This wheelchair-accessible vehicle granted to SOPP is from the fund of Matching Grant of Rotary Foundation and the District Simplified Grant of Rotary International District 2750.
The white Nissan Caravan was handed by Thomas Schubert, Rotary Club of Palau President and Yoshio Tanaka, Rotary Club president of Tokyo Seinan to Veronica Fox, vice president and acting executive director of SOPP.
The vehicle would be used by the SOPP for their various health and educational programs, youth summer camps, and After-School Program to promote health and educational welfare of children.
Tanaka said that “because of worldwide financial crisis last year, the budget of Rotary Foundation has been decreased to 30 percent of the former year. Under such severe situation, this project has been approved as a object of Grant in July 2009, at the beginning of this Rotary year. That is the great result of big efforts by the persons concerned.”
Earlier, the Rotary Club of Palau held its weekly meeting to discuss the approval of the “Matching Grant” provided by the Rotary Foundation to assist Rotary Club of Palau in purchasing a wheelchair accessible mini bus.
Schubert explained to the membership and guests of the Rotary Club of Palau and their international partner the Rotary Club of Tokyo Seinan, applied for the matching grant to purchase the mini bus to service the community in Palau.
The bus will be made available to the nonprofit organization SOPP, represented by Fox and Lorraine Rivera who updated the Rotary Club of Palau membership on how the bus will be utilized by their organization in their community work.
For the past four years the SOPP has conducted community classes that include Aerobics, Kickboxing, Yoga, Adult and Youth Belly Dancing, and Summer Sports Camps for Youth ages 8-18. These programs are intended to help improve quality of life for Palau’s community and successfully reach the widest possible number of people.
The handover ceremony was also attended by Mr. Fumihisa Kato, vice president and chair of the International Committee of Rotary Club of Tokyo Seinan, and other Rotary members.
