From the Editor.. Member Notes Loving thy Neighbor Rotariglife Bounty Realized Rotary News Basket

by PP Reggie Ponce, RC Sta. Cruz, Laguna, D-3820

The Rotary Club of Sta. Cruz (D-3820), one of the multiclubs benefited by The Rotary Foundation Rotagrilife program, recently re-distributed nine (9) healthy female carabaos to deserving and qualified farmers from the town and nearby places. The young carabaos are offsprings of the original batch received by RCSC from TRF 3 years ago. This was the result of a 3-year gruelling work with the program that involved countless Rotary officers from one Rotary year to another and numerous private and government agencies and their respective officials and representatives.

To name a few agencies that got directly involved and are still working with Rotary are the following – The Philippine Carabao Society, Philippine Coconut Authority, Laguna Provincial Veterinary Office, UPLB, IRRI and the municipal governments of San Pedro, Sta. Cruz, Pagsanjan, Siniloan and Pangil among others.

It can be recalled that this program was engineered by PDG Guillermo “Emong” Castasus in the late 1990s as he envisioned to alleviate the lives of farmers from the 4th district of Laguna through various but integrated agricultural endeavors. Armed with the Rotary trademark ‘Service Above Self’, PDG Emong thru his home club of RC San Pedro, never stopped to push the program until TRF approved the project with a whopping US$500,000.00 before the year 2000.

The job did not end with TRF’s approval. In contrast it signaled the start of a lot of work to properly implement the program. PDG Emong, with the support of incumbent district governors in the succeeding years, namely – PDG Paeng Tantuco, PDG Chito Recto, PDG Jim Hao and IPDG Kit Reventar and with the able assistance of officers and Rotarians from various clubs, exerted all efforts to realize the dream.

A series of seminars, meetings, and orientations followed to monitor the progress of the ROTAGRILIFE program. The most historical and memorable, however, was the one made by RI representative PDG Geoff McLennan when he personally visited farmers/beneficiaries and the white cheese makers last Jan. 20, 2003 in different places of work in Sta. Cruz. PDG Geoff was sent by The Rotary Foundation for reporting purposes. He was hosted by PDG Emong.

Last Nov. 12, 2003, RCSC reserved one of its regular meetings to distribute 9 female carabaos to new qualified farmers. “This is in celebration of The Rotary Foundation month”, Pres. Terry said, “We are happy that in our own little way, we can alleviate the lives of chosen farmers,” he added.

Distribution proper was done through a simple program that started at 2:00 p.m. and graced by no less than PDG Emong Castasus himself and AREA 1, Group 2 AG CP Tom Clemeno. The day ended with two (2) disabled persons receiving new wheelchairs from the Foundation as an additional activity for the afternoon.