International Service
We use our knowledge of local issues to identify areas of need and then apply our expertise and diverse perspectives to find solutions. We often partner with other Rotary Clubs and third parties to maximize our dollars. Our members contribute hundreds of volunteer hours and dollars toward improving communities and providing lasting solutions.
Some projects we have undertaken:
- Provided computers and software for remote schools in Guatemala, Peru and the Philippines
- Provided scholarships for education to students in Guatemala and the Philippines
- Built clean water projects in Guatemala and Peru
- Provided clean water, sanitation, and hygiene
- Provided Polio vaccines
- Provided for Cleft Palate surgeries in the Philippines
Family Orchards
The Ripple Effect (TRE) has been distributing fruit trees in Guatemalan villages for more than ten years. Now, with the financial support of the International Committee of the Rotary Club of Gig Harbor TRE has been able to extend the program to maximize impact.
In 2025 alone twenty-five families have planted 375 fruit trees. By the end of 2025 The Ripple Effect anticipates 700 trees to have been distributed. These fruit trees will provide food not only the families growing them, but also a source of income as excess fruit is sold to other villagers. This makes families healthier and more financially self-sufficient.
La Perla Water
The International Committee of the Rotary Club of Gig Harbor has partnered with Michael Ewens, a former Gig Harbor resident who founded a non-profit called The Ripple Effect to help lift the people of Xe Mac La Perla in Guatemala rise out of poverty. water projects so far. Before these projects were built, residents often experienced a severe lack of water for up to two weeks during the dry season.
Our Rotary Club has provided money for the building materials. The villagers, with Michael’s direction, have provided the labor. These water projects include hygienic collection tanks (replacing the open and often contaminated water pits,) water filters, security fences and miles of water lines that extend to homes throughout the village making clean potable water available to residents year-round.
Medical Laptops
Laptops for Dnipro Hospital for Rehabilitation, Ukraine
The Rotary Club of Gig Harbor recently provided funding to purchase 43 refurbished laptops to replace outdated equipment in the Dnipro Hospital for Rehabilitation in Ukraine.
The Dnipro Hospital for Rehabilitation provides rehabilitation care to wounded soldiers and people with spinal cord injuries. Working in cooperation with the Rotary Club of Dnipro City and a Danish Rotary Club who verified the condition and suitability of the laptops, the Olson Foundation funded the project.
Cleft Palate Operations in the Philippines
Cleft lip and cleft palate are facial and oral malformations that occur very early in pregnancy while the baby is developing inside the mother.
There is hope. Surgeons can successfully treat cleft lip or palate. Treatment is often done in the first few months of life for cleft lip and before eighteen months for cleft palate. The patients may also need speech therapy and dental care. With appropriate treatment, outcomes are good.
Through the partnership with the Philippine Rotary Club of Parañaque, and private citizens, we provide for those surgeries and treatments. These surgeries provide hope and are a life-changing operation for victims and their families.
