International Service Project to Nicaragua

Macy Lawrence, International Committee Chairman

    The inception of an International Committee and participation in International programs and missions is one of the proudest achievements of the Woodstock Rotary club in the last two years. Spearheaded by Macy Lawrence, the Club's International Committee Chair, and in conjunction with local Doctors Chris Fields and Peter Lapre form Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, the Woodstock Rotary Club with the help of matching grants from the Rotary Foundation, has been able to fund and participate in an ongoing effort to help the people of one of the poorest areas of Nicaragua.

    Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere. With a population of roughly 5 million, 2.2 million Nicaraguans live in poverty with 19% of the country's population living in extreme poverty and without access to even the most basic of health care services.

    The Mission: A team of 12 volunteers from Vermont and New Hampshire including Dr. Chris Fields, Dr. Peter Lapre, Dr. Joseph Jordan and medical student Erin Salcone joined with volunteers from a local Nicaraguan clinic to go out into the field and deliver health care services to remote areas...where it is least accessible and needed the most. With heavily rutted dirt roads, no bridges or public transportation many families would walk for hours in sweltering heat and ford rivers in order to seek medical treatment. Mobile clinics were taken to the towns of San Juan del Sur, Penas Blancas, El Ostional, Sapoa, Cardenas and Colon.

    With funds derived mainly from the Annual PENNY SALE Woodstock Rotary Club has been able to act as a sponsor for the locally originated Nicaragua Eye Care Project by underwriting a substantial portion of the cost of the mission.