The Cuba Solar Project
Prior Lake Rotary helped fund a solar panel project at a farm and restaurant in Cuba. Rachel Garcia is the owner and visionary of Finca Agroecologica el Paraiso, in Viñales. In January of this year, Rotarians installed a new solar system strong enough to run the water pumps for irrigation, refrigeration in the restaurant and continuous lights which prevent thefts at night. She remarks of having no worries now and is eternally grateful to the dozens of Rotarians who contributed to provide funding.
The Rotarians who visited in early April discovered the project still had about $1,000 of debt. The Club’s International Service Committee recently approved the $1,000 to pay off this remaining dept.
Rotary In the Community
Rotary Ramblings
Prior Lake Rotary Club Continues to Serve the Community
By Paul Perez
Prior Lake Rotary Club knows how to make a difference by serving the community, and the Club, through its Anti-Trafficking Team, is well into a District Grant project that has been planned for over a year. The idea came through their ongoing collaborative partnership with The Link/Passageways. The Club has financially supported them since 2017. In that time, the financial contribution is well over $24,000.
The project was to help with renovations of 2 apartments at The Link/Passageways. New carpet, flooring, plumbing upgrades and essential repairs to create comfortable trauma-informed living spaces. Completion and reopening were planned for late March at the time of this article. The beneficiaries will be sex-trafficked youth ages 17-24 who have already completed the emergency shelter and are now looking for employment and establishing a rent history. The apartments can be inhabited for up to 2 years.
A District Grant project is through The Rotary Foundation, the fundraising arm of Rotary International. These are competitive grants where other Clubs in Rotary District 5960 can seek funding for their projects. Prior Lake Rotarian Joan Lompart, who also wrote the grant stated, “A comfortable clean space will help with continued recovery from this heinous crime against youth. The amount of trauma that is incurred by survivors is monumental. A clean space will help for continuing mental health services and looking for jobs.”
(Below – Prior Lake Rotarian Deb Coan Severson, shown here, and her husband Jim, both worked multiple shifts during the opening of The Links/Passageways)
