginalized due to lack of job opportunities. ... Presently, only two of the 11 schools in the town have filtered drinking water for students and staff.”
Impacted are 1,408 children plus 114 school staff and their families, Duncan noted.
“In order to hydrate, the people in the community, the children in the schools, drink a lot of sugary drinks and juices, and they have high rates of diabetes, hypertension and gastrointestinal disorders.”
“The water filtration systems will be installed in the cafeterias run by the Municipal DIF in the nine schools, which do not currently have filtered water,” she added. .
“The goal of the project is to increase the quality of life and health for the school children, school personnel and families in the town of San Agustin Tlaxiaca, Hidalgo, who have the services of school cafeterias run by the Municipal DIF (National System for Integral Family Development).”
Along with providing clean water, she said a series of classes on nutrition and hygiene will be offered for the area children and families.
