The Rotary Club of Duvall, Washington, celebrated Valentine’s Day by hanging 133 double-sided hearts from light poles along a mile-long stretch of Main Street, where they loomed large from late January through early March. Bearing messages sponsored by residents and businesses at a cost of $50 each, the signs raised about $13,500 for food pantries and other organizations serving youth, seniors, and the needy in the community northeast of Seattle. The club was inspired by a long-running fundraiser of the Rotary Club of Loveland Thompson Valley, Colorado, whose sign subscriptions routinely sell out within hours.
Venezuela
Since 2009 the Rotary Club of Barquisimeto-Nueva Segovia has overseen more than 350 surgeries to correct congenital craniofacial deformities in children. In late April the club, based in the capital of Lara state, administered nine cleft lip and palate surgeries. Patients and their mothers are interviewed by club members who are specialists in children’s maxillofacial surgery. Proceeds from the club’s golf tournament fund the surgeries and follow-up care, which costs about $150 per patient. “Children with these malformations generally require several surgeries, and our club guarantees them all,” says Rafael Cárdenas, a club member. “Our goal is to change lives permanently.”