LA5 and Covid-19

During last Friday’s meeting, Walker Railey shared some encouraging news from Rotary International. Though the International Convention has been cancelled and Rotary travel largely suspended, Rotarians around the world are finding new opportunities to serve during this global pandemic.

District 2080 in Italy bought ventilators & protective gear for medics and raised $21,000 for protective masks in China. Another district in Italy purchased 400 PPEs for frontline care providers at a Milan hospital. The Rotary Club of Hong Kong took masks & sanitizers to public housing projects and several clubs in Sri Lanka installed thermometers in airports & schools. The Rotary in Pakistan distributed 1000’s of masks in Karachi. Clubs in District 3700 in South Korea donated $155,000 to the Red Cross. Clubs in Nigeria conducted education campaigns about the threat of the virus throughout their country.

So, will LA5 join the fight against COVID-19? It is my hope that by the end of this week we will have the resolutions passed and the contracts signed necessary to activate a massive PPE project. This effort involves a young LA5 entrepreneur (Jared Smith), several large businesses, community volunteers, the LA5 Foundation and dozens of LA5 members who will assemble and deliver over 1000 face shields. This first wave will simply be a pilot project that will be followed by an effort to produce up to 30,000 such PPEs for hospitals and nursing homes in the poorest neighborhoods of our community.

The Rotary response story is just getting started and I am looking forward to being in the next chapter.

Stay tuned. Stay safe. Stay home.

Yours in Rotary Service,

Rick Gibson
President, Rotary Club of Los Angeles
​2019 - 2020

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