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The Industrial Kitchen project we are voluntarily developing in an association between the local brazilian Rotary Club (Alvorada e Londrina SUL - D4710) and Rotary Club of Armidale Central, Australia (D9650), is already in the local media in the two countries.
How did the project start?
After the flood that devastated the APS Down School (Brazil) in October 2011, we contacted the Rotary Club of Armidale Central, Australia (where I participated in the Youth Exchange Program in 1993) and presented the difficulties the Down School was going through.
Rotary Club of Armidale Central took the initiative to develop an international project to help the school. In a conversation with the Down School Association´s president, Elena Veronesi, the idea of making a Industrial Kitchen emerged. The main idea was to install and fit the kitchen to accommodate Down Students, which could become a form of income to the school and the students.
Mrs Veronesi´s idea of an industrial kitchen, and Armidale Central´s initiative, togeether with the participation of two Londrina Rotary Clubs has now become a partnership with the Rotary Foundation.
This week was published an article about the project in the leading journal of Armidale, The Armidale Express.
Folha de Londrina, the main newspaper from Londrina city (Brazil), also documented the Solidarity Lunch, promoted by the local Rotary Club, to contibute to the Down School Kitchen project.
BRASIL
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| Folha de Londrina Newspaper - 07 of June 2012 " Elena Veronesi, Luciana Belomo, Claudia Hintz, the event coordinator Lazara Caramori, Rotary Club of Alvorada´s president and Mrs Kimiko Yohii, during the Solidarity Lunch promoted by the rotarians, with the University Unifil collaboration, at the Graciosa Club. " |
The Armidale Express
Australia
04 Jun, 2012 04:00 AM
AN EXCHANGE student’s visit to Armidale almost two decades ago has led to a new project for Armidale Central Rotary Club involving a Down Syndrome school in Brazil.When Rotary members Ian and Helen Garske travelled to Brazil in October last year, they reunited with Luciana Belomo Yamaguchi, who stayed with their family for three months during her Rotary Youth Exchange in 1993.
During their visit, Ms Belomo Yamaguchi showed the Garskes the APS Down school where she volunteers in the city of Londrina.
The school aims to educate people with Down Syndrome aged from two to 60 and also provides a creche for preschool-aged children and some physiotherapy services.
Mr Garske said the Rotary club was happy to put money towards a well-deserving project, contributing almost $5000 in a matching grant, with funding also contributed by two Rotary clubs in Brazil and the worldwide Rotary organisation to make up a total of $13,000.
“It’s great for the club to have remote contact with an exchange student who spent time in Armidale,” he said.
“They were very quick to say, ‘let’s put in some money’.”
The funding will go towards the installation of an industrial kitchen at the school, with the goal to teach students basic cooking skills to help them be self-
sufficient and to give them a way of fundraising money for school.
Mr Garske said although Rotary participates in matching grant projects in Africa and Asia, the involvement with a South American country was more unusual.
“Brazil is an interesting country because it’s highly developed in some senses but it has a huge population of poor,” he said. “Basic services that we take for granted aren’t necessarily available.”
Mr Garske said the club was being kept up-to-date on the school’s process by Luciana, who runs a blog about the project.
“Having a contact in the city through Luciana means the language barrier has been overcome,” he said.
During their visit, Ms Belomo Yamaguchi showed the Garskes the APS Down school where she volunteers in the city of Londrina.
The school aims to educate people with Down Syndrome aged from two to 60 and also provides a creche for preschool-aged children and some physiotherapy services.
Mr Garske said the Rotary club was happy to put money towards a well-deserving project, contributing almost $5000 in a matching grant, with funding also contributed by two Rotary clubs in Brazil and the worldwide Rotary organisation to make up a total of $13,000.
“It’s great for the club to have remote contact with an exchange student who spent time in Armidale,” he said.
“They were very quick to say, ‘let’s put in some money’.”
The funding will go towards the installation of an industrial kitchen at the school, with the goal to teach students basic cooking skills to help them be self-
sufficient and to give them a way of fundraising money for school.
Mr Garske said although Rotary participates in matching grant projects in Africa and Asia, the involvement with a South American country was more unusual.
“Brazil is an interesting country because it’s highly developed in some senses but it has a huge population of poor,” he said. “Basic services that we take for granted aren’t necessarily available.”
Mr Garske said the club was being kept up-to-date on the school’s process by Luciana, who runs a blog about the project.
“Having a contact in the city through Luciana means the language barrier has been overcome,” he said.
