Vassar-Haiti Project (Aired on November 10 and 11, 2018)

For eighteen years, the Vassar-Haiti Project, started and still directed by Lila
Meade and her husband Andrew, assistant dean of international students at
Vassar College, has improved the lives of Haitians in the remote mountaintop
village of Chermaitre and its surroundings. Vassar sophomore Mary McCarthy,
publicity director of the project, and Lila Meade were the guests on RadioRotary
for this show. Ms. McCarthy was inspired to work on the project by reading
Mountains Beyond Mountains, a biography of Paul Farmer, founder of Partners
in Health. As a result of the project, which raises funds primarily by selling Haitian
paintings and crafts, Chermaitre and the surrounding area is served by a 250-
student school, a clinic that treats 3,000 patients annually, and clean water, the
last from a Rotary Global Grant sponsored by the Poughkeepsie-Arlington
Rotary. Vassar now has a Rotaract Club, which is seeking grant money from
Rotary to provide the clinic with electricity. It is inspiring work.

Learn more:
The Vassar Haiti Project: http://www.thehaitiproject.org/
Poughkeepsie-Arlington Rotary: http://rotary7210.org/arlington/
The Rotary Foundation Global Grants: https://my.rotary.org/en/take-action/apply-grants/global-grants
Mountains Beyond Mountains: https://www.tracykidder.com/mountains-beyond-mountains.html
Partners in Health: https://www.pih.org/
Rotaract: https://www.rotary.org/en/get-involved/rotaract-clubs

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