PP Don has made connections with some members of the Rotary Club of Binan some years ago when he shipped out several children’s playgrounds from Australia for their club.

We visited 2 public schools where the playgrounds were installed.

The Rotary Club of Binan gave a recognition to PP Don for his donation of the playgrounds during a dinner fellowship they prepared for us.

Present in the RIMM meeting were:
1.) RIMM Past President Dr. Radtke
2.) District 3810 Governor Lai
3.) District Secretary Sy
4.) Assistant to the Governor Uy
5.) RIMM Past President Lito
6.) Past President Don of RC-Geelong Central, Australia
7.) RIMM member Loida of RC-Geelong Central, Australia
8.) RIMM member Jun
9.) Gina-MSWD head of Alfonso
10.) President Cherry of RC-Pandacan Manila

Lunch was served at the meeting prepared by the staff of Academy of World Healing Foundation (AWH) which provides its venue to RIMM as its HQ free of charge.

The beneficiaries were the PDLs in General Trias City Jail, Cavite composed of 1,156 male and female PDLs.

The District event aimed to cover the 7 Areas of Focus of Rotary.

The Rotary International Multinational Manila (RIMM) co-hosted the event along with other 50 plus clubs.

The District donated sacks of flour and rice, assorted canned goods, biscuits, coffee, school supplies, hygiene products, towels and cans of paint.

During the event there were other free services for the PDLs namely:
– Dental Extraction
– Pap Smear Check Up
– Optical Check up
– Seminar for the 3 R’s (Re-use, Reduce and Re-cycle)

District 3810 also assisted in the installation of a water pressure tank and motor pump to maintain hygiene among the prisoners and cleanliness inside the prison camp.

The workshop was held on April 6,7 and 8, taking advantage of the long break during the Lenten season. Visual arts workshop was first in the line, under the theme of protecting the environment. Workshop topics were: Basic Elements and Principles of Design, Composition, Basic Painting in Dry Materials, then with wet paints. This was conducted at the Mondejar Art Studio : 137 Puting Kahoy, Silang, Cavite, a more conducive place to do the workshops. President Lito Mondejar at the time of the year with the help of Concerned Artist of the Philippines, Cavite Chapter Resident Visual Artist and Samahang Kartunista ng Pilipinas Member Ted Camahalan served as the resource persons.

April 22 and 29 were devoted to Dance and Theater Workshops facilitated by Elvira Bueta, a veteran theater practitioner and a member of both Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) and CCP’s Teatro Pilipino. A song interpreted in dance was composed by the participants and was presented as the culminating activity.

The third phase, held on June 3, was a round up of the painting workshop in the morning and Poetry workshop in the afternoon. Here, participants were able to paint still life fruits from imagination in full color rendition on canvas. The workshop was facilitated by Ateneo Arts Awardee Henrielle Baltazar Pagkaliwangan and again with veteran artist Ted Camahalan.  Steeve Mark Manzano, Resident Spoken Word artist of Concerned Artists of the Phil. Cavite Chapter, facilitated the Poetry Workshop. He first gave a short demonstration on how to make brewed coffee, then the participants were asked to capture their experience in poetic stanzas. All the workshops were held at the Mondejar Studio in Puting Kahoy, Silang, Cavite which is just a short distance from Tartaria, the Barangay where the participants are residing.

The workshop attendants were usually 15 to 22 school students per class, ranging from Grade 1 to 10.

The workshop was funded with our club and about 50% of the total cost of P83,400 was provided by the district grant, enabling the project to buy painting supplies, food and all the materials needed.

The event was sponsored by the District 3810, District 3830 and the Rotary Club of Makati.

The event was attended by selected needy 1,000 elementary school children and their parents.

Assorted school supplies, reading materials, hygiene kits and grocery packs were distributed to the participants.

There were key speakers who shared their insights on the “7 Areas Of Focus” of Rotary.

The following free-of-charge services were offered at the site:
-Medical Check-up
-Dental Check-up
-Cervical and Breast Check-up
-Bone Screening
-Random Blood Sugar Testing
-Pangkabuhayan (Livelihood) Seminar
-Reading Glasses
-OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) Help Desk
-Soroptimist Help Desk
-EMI Kalikasan (Environment) Green Desk

The event “Phenomenal Joint Mobility Project” was sponsored by District 3810 Philippines and District 7670 USA, aimed to provide the total of 350 wheelchairs to the needed people in the Philippines.

The beneficiary clubs were in Manila, Pasay, Cavite and Occidental Mindoro.

Our club received 2 wheelchairs from the project.

Then it was sitting in the warehouse for a long time as we were unable to find a suitable public place to install it. Finally, in December 2022, we found that a daycare center near the town of Alfonso, Cavite has a yard that might be feasible for installation.

The daycare facility has newly been built with the national budget of 2.5 million pesos. The municipality bore the 1 million pesos for the perimeter walls.

There is only one teacher for the total of 68 daycare pupils in the center. The classes are divided into 4 segments of time from morning to afternoon up to 3pm. The lack of teachers is considered to be caused by low salary for teachers. It was P5,000/mo, but the new mayor has  increased it to P7,500/mo.

Gina of DSWD coordinated with Aubrey, a secretary of the municipal mayor’s office, and rushed to assemble the parts and installed the playground and the swing in the vacant yard of the daycare center, so that our club members (PP Casey, PP Raymund and Maki Nakajima from Japan) and along with the guests of Academy of World Healing Foundation from Japan (Ken Yamamoto, sports doctor Iwai and Momo Kikuta) can see them.

On January 15, 2023, the said persons visited the facility along with Gina of DSWD and the daycare teacher. Municipal workers and some volunteer parents took charge of installation. It was reported that all the assembling bolts were missing, so our club purchased them.

It was noted that the swing posts still need to be cemented on the ground and the playground posts need to be buried and cemented. It was also noted that there were some missing parts of the playground. Our club will get feedback from Rotary Club of Binan, Laguna which facilitated warehousing at Batangas port.

District Governor-Elect (DGE) Joyce Michelle Ambray welcomed more than 300 participants which is a requirement to apply for the District Grant and the Global Grant.

The whole day seminar covered all aspects of the information needed in applying for the said grants.

PE Lito is interested in applying for the Global Grant wherein an International Partner club is required.

PP Don Shields of Rotary Club of Geelong, Australia told us that he would look into the details of the project for Global Grant so that they can possibly be our international partner club.

During the seminar clubs were politely asked for a pledge to support The Rotary Foundation (TRF) wherein the funds collected will support the said grants worldwide. Most clubs including our club pledged for the minimum donation of US$1,000.

The Paul Harris Fellow pins of Rotarians Yoshiko & Kimiyo were also awarded that day.

IPDG Liza also provided bags, magazines and a container of liquid hand soap as a souvenir to our club.