BRAINERD ROTARY
Brainerd,
MN,
USA,
District 5580
The Brainerd Rotary Club sponsored the "Adopt the Hope Mission Christian School" in conjunction with the Feed My Starving Children Organization in 1997. Eight local Rotarians personally visited Pignon, Haiti.
Since that first visit, a group of contributors completed the building and a depot, paid the teacher's support for the 1997-98 school year and secured funds from Rotary for the 1998/99 school year, distributed uniforms so children may attend school (in the process connecting over 5,000 Brainerd school students with the plight of students their own age in Haiti and connected them with these programs organized by our Rotarian), set up an outdoor kitchen, started a lunch program with donated food, delivered teachers desks, 18 bikes, 20 computers, mattresses, bed frames, school supplies, and material to sew school uniforms for the children at the school. In 1997 there were 60 students at the school, in 1998 there were 287 students attending. Also, spearheaded by the leadership of Tom Johnson of the Brainerd Lakes Rotary, the long desired Pignon International Airport and customs/terminal building is being completed. Click on photos below to see the airport terminal and runway.
Dr. Guy Theodore, US trained surgeon and Pignon leader, attended District 5580's Conference in April, 2002, with the encouragement and support of Brainerd Rotary. Hanspeter Borgwarth, who was a leader in the formation of the Pignon Rotary, developed $29,500 in funding for a truck for the hospital and $16,000 to be used as a match in the equipping of a surgery room in the Hospital. Mark Erickson, who is the owner of a millwork company and a construction expert, has provided technical support for doors at the airport and construction of the "Happy Homes", as well as other matters involving construction detail. "Happy Homes" are affordable housing ($600 to $800) for the poorest families in Pignon with real roofs and walls instead of a leaky straw roof held above the ground with poles.
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