Niles Rotarians showed up in a big way both with financial donations toward the number of wheelchairs being delivered as well as physically to deliver the wheelchairs in person to those we care about in Monterrey, Mexico. Many of our own Niles Rotarians took the trip to personally see the delivery take place. Audrey Kearns, our International Service Chair, led the effort for the Niles Rotarians. Mike Kearns had a big hand in this too – although he can’t claim being a Niles Rotarian…just teasing a bit Mike. Audrey had this to share about her experience:
This experience was a real life changer for me! After all the years donating to international projects and hearing/reading about other Rotarian’s experience with hands on projects, it’s just not the same as actually being there and participating myself. We traveled to a college sports auditorium, where 350 boxes of wheelchairs were waiting for us. We had Rotarians from District 5170, 5160, 5730 including 5 clubs from Monterrey, Mexico as well and a group of foreign exchange students, the Red Cross and local paramedics. We assembled the wheelchairs and gave them to children, teenagers and adults. Families came with the loved ones and the happiness and gratitude of everyone was overwhelming. It was very humbling. This is an experience that everyone should have at least once in their lives and once experienced they will never forget it. (Audrey Kearns)
Thank you Audrey for sharing your thoughts with us. It’s wonderful to see what good work is being done by Niles Rotarians locally and internationally! Great work!!
Access our photo album of the event. (You may want to consider getting some memorabilia from this beautiful trip).