Newsletter for August 2010

Our inaugural newsletter will be designed to keep you up to date on the latest R.C.I. news. Since our last mission in March 2010 we have made significant progress in attracting interest and support to the project from Rotarians, non-Rotarians and NGOs as well as governmental agencies.

Almost all the equipment necessary to outfit 8 centers has been collected these past few months. They have been donated by (and in some cases purchased):

• MESA (mainly desks, chairs, tables, file cabinets)…. MESA has also donated $1000.00 to the mission
• Purchased at school auctions (desks, chairs, bookcases, mobile carts, televisions)
• Purchased at great discount from the Friends of the Toledo Library (books and VHS tapes)
• Toledo Museum of Art (VCRs)
• Perrysburg School System (computers systems). These computers have been checked out and loaded with needed software.
• Numerous individual donations of games, toys, TVs, furniture.

Check out our website at: resourcecentersinternational.org. Justin Kendall has not only put this together and has also volunteered to be our webmaster. If you have anything you would like on the website, please forward it to Justin's email: jfekendall@gmail.com.

We also have made copies of the DVD produced by CoolMedia Productions: http://coolmediapro.com. If you would like copies of the DVD please contact Mel Honig: gailmel75@yahoo.com.

There was always a crowd of curious onlookers checking out our progress. This picture was taken at St Margarets during our first mission in March 2010.

On a personnel level we have had many new developments:

• Jeff Gast, team engineer of the Lima Rotary and Gail Odneal, Nurse Educator have agreed to join the team on their second mission in December.
• Toni Gonzalez, our historian, is currently having one of the pictures she took in Belize shown at the 92nd Annual Toledo Area Arts Exhibition at the Toledo Museum of Art (featured above).
• Several people have expressed an interest in going to Belize in December, but are unable to commit at this time. They include computer experts, school teachers, librarians, etc. Two of them were recruited through the efforts of Judy Riggle. Several individuals have made monetary contributions to RCI.
• Mel Honig, Sylvania Rotary, made a fund raising mission to New York and Philadelphia in early July and brought back a truck full of games and toys, and some monetary donations. Hopefully more financial support will come as a result of the trip. Mel has also made presentations at the Hicksville Rotary, District 6600 Conference and the World Community Workshop.

News from Belize

The three centers that were established in March are still functional.

Mel Honig will be returning to Belize in September to insure that there will be four more sites to open in December. While there he plans to meet with Valentino Shal, Program Manager, Business and Organizational Development & Youth Development, United States Peace Corps. The continued support of the Peace Corps will be most helpful in ensuring that each site has support after the project team completes their work. He will be also meeting with Eric Maas of the Belmopan Rotary to coordinate shipping and storing of product from the November shipment.

Tim Tam (the Word at Work) and the Belize Natural Energy Trust will continue to lend their financial support by subsidizing the entire cost of the November shipment.

Future Needs

There is still a need to establish a team to return to Belize to open the next four centers. I have three definite commitments and several who would like to go, but cannot commit at this time. If you want to go on the next mission please inform the project coordinator, Mel Honig (gailmel75@yahoo.com).

There is also a need for financial support for physical year 2010 - 2011. We have already raised $7400 of the $17,000 budgeted for the physical year.