June 12th, 2020 Update:

We at Rotary are people of action: on hearing of the need for coronavirus personal protective equipment for Bali’s Puskesmas (medical clinics) we at the Rotary Club of Burnaby joined the Rotary Club of Lions Gate North Vancouver to raise $6000 to fund the manufacturing of over 8000 life-saving masks. These masks are already protecting vulnerable medical staff in some of the hardest hit areas in Bali. This work was supported by the Catur School for the Deaf, the Bali Taman Rotary Club, and the Rotary District Youth Coordinator Ibu Eka that mobilized the Bali Rotact clubs to collect and distribute this equipment. At Rotary, we believe in service above self, of acting to help out communities even more during world changing events. Just as Rotary is united with efforts to end polio, famines, water shortages, and wars, we are also uniting for coronavirus relief.

These efforts are part is a wider collaboration with the Bali Sound of Hope project’s Catur School of the Deaf, a project that Burnaby Rotary and partners have raised over $250,000 to provide vulnerable deaf teenagers in Bali with education, hearing aids and hearing aid maintenance, and vocational training in skills such as farming, carpentry, and sewing. These sewing skills are now being used to produce thousands of masks and personal protective equipment to fight COVID-19. The Bali Project is one of the previous recipients of funds from the Heart of the Matter Fundraiser http://totheheartofthematter.ca/ an evening of fine dining and finer entertainment each February with the Royal City Rotary Club, the Rotary Club of Burnaby, and Monarch Place Transition Home.