Rotary Club of Charlottetown donates $20K to Cornwall’s Mikinduri Children of Hope

Story is copied from The Guardian
 
Published: Dec 11 at 7:31 p.m.
Updated: Dec 11 at 7:40 p.m.
 
Gaylene Smith and Ted Grant of the Mikinduri Children of Hope received a $20,000 donation from the Rotary Club of Charlottetown on Monday to help with the organization’s humanitarian activities in Kenya.
Gaylene Smith and Ted Grant of the Mikinduri Children of Hope received a $20,000 donation from the Rotary Club of Charlottetown on Monday to help with the organization’s humanitarian activities in Kenya. - Terrence McEachern

Ted Grant says when he wakes up every day, the first thing he thinks about is how is he going to raise money for humanitarian initiatives in Kenya.

On Monday, Grant, president and co-founder of Mikinduri Children of Hope, got a boost to his fundraising activities with a $20,000 donation from the Rotary Club of Charlottetown to help with those initiatives in Kenya, including the western Mageta Island in Lake Victoria.

The cheque presentation was made at the rotary club’s luncheon at the Rodd Charlottetown.

“Our primary goal for this year is to improve sanitation and hygiene through purifying the water and better sanitation practices,” said Grant.

“Twenty-thousand dollars will allow us to do a lot of great work over there. We are constantly fundraising – amounts of $1,000, $2,000, $5,000 and so on. To get a jump of $20,000 at once allows us to take on some really good projects in 2018.”

Recently, the organization also received $10,407 from Royal Star Foods in Tignish.

The organization has feeding programs in seven schools in northeastern Kenya and is expanding the feeding programs to five schools on Mageta Island.

“We feed thousands of kids meals every day and, in the last 12 months, we’ve fed over a million-and-a-half meals at schools,” said Grant.

“We feed thousands of kids meals every day and, in the last 12 months, we’ve fed over a million-and-a-half meals at schools." 
-Ted Grant

Both donations will help a team going to Mageta Island in February with installing a water pipeline from Lake Victoria to the five schools, repairs on a medical centre and water purification and sanitation in the schools, including the installation of composing latrines that will convert waste into fertilizer.

Grant, from Cornwall, worked in financial services on the Island for about 35 years. One day in 2003, he read an article in The Guardian about a woman originally from Kenya living on the Island collecting clothes to help her village. Grant and his wife helped by collecting clothes in their neighbourhood. When they dropped the clothes off at the woman’s home, they heard stories about issues, such as hunger and poverty, affecting the people of Kenya. On the drive home, Grant and his wife talked about other ways they could help.

A year later, Grant went to Kenya and saw first-hand what was happening. He says that  experience motivated him to get serious about helping the people in Kenya.

Paul Crant, president of the rotary club, said the organization is pleased to help out Mikinduri Children of Hope. This is the first time the rotary club has donated to Grant’s organization.

“Our donation is reflective of our support for international development,” he said.

Bob Moffatt, the rotary club’s director of international services, added that it has been about 15 years since the club last supported an international project.

“It was the wish of the entire club that we use some of our fundraising money to support Island initiatives, but international,” he said.

“When Ted came to see us, it was a good fit because it involves children, seniors and it involves all the priorities that we as a rotary club are supporting.”