Support Our Third Bicycle Distribution Trip To Cambodia Set for January 2014!

A BIG Hooray to the Rotary Club of Washago & Area-Centennial for donating $850 - which is 17 BICYCLES towards the Cambodia Bicycle Distribution Trip to Cambodia this January. Rotarians & Friends from District 7010 will be personally giving out these bikes to children in Cambodia. Photo Below: Chris Carmen from the Washago club presents John Cooper from the Gravenhurst Club with this awesome donation! 

A Big Thank You to Loon Lake, Gravenhurst Resident and Friend, David Bryce for raising funds for 50 ROTARY WHEELS FOR LEARNING BICYCLES for children here in Cambodia. These bicycles will be given out in January-February 2014, when our team of 30 Ontario Rotarians & Friends come to Cambodia on their 3-week bicycle distribution trip.

Visit Rotary Wheels for Learning on Facebook and give it a Like.

Our third bicycle distribution trip to Cambodia sees our largest group going over yet with 30 participants – Rotarians and Friends – from across District 7010. The trip filled up quickly this year – here follows the names of our illustrious and eager team:

Steve and Andrea Roberts, George Kadoke  PDG Brian and Dorothy Menton , Ron and AG Margaret Walton, Elizabeth Harvey, Doug Patterson, Mike Davidson, Tony and Susan Davidson, Andrew Walton and Kat Beck, Linda Cantle, Beverly Rogers, Sue Whitley, Dan Herbert and Janet Stead, John and Pat Hulme, Girvin and Cheryl Devitt, Carol Cartier and Pete Burrell, Mike and Maryanne Kinsey, Marc Durocher and Lisa McCoy. We have a local guide and translator, Sophea, that travels with our team.

Rotary Clubs represented on the trip are: Matheson, Gravenhurst, Bracebridge, Haliburton, Washago & Area Centennial, Bridgenorth-Ennismore-Lakefield, Parry Sound, Barrie-Kempenfelt and South Georgian Bay.

The team arrives in Phnom Penh Cambodia on Tuesday, January 28^th, 2014 and will spend 3 weeks distributing bicycles to needy students in the rural areas. Our current goal is to distribute 800 bicycles in 9 target locations – but we are happy to provide more if donations pour in.

Along with distributing bicycles, our team will be bringing over donations of schools supplies, used eyeglasses, toys and children’s clothes which we will give out at the schools and orphanages that we visit. At every bicycle distribution, a Cambodian dental professional will provide a dental hygiene lesson to the children, families and teachers there – so, we are also looking for donations of toothbrushes and toothpaste.

Some of our distributions will be done with members of the local Rotary Club of Battambang. We will attend one of their meetings and enjoy a Cambodian dinner with them.

Our team will also get to visit many of Cambodia’s historic sites including: the famed temples of Angkor Wat, The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, the Killing Fields, the Landmine Museum, the Royal Palace and National Museum. Our team enjoys local boat trips, cyclo rides and even ride the famous ‘Bamboo Train’. We see a lot of rural Cambodia that the average tourist does not see.

Our past two service trips to Cambodia saw a total of 2,328 bikes distributed to needy children enabling them to swiftly cover the miles to school. In the past 2 years, we also distributed 4 tons of rice, 1,231 family-sized mosquito nets and thousands of toothbrushes and toothpaste.

Our 2013 Bicycle Distribution Team

 

Our 2012 Bicycle Distribution Team

You can contribute to our team’s effort by making a tax-receiptable donation. $50 buys a bicycle for a child in Cambodia. Donations can be made online through PayPal on this site or at www.gravenhurstrotary.com or by cheque to Rotary Club of Gravenhurst, Box 888, Gravenhurst, Ontario, P1P 1V2 (‘RWFL’ in memo field)

Steve Hayhurst from Rotary Club of Gravenhurst

Rotary Wheels for Learning is an international program of the Rotary Club of Gravenhurst. For more information Contact Patrick Bongers 705-689-1646. 

To donate items towards the trip contact Lisa McCoy 705-644-0779, rotarywheelsforlearning@gmail.com

Rotary Wheels for Learning Links:

http://rotarywheelsforlearning.blogspot.com

RotaryWheels4L on You Tube

https://picasaweb.google.com/113690705321687005334

GIANT Garage Sale a huge success – adds 60 Bikes to enable Cambodian Children to go to school!

Volunteers take a brief moment to pose for a photo before finishing setting up for the GIANT GARAGE SALE to benefit children in Cambodia. The Giant Garage Sale, now under the wing of the Rotary Clubs of Gravenhurst & Bracebridge, was held in July and raised more than $3,000 for children of rural Cambodia. This money will be used to purchase bicycles that enable rural kids to get to school and get an education – a truly life changing event for them! Each bicycle costs $50 and they will be distributed by Rotarians and friends in Cambodia in February 2014. If you’d like to donate a bicycle, or join us on the trip to distribute the bicycles, email rotarywheelsforlearning@gmail.com , or click on the donate button on this page. $50 provides a bicycle to a needy child.


Thank you to all the volunteers who helped on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the GIANT GARAGE SALE on July 6th & 7th, and to all of those who donated items to the cause! Many Thanks to the Gravenhurst Seniors Centre and their staff and friends for hosting our sale.

2013 List of Volunteers (in no particular order):
Pat Bongers and son, Evan Bongers
Nancy Beal
David Bryce
Linda and Jay Harrison
Carl and Lisa McCoy
Julie Alexander and Ron Anderson
Barb Adams
Madison Hughes. Kathryn Austin & Isabella Conte
George and Liz Rice
Nina Cole
Len Kurtz
Mark Clairmont
John and Pat Brownlee
Pat Bruin
Sharon Foley
Lynda Valcourt
Bonnie Saunders
Steve Hayhurst
Doug and Ann Tanner
Doug Patterson
Jim Reynolds
Mary Woodall
John and Joanne Twist
Jim and Marlyn Goodwin
Brian Menton
Pam Dunlop
Enno and Marina Hoekstra
David Reid
Rick Readman
Barb Adams

GIANT GARAGE SALE To Raise Funds for Bicycles for Cambodian Children

In the past two years, 2,328 bikes have been given out to Cambodian children in need by our teams of Rotarians and Friends from Muskoka and beyond!

There is another team forming from the Rotary Clubs of Gravenhurst, Bracebridge, Haliburton and Parry Sound, plus spouses and friends, that will make the journey to the rural areas of Cambodia in January 2014 to provide MORE bicycles to impoverished students.

To help raise funds for the hundreds of bicycles that will be provided to these children, the Rotary Club of Gravenhurst will be holding a GIANT GARGAGE SALE at the Gravenhurst Seniors Center on July 6^th and 7^th, from 8am – 4pm. Come and meet the participants from our past trips, and those who will make the trek to Cambodia this coming January. They’ll be working at the sale along with a multitude of volunteers. 

The teams had spent a good part of their three-week trip putting parts on the bikes and pumping up hundreds of tires – all in temperatures that most of the time reach 40 degrees and beyond. They brought over suitcases of donated items that went to schools and orphanages,  provided toothpaste and toothbrushes to each child who received a bike and donated a suitcase of used eyeglasses to the Children’s Surgical Hospital in Phnom Penh.

Along with providing bicycles, the January 2013 team gave out 1,231 mosquito nets and 2 tons of rice to children and families in need.

The sturdy bicycles are provided to children who would otherwise walk up to 10km each way to get to school.  A special maintenance fund is provided for each distribution location, so children can keep the bike in good repair, enabling them to keep on getting to school.

The Giant Garage Sale will have thousands of items for sale at bargain prices, and for real bargains – come and shop after 12pm on Sunday for our popular ‘Fill your Bag for a Twoonie’! There will also be a Silent Auction table, as well as a special table of Cambodian crafts handmade by girls and women. The crafts sold raise funds for their educational needs or the needs of their children.  

Support the sale by donating good used, or new items, or volunteer for a while at the sale. To coordinate a pick-up of your items, or to volunteer, call Lisa McCoy 705-687-8538, email: rotarywheelsforlearning@gmail.com .  Consider sponsoring a bike for a child in Cambodia that our team will distribute in January. Read more at this site and at: www.gravenhurstrotary.com

Gravenhurst Rotary President Steve Hayhurst Presents a Bicycle to a Child in Cambodia

 

Rotary Wheels For Learning GIANT GARAGE SALE For BICYCLES - July 6th and 7th in Gravenhurst!

Please let Everyone Know about our GIANT GARAGE SALE that will be sure to raise funds for hundreds and hundreds of Bicycles for Cambodian children that our District 7010 Rotary Wheels for Learning Team from Ontario will distribute in Cambodia in January 2014. 

Weekend of July 6th & 7th - venue to be announced.

To dontate items, or to volunteer, please call 705-687-8538, or email: rotarywheelsforlearning@gmail.com

See you at the Sale!

Rotary Wheels for Learning 2013 Team Distributes 1,231 Bicycles to Cambodian Children

Next Bicycle Distribution Trip set for January 2014 – Open to All Rotarians and Their Friends. Contact: rotarywheelsforlearning@gmail.com

A team of 20 Rotarians and Friends from Gravenhurst, Sudbury, Minden and Toronto have just completed their three-week mission of distributing an astounding 1,231 bicycles to rural children across Cambodia. 

This massive distribution was conducted under the Gravenhurst Rotary Club’s international program ‘Rotary Wheels for Learning’. Rotarian Lisa McCoy coordinated the project on-the-ground in Cambodia with the help of the local Battambang Rotary Club and volunteers from Banyan Learning Tree organization.

2013 Rotary Wheels for Learning Team in Cambodia

Our team was comprised of Gravenhurst area residents Jim & Marlyn Goodwin, George & Liz Rice, Lisa McCoy, Sharon Foley, Lynda Valcourt, Steve and Janice Hayhurst and Richard Augustine. Area cottagers Kathy and Clare Glazer-Chow joined our team along with Minden Rotarian Bill Obee and Sudbury Sunrisers Rotarians Darlene Palmer and Debra Betty who brought along five students from Cambrian College in Sudbury.

Last January, a team of Gravenhurst and Bracebridge Rotarians and Friends undertook a similar mission, distributing, 1,097 bicycles. 

Gravenhurst Rotarian Jim Goodwin Presents a Bike to a Student

With funding from the Rotary Foundation, Rotary Clubs and individuals across Ontario, this year’s team was also able to distribute 1,231 family-size mosquito nets, two tons of rice, 1,231tubes of toothpaste and toothbrushes, eyeglasses plus numerous bags of school supplies.

Teaching Dental Hygiene

Our team distributed the bikes at 12 locations in several provinces throughout rural Cambodia. 

The bikes were purchased locally and then shipped by trucks to our distribution locations. Our team’s job was to affix the baskets, bells, pedals to each bicycle as they came off the trucks. We also did some repairs plus a lot of tire-pumping by hand! We were always provided a helping hand from local people and of course, the children.

Our Team attends a Bicycle Distribution Ceremony at Prokeab Village

At each location, our team was treated as VIPs; attending a special distribution ceremony with local officials and dignitaries present. Two of our distributions were broadcast on Cambodian national television.  

The ceremonies also included a special dental hygiene education session sponsored by our program and taught by a Cambodian dentist. Our team members got really involved in these sessions – by actually brushing our teeth in front of the students. After these sessions, our team distributed the dental supplies. 

Our team traveled around the country by bus, giving us many opportunities to mingle with the locals and gain insight into the country’s unique culture and history. We also visited the famed ancient temples of Angor Wat plus Phnom Penh’s sites including the Royal Palace, the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Genocide museum.

The team also personally met two CNN Top Ten Heroes who have made a big difference to the lives of many in this developing country. We distributed 100 bikes to children living surrounding Phnom Penh’s garbage dump. The school and orphanage there is run by People Improvement Organization founded by 2008 CNN top Ten Hero Phymean Noun.

In Siem Reap, our team met with Aki Ra – the Cambodian de-miner who has made it his life mission to ‘Make My Country Safe for Its People’. Aki Ra works daily in the remote minefields of Cambodia where an estimated five million landmines still plague the countryside. For his dedication, he was awarded a 2010 CNN Top Ten Hero Award. At our visit to his landmine museum and orphanage, he was awarded with a Paul Harris Fellow by our Rotary Club of Gravenhurst. 

It truly was a rewarding experience – hours of hard, hot work were soon forgotten when we were rewarded with the smiles from the Cambodian children as they received their first bike.

Photos of our 2013 trip can be found at https://picasaweb.google.com/rotarywheelsforlearning/

See RotaryWheels4L on You Tube for videos.

For more information on Rotary Wheels for Learning and how you can contribute towards bikes for Cambodian children – or join our next Bicycle Distribution trip to Cambodia scheduled for January 2014. Contact Lisa McCoy at: rotarywheelsforlearning@gmail.com

Rotary Wheels for Learning is an international program of the Rotary Club Of Gravenhurst.

Rotarians & Friends Distribute Bikes, and Rice and Mosquito Nets in Battambang

Lisa McCoy photos

Jan 20, 2013 Phnom Sampov, Cambodia photos: 34 – 352 MB Public on the web (edit)

The alum at the top, left of this page contains videos and photos of our Rotary Wheels for Learning Teams distribution of 111 out of 1,231 bikes distributed throughout rural Cambodia. 

 

Bag of 'Rotary Rice'

Richard Augustine provides a bag of rice and mosquito net

We visit Bei Dum Rum Primary School in the morning in Banan district and Phnom Sampov village in the afternoon. Thanks to the Rotary Foundation and the Rotary Club of Battambang - with their support we were able to not only distribute bikes, but also provided 2 tons of rice and 200 mosquito nets to 200 elderly people. 

 

Our distributions also included a dental hygiene lesson taught by Norak, our Cambodian dental student, after which each child received a tube of toothpaste and a toothbrush. 

Norak, our dentist , Clare and Kelly teach Dental Hygiene

 

 

Team Member Kelly Nesbitt Provides a Rotary Bike

We also visit a free education English School supported by the Rotary Club of Battambang.