Potable water supply has been a priority project for the Rotary Club of Meycauayan Uptown. From a humble beginning to most outstanding performance of a club, it has been providing impact producing services and projects that make a great difference in the lives of people in the community.
With its active participation in the programs of the Rotary Foundation, the Rotary Club of Meycauayan Uptown now has a total of more than 30 Humanitarian Grants, more than the number of years of its existence at 26. At least 13 of these grants concentrated on the supply of complete potable water system to poor elementary schools consisting of deep well with motorized pump, elevated tank with automatic water level control and drinking station with filtration system and no less than 100 poor elementary schools benefited from the club. The latest water project completed last 2020 is the Global Grant No. GG1867923, “WATER SAVES LIFE VI”, the first one being the first club-developed global grants of District 3770. Another water project completed under GG1751527, “TABUK WATER DISTRIBUTION AND SANITATION PROJECT” has 5 sites bringing down spring waters from the mountains, pumping to storage tanks constructed at a more elevated altitude and distributing said waters by gravity to schools and communities through several water tap stands.
Each school is provided with Wash Area or Drinking Station and/or Toilets. Our ‘WATER SAVES LIVES” project was awarded in 2016 as one of the BEST WASH (Water and Sanitation & Hygiene) Projects in the Philippines during the International Wash Conference in Manila by then RI Pres. Ravi Ravindran, one of the BEST COMMUNITY projects in the Philippines during the Celebration of the 50th year anniversary of the Rotary Club of Makati and one of the BEST Community Projects in the 100th year of the Rotary Club of Manila in 2019 awarded by then Rotary International President Mark Maloney. Other RCMU grants include distribution of more than 200 complete sets of brand new computers to public schools and offices, 12 waiting sheds constructed in selected areas of the community, 3 ambulance bancas
and cars, fogging machines, three times 5-month daily feeding program with nutritious foods for 1,500 malnourished elementary students each, 2 one-year ambassadorial scholarships to Virginia Polytechnic and State University, one-month training of 8 Science teachers in Canada and USA, etc. Generous sponsors of these grants came from the clubs and districts in USA, Canada, Germany, Australia, Korea, and Taiwan.
More or less a total of 288,000 students and teachers are beneficiaries of these water projects. The most important thing to remember is that the project doesn’t belong to the Rotary club or district — it belongs to the people it serves. Water project must begin and end with the local community. To ensure that the project provides the intended benefits long after the donor has left, make sure the local community has ownership from the beginning. As Rotarians dedicated to the communities we serve, we wouldn’t want to do it any other way.
This pieces was submitted and written by P-DRFCC/PP Armando “Sandie” B. San Diego
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