The Rotary Club of Boothbay Harbor is pleased to be participating in a grant to help educate Syrian child refugees living in Jordan. The plight of these children ravaged by war and conflict tugged at the heartstrings of Roland Gagne, a past president of the Rotary Club of Biddeford-Saco and he decided to do something about it.

Through raising awareness at individual Rotary clubs and working with The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, Roland was able to initiate a grant which will ultimately benefit 250-350 school-aged youth in Jordan. Refugees are often referred to as "collateral damage" and Roland's goal was to repair some of this damage in Jordan whose refugee population outnumbers Jordanian citizens.

The project will address basic education and literacy and foster peace and reconciliation. The grant will remove financial and social barriers to school attendance for 200 students in East Amman. It will also support at-risk students who are attending school to stay in school with support from an educational specialist, and with strengthened after school programming based on purposeful activity which promote growth in four areas: literacy, numeracy, interpersonal skills and healing/wellness. In addition, 30 out-of-school teens will join a specialized non-formal education program tailored to their needs, which can result in a tenth grade graduation equivalency. Finally, 25 teen leaders will be supported as they take an active role as mentors of youth aged 6-12 attending after school programming.

In addition to the Boothbay Harbor Rotary Club, the grant is supported by other Maine Rotary clubs including Biddeford Saco, Saco Bay and York. Also participating is the Rotary Club of Pittsburg and very importantly the Rotary Club of Amman, Jordan. When Rotarians share funds overseas it is always with the understanding that there will be local collaboration on projects and grants. When the 1.2 million Rotarians in the world (from 35,000 different Rotary clubs) join efforts, good things can happen.

Boothbay Harbor Rotary supports a number of fundraisers throughout the year, the largest being the annual Auction which will take place on the Town Common August 5. The majority of our fundraising supports local initiatives, but approximately 15 percent of funds raised is shared internationally.