Rotary Club members who were gathered for the 2022-2023 District Conference donated $15,000 worth of new books in a one day fundraising event for the two schools.
During the 2022-2023 District Conference Pat Merryweather-Arges, Rotary International Director, described the more than $15 million that Rotary International has provided for humanitarian relief in response to the war in Ukraine.
She was followed by District 5650 Governor Barbara Bartle from Nebraska who described a life-changing trip she took in March to help the refugees arriving in Warsaw, Poland.
With those stories as a backdrop, District Governor Laura Kann then provided an opportunity for all in attendance to help.
It turns out that there are two primary schools in the Ukraine Village of Chicago that have been overwhelmed with kids fleeing the war in their homeland. New students who have escaped the war in Ukraine represent nearly 40% of the total enrollment at Christopher Columbus School and the St. Nicholas Cathedral School. The principals from both of these schools expressed a need for new books to help these kids learn English as quickly as possible.
Consequently, a book fair was set up at the District Conference hosted by Usborne Books and More.
All conference attendees were able to purchase books that would then be delivered to the kids at these two schools.
An unbelievable $10,000 was raised in just a few hours at the conference.
Thanks to corporate generosity Usborne Books and More then donated another $5000 for a total of $15,000 worth of books. This resulted in the purchase of 2000 books that were delivered on November 28 to the two schools in Chicago by RI Director Pat Merryweather-Arges, DG Laura Kann and her husband Wick Warren, and Erika Dahlgren, Usborne Books and More consultant.
Thanks to everyone who bought books. The gratitude of the administrators and teachers at the two schools is hard to convey, but please know they were overwhelmed by our generosity.
We truly IMAGINED and made happen all that Rotary can be.
