The Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel Noon, which meets Wednesdays for lunch at Quail Hollow Country Club (QHCC) off Old Pasco Rd, is doing more than just planning its next humanitarian trip to Troyes, Honduras, in April 2017.
The club is selling plaques to local businesses and individuals interested in supporting our area’s largest Rotary Club — which has sent 10-20 of its nearly 100 club members each year for the past five years to install latrines and water purification systems (in conjunction with the nonprofit organization called Pure Water for the World) in one of the most impoverished areas of one of Central America’s poorest countries,.
WC Rotary Club member Troy Stevenson of Wesley Chapel Nissan (and Acme Outdoor Movies) came up with the idea because he had been part of a similar fund raiser as a member of the WC Lions Club. Club member Trevor Campbell of Cash 4 Gold off S.R. 54 and Eiland Blvd. in eastern Wesley Chapel, picked up the idea and ran with it.
Campbell, who will be making his third trip to Honduras with the club, says Stevenson’s contacts have helped the WC Rotary get 300 plaques for a reasonable price, which Campbell, Stevenson and other club members have been selling {with all checks made payable to the “Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel Noon Foundation,” the club’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit fund} to area businesses by knocking on doors.
“For a hundred dollars, you not only get a plaque, you get to show the public that you support the biggest international humanitarian effort our club makes every year,” Campbell says. “I took three weeks off from work to knock on as many business doors as possible and people really do seem to know about our club’s efforts and want to support us. It’s been pretty gratifying.”
At our press time, Campbell and his fellow WC Rotarians have more than 100 commitments from local businesses at $100 per plaque. “And, we’ve already got $8,000 of that in-house,” Campbell says proudly. “I’m still hoping to sell all 300 plaques this year. The more we raise, the more we can do for these amazingly appreciative people.”
The WC Rotary has helped install hundreds of these life-saving water purification systems in the homes in Honduras and will continue to send — and help — as many people as possible each year, with the continued support of the community.
Current club president, Dr. Pablo Rivera of Core Spine & Rehabilitation, who has missed only one of the five previous trips, says, “No one has ever come back from our Honduras trips unchanged. Help us this year and maybe you’ll end up wanting to join us next year.”
For more information, visit WCRotary.org or attend a meeting any Wed. at noon at QHCC as my guest. First-time attendees are always free.
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