The identities of the five 2018 Interact Ambassadors to Kenya were dramatically revealed at the recent Interact District’s 5th Annual District Conference, held at Perry High School in Gilbert. The five top Arizona Interactors, along with two alternates, who were selected by a special Rotary Youth Exchange Committee, are:
• Savannah Causey - Lake Havasu High School, Lake Havasu City
• Rylee Hanson - Perry High School, Gilbert
• Ryan Gentry - Hamilton High School, Chandler
• Colton Cagle - Westwood High School, Mesa
• Jazael Carrasco - Bradshaw Mountain High School, Prescott Valley
The two alternates who were also selected, and are training with the Ambassadors team, are:
• Madelynn Mac Donald - Mohave High School, Bullhead City
• Allison “Allie” Astorga - Central High School, Phoenix
This exceptional team of teenage Interact leaders, along with their adult advisors and counselors, will be flying from Phoenix to Nairobi, Kenya, on Friday, June 29, and expect to be returning on Sunday, July 15. A 40-ft. shipping container, packed with more than 3,000 crutches and other mobility devices that the Interact clubs of Arizona have been collecting, and then wrapped for shipping at their District Conference, is already on its way to Kenya. Our Interact District 5495 Ambassadors Team will be working with Rotarians, Rotaractors and Interactors there in Kenya to distribute these mobility devices to those who have been identified to be the most in need of them.
Our Interactors remind us that, while Rotary has been working since 1985 to eradicate Polio, there are hundreds of thousands of people in these African countries for whom the two drops of polio vaccine came too late, causing them to be crippled for life. Interactors believe they can and should do something to help these victims of polio and other crippling events by rescuing America’s used crutches, walkers, wheelchairs and other devices from winding up in landfills, and using them to give the enabling and empowering gift of mobility to these individuals. Our district’s Interactors are the pioneers and pacesetters with this project for other Interact districts around the world. Just as Polio Eradication has been Rotary’s signature project, our Interactors are determined to make their Crutches 4 Africa the signature project for Interact.
The help of each of our Rotary clubs in this district is needed ASAP to raise the $20,000 needed to cover the transportation costs and other trip expenses associated with this tremendously beneficial and life-changing project. Has your club contributed yet?
There are three ways to donate to the Interact Crutches 4 Africa project:
1. The quickest way is to use a credit or debit card is through this URL: YouCaring.com/crutches4africa.
2. Contributions can be made direct to the D5495 Interact Service Project Fund bank account. Have the donor make the check out to D5495 Interact Service Project Fund and mail it to our Interact District Treasurer, John Wintersteen, 4702 E. Lincoln Dr, Paradise Valley, AZ 85253.
3. If tax deductibility of the contribution is desired, checks can be made payable to the Prescott Rotary Club Foundation, with the memo, for Interact C4A Project, and mail to the Prescott Rotary Club Foundation, 100 E. Sheldon, Suite 105, Prescott, AZ 86301.