WCSC stands for World Community Service Committee and is made up of the 6 Area 3 Rotary Clubs and our Rotaract Club: Niles, Fremont, Mission San Jose, Fremont Morning Club, Newark, F.U.N. Sunset, and the Rotaract of Greater Fremont.
In 2013, the Area 3 Rotary Clubs decided to combine forces and to pool their District Designated Funds (DDF) funds so that we would be able to maximize the use of our DDF. Combining our resources would make it easier for our Area 3 club projects to qualify for matching grant funds available from The Rotary Foundation (TRF) for World Community Service Projects. It also makes larger or multi-year projects more achievable, and any club in Area 3 may propose an international project for consideration. However, the WCSC can, at its discretion, support a project that is not suitable for a matching grant from TRF. In a case like this, the group can hold a fundraiser for this purpose, or it can allocate DDF funds without any matching funds.
Each participating club contributes time and effort to the success of the selected project (s), which may require grant writing, research and analysis, project reporting, project oversight and other tasks required for TRF grant approval and project completion. The club that proposed an adopted project generally takes the lead on the grant application and project execution.
Each Club appoints two representatives to serve on the Area 3 WCSC each fiscal year, and each Club has one vote on the WCSC. Generally, one of these representatives is the board member who is responsible for international service. The committee accepts proposals for projects, reviews the budget and plans, and determines which project(s) they will fund and support for the upcoming Rotary year. The following projects reflect some of whom have benefitted from WCSC support: the Melghat Surgical Hospital in Melghat India which was approved for a Global Grant, the DSES Public School in Ballia, India to rebuild the school due to an earthquake, the Matibabu Hospital in Matibabu, Kenya to ship operating equipment and supplies to the hospital and Breathing for Life, in Nejo, Ethiopia a Global Grant Project to fund oxygen tanks and the equipment to refill the tanks in a rural hospital, Sight Now bringing top quality eye care, including cataract removal and glasses to the people of Tamil Nadu, India.
Article Written by Audrey Kearns