International Service
The goal of our International Service Committee is to bring the Rotarian values of Fellowship, Friendship and Service to the world by ACTIVELY engaging our members in the world community.
In this regard, we have partnered with the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Haiti. Normally providing vital care to the rural poor, the hospital has recently taken in thousands of earthquake survivors requiring both intensive treatment and long term rehabilitative care. In addition to quickly raising over $8,000 for much needed medical supplies, our club is heading a collection drive for wheelchairs, crutches, walkers and other durable medical equipment.
An international project, unique to our club, is the annual World Affairs Seminar.
The seminar presents a current topic of international importance to some 100 to 150 high school students from Jefferson, Berkeley and Washington counties. Usually held at either the National Conservation Training Center or Shepherd University, the seminar consists of initial speaker presentations, followed by small group break-out sessions to encourage active debate and student participation. We emphasize, in these discussions, what importance actions and policies in distant locations have on their daily lives and what they can do to take action at home. Recent topics have included: Alternative Energy (from the perspective of WV, USA, Germany and India); Global Climate Change; Islam and the modern world; China's Economic and Cultural Impacts; Democracy in South America, and immigration. We partner with the Martinsburg Rotary in implementing the World Affairs Seminar and have been fortunate in attracting speakers from a wide range of countries including Indonesia, Egypt, Turkey, China, and India.
In 2006/2007, we sponsored Shepherd University student Pamela Scorza for a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship. Pamela was the top applicant in our district 7350 (which is made up 40+ Rotary clubs). As a result, Ms. Scorza was able to spend a year in Ghana, pursuing a Master's degree in public health and the University of Ghana in Accra. As part of her Master's program, Pamela help to set up AIDS awareness and prevention policies and programs in Accra. Pamela later went on for her Doctorate in Public Health at Harvard.
Future projects include establishing a mentoring program matching Rotarians with foreign students at Shepherd University and creating a community/university based microlending organization.
