District Leadership has just returned from Rotary Zones 33-34 Institute held in Orlando, Florida. Representatives were present from Rotary International and all of the Districts in Zones 33 and 34. Our Zone 34 includes Puerto Rico, 26 countries of the Caribbean Islands, and the US Virgin Islands. We discussed disaster relief in detail with Rotary International President Elect Barry Rassin—a citizen of Nassau Bahamas—other District Governors and Past Governors, and the members of the Rotary Action Group (RAG) – Caribbean Partnership. We also discussed South Florida with DGs and PDGs from the area.

There is much to do and the list of needs will be long and take a long time to fulfill. Here is what we would like the clubs of District 6900 to do—as their club members direct—for disaster relief for hurricanes in the Caribbean and South Florida. We believe the Rotary Clubs of South Florida can take care of their needs. It is however, much different in the Caribbean and Puerto Rico.

Clubs and individuals who wish to donate to the 2017 Hurricane Relief effort in District 6900 should send their checks to: Rotary District 6900 Charitable Fund, c/o James Marosek, 2810 Premiere Parkway Ste 200, Duluth, GA 30097 and mark the “For” line on the check as follows:

• Immediate Relief – the District will forward your donations to Aqua Box www.aquabox.org. to send fresh water kits to those islands without drinking water. These cost approximately $200 US – this could be a great project for Interact Clubs and school groups.
• Near Term Relief – the District will collect this money in a pool for clubs to work one on one with clubs in the hurricane area trying to rebuild their communities. We will do this through Rotary Zone 34’s RAG Caribbean Partnership.
• Long Term – send checks to the District to forward to Rotary International Donor Advised Fund 296 for Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
• Clubs Donating Directly or Helping Independently - please email PDG Steve what you are doing and how much you have contributed so we can capture the impact our District has had in helping those affected by these disasters.

Your District Charitable Fund is a 501c3 and donations are tax deductible. We will account to the clubs on how their money was spent.

Individual Rotarians and the public can also donate to the Charitable Fund via credit card at https://rotary6900.org/relief.

For more information and to establish club partnerships in Puerto Rico or the Caribbean please contact: District 6900 Disaster Relief Chair – PDG Steve Stanfield at stevestanfield@bellsouth.net.