Last night I got a story out about a fundraising effort going on in Thailand, and a speaker who came to our club. This piece went out to our local press, in coordination with the Rotary Club of Bangkok South.
February 13, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RB Sunrise Rotary Hosts Thailand Clinic Day Care Speaker
As participants in of a worldwide organization, members of Rotary International always have an opportunity to make new friends from around the globe.
This past week, the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary was hosting William Fantozzi, a visiting Rotarian from the Rotary Club of Bangkok South in Thailand. His goal that morning was to make the community leaders in the room a little less comfortable by exposing them to the overwhelming need for building a medical clinic near the Cambodian border.
"Thai villagers moved to this location about 15 years ago when the government offered them free land. What no one knew at the time was there were live mines still in place from the Khmer Rouge war era." he said. The distributed land was in a buffer zone for active land mines.
To earn an income, villagers must farm in or travel into mine-affected areas to produce goods for resale in Thailand. To nobody’s surprise, an exceptional percentage of village inhabitants are affected by land mine accidents. At least one seems to occur each week.
“Our goal is to help build a day clinic to help these people” said the ex-patriot American. “Overnight we could provide medical care for almost 600 people in the village – people who now get no medical care at all, or have to travel a great distance to have someone help with their illnesses and wounds.”
Fantozzi continued “We've already completed about 80% of the structure , and the local villagers have put a great deal of personal time into the project. They really believe in this as a way of making their lives better, and are putting every available dollar they can personally raise and donate into this important project.” A total of $25,000 is needed to complete the project.
“We take local medical care for granted in this country” said RB Sunrise Rotary Club president Steve Sayler. “If we, as Americans, hope to continue our claim to moral leadership in the world, then it’s imperative that we dig deep in our hearts – and our wallets – to help those who are negatively impacted by events that we helped put into motion 40 years ago.”
Mr. Fantozzi believes so strongly in this program that he made an unusual offer; “If anyone makes a minimum donation of $1,000.00 (USD) I will personally pay for them to stay for three nights at our 4-star resort and elephant reserve. If you give $5,000, I’ll make it a week at the resort!” The property (http://www.resort.co.th/) is 400 acres with plenty of room to relax and enjoy the mountains of Thailand. Donations to this cause are considered tax-deductible, according to IRS regulations.
Mr. Fantozzi can be reached via E-Mail at William.Fantozzi@gmail.com. The Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary club can be found online at http://www.rbsunrise.org/.
Thai Villagers among the mine fields near the Cambodian border collect vegetables for dinner.
Thai children mug for the camera near their unfinished medical clinic
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