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Community Service Projects
The Ajijic Rotary Club is involved in several community project:
Year July 1, 2023 to June 31, 2024 
Completed Project and Fundraisers:
 
#1 Provided 10 computers to Saul Rodiles Elemenatary School. 80,000 Pesos
#2 Provided training in Heartmath Techniques to Project: Suicide Prevention among Tribal Youth inPalghar District, Maharashtra, India. 54,000 Pesos
#3 Renal Transplant for single individual 53,200 Pesos
#4 Donations to Morella Music Program 9,000 Pesos
#5 Chapala Prep scholarships 19,145 Pesos
 
Year July 1, 2024 to June 31, 2025
Current Projects:
#1 “Menstrual Health Education and Menstrual Pads Kits,” RCOA’S approved Global
Grant to conduct 37 workshops for 740 girls in Lake Chapala area, Jalisco utilizing the
Ninas Sabias model of providing menstrual education. The goal is to increase the
awareness of young women of their God given intimate biology thus reducing shame
and building self-confidence. With the reduction of shame, the girls will feel
more inspired and encouraged to attend school and complete their education.
The Menstrual pads kits are reusable for two to four years and are created
locally giving employment to a local women’s workshop. The classes will be taught to
pre-puberty girls in 13 local government schools. Rotary Ajijic will provide professional
mentoring to the six Ninas Sabias instructors. Glenwood Springs Sunset Rotary Club
in Colorado is the International Partner.
 
#2 Operation Feed Fundraising for Refrigeration System. Operation Feed has been
offering food bags to impoverished families since 1989. Currently they are
distributing bags or dispensas to 155 families benefitting over 550 people.
Food banks in  Guadalajara are making more fresh food available but due to
lack of refrigeration, much of the fruits, vegetables and eggs are perishing 
before they are distributed. RCOA has begun a fundraising effort to secure the
$13,000 USD or 240,000 pesos needed to install an industrial strength
refrigeration system.
 
#3 RCOA will distribute scholarships to several financially needy yet deserving
students that the administration of Chapala Prepatoria identifies.
 
#4 Navajo Nation Literacy Global Grant. Glenwood Springs Sunset Rotary Club in
Colorado is the Host Partner, and RCOA is the designated International Partner.
The Navajo Nation is the largest Indian Reservation in the United States. It extends
over parts of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico and is roughly the size of West Virginia.
Much of the reservation lacks running water, electricity, and reliable
internet access. Literacy resources are scarce - there are no bookstores,
many schools lack libraries, the only two small public libraries are located in Window
Rock,  in the far east side of the reservation, and Tuba City, in the far west. Chinle, the
site of this project, is in the center of the reservation, over 100 miles from either of
the two libraries. Need: Nearly 50% of Navajo families have no running water, no
electricity, no internet, no libraries.
This means that children have limited access to educational materials -
no books, no place to borrow or buy books without driving over 100 miles.
Students begin preschool and kindergarten already significantly behind in basic
literacy skills - it's hard to learn to read when there is almost nothing to read! 
Recent test scores indicate that 67% of 3rd graders and 89% of high school
students are significantly deficient in reading proficiency. These test scores are
important predictors of future academic success and student drop-out rates.
Literacy research again and again has shown that how well a child is
doing in 3rd grade is the best indicator of how well that child will do in life.
Chinle Planting Hope (CPH) is an indigenous nonprofit organization created to
overcome some of these problems. Over the past several years, CPH board
members and volunteers have obtained a variety of grants and have created
a lending library/bookmobile, a thrift store, a gardening center and a bicycle
lending/repair shop. Last year their lending library /bookmobile became a reality
and makes regular visits to area schools that lack libraries as well
as becoming part of community events so Navajo of all ages have regular 
access to books and magazines. Their newest project is the creation of the
The Imagination Station Learning Center, an all-weather indoor facility that will
be a gathering place; where families and children will have access not only to books,
but also computers, STEAM (Science, Technology, Environment, Art, and Math)
hands-on activities in areas called Maker-Space. This will also be a place for both
individual and group learning experiences and special presentations with guidance
from adults. It will be a safe and welcoming place for children to explore, play, and
learn when it is too hot during the summer  (or a sandstorm is blowing through) or too
cold during the winter, for outside activities. This global grant will supply materials for
equipping the permanent structure that will house all these components: learning and
exploration centers, classes, STEAM activities, and more for toddlers through teens.
A reading area and library will be an anchor for the already successful bookmobile.
There will be a café for nutrition and cooking classes, as well as a place for parents 
and  community  members to relax, talk, share ideas, and plan projects.
 
#5 Heart to Heart Renal Transplant  Project Researchers from the University of
Guadalajara's Health Sciences Center highlight that Mexico ranks first globally in
End Stage Kidney Disease, with a hotspot in Poncitlán near Lake Chapala.
Chronic Kidney Disease is claiming lives of individuals aged
24 to 35, many of whom are primary family providers. President Santiago
Hernandez and Chapala Sunrise Rotary Club Past- President Karl Dyer were
contacted by Enrique Garcia as a representative of  Heart 2 Heart, a coalition of
Rotary Districts and Clubs in the U.S., for partnership in a kidney transplant initiative.
With significant funding and support from Rotary International, the project was 
approved. This grant enables up to 20 individuals to receive life-saving kidney 
transplants. The first transplant under this grant was completed July 2024, with
both patient and donor recovering in ICU. The Lila K
Foundation, an expert in kidney transplants, plays a crucial role in identifying
candidates and ensuring successful outcomes. The surgeries are performed at
Hospital Civil Viejo in Guadalajara. Originally the Rotary Club of Ajijic sought to
have the transplants done at Hospital Country 2000. Past RI president John Germ
was a speaker as our Rotary Club initiated the program in the state of Jalisco. 
OUTCOME -
The second translantee Bibiana Ochoa will be scheduled in the near future once
her preliminary preoperative diagnostics are completed. The RCOA is the club that
sponsors this transplantee.  IMPACT - We seek to have a local impact and help the
sole income provider of the family have access to medical care that would otherwise
be too expensive  for her even if it is through the public healthcare system. 
 
#6. Salvati offers free breast cancer screening in Ajijic/Chapala area.
 
If you have questions about any of these projects, feel free to contact the Service Projects Committee Chair: Jeanette Monosoff