LETTER FROM GOV. MAURIE RE: AID TO JAPAN

Dear Fellow Rotarians,

    We are all saddened by the disaster in Japan and being Rotarians, we are anxious to provide support and disaster relief.

 

     As you may know, Our District has had a long and productive relationship with District 2670 in Japan, primariley through our annual Ross Redmond Youth Exchange. Whereas we would like to focus all of our long term efforts through that district we cannot send Rotary Foundation Dollars there as the rules state the money must go to the affected area. However, The District Foundation Committee voted to send $10,000 District Designated Funds (DDF) to Japan for the immediate disaster effort and are doing so through The RI "Japan 2011 Disaster Relief Fund ". This fund was established to funnel both donations and possible grants directly to the affected areas.  These funds will be administered by Rotarians. Thanks to the support of Rotarians in our district 3 years ago, through Annual Giving, we were able to direct this funding quickly and efficiently. (This fund is accessible through Rotary.org)

 

    Our second approach will be toward the more long term long-range recovery and restoration effort.

    The Madison Club has generously offered to serve as a conduit for the long term relief of designating support through the Madison Rotary Foundation, an IRS 501 (c) 3 entity. By doing so, contributions will qualify for tax deductibility.

If your club, it’s members, or anyone in your community would like designate support through this channel, please make the checks payable to: The Madison Rotary Foundation, PO Box 130, Madison, NJ 07940. Please mark checks “Japan Relief “.

 

As you can see, our district has a two-pronged approach to providing immediate disaster relief as well as a vehicle to address the more long-range recovery and restoration effort. If any of you have Rotarian Contacts in Japan, please let us know. If your club has a plan of action to help, please continue your efforts and let us know what you are doing. We are trying to communicate the District Initiative and offer a method to link to our friends in District 2670. 

 

What has and is happening in Japan is a terrible tragedy. Working together as Rotarians we will do all we can to help the people of Japan return to some semblance of normalcy; it’s what Rotarians do best. Thank you for your caring.

 Maurie Mader and The District Foundation Committee
 District 7470
 Governor 2010-11