Our speaker was Carolyn Harrick, a member of the Rotary Club of Hout Bay, South Africa (a suburb of Cape Town).
Carolyn and her husband John spend part of the year in their home in Stratford, Ontario and the rest of the year in their home in Hout Bay, South Africa. She introduced our club to the Hout Bay club's vision project about a year ago and our club responded by supporting the grade 5 segment of that project.
The vision project began in 2019 with screening in grades 1 and 7 and serving more than 950 students. It has now expanded to include grades 5, 9 and 11 and serves approximately 1900 students. Funding for the project comes from various sources including Rotary clubs and districts and individual donors. Carolyn also outlined a crowdfunding initiative that raised over $5,000. Our club supported the project for grade 5 students last year.
The business portion of our meeting was devoted to Autumn Indulgence (our major annual fundraiser) schedule for Saturday, September 23, 2023. Looks like we are well positioned to welcome our guests!