It was bitterly cold outside but warm and comfy inside at the Rotary Club meeting last week. Our guest speakers were John and Daniel, friends of the Biddeford-Saco Rotary Club. Independently, they found their way to Uganda and to a community of 4,000 people in the Kagunda Valley in an agricultural area southwest of Kampala. There they learned that the inhabitants – the women and girls, that is – spend most of their day, every day, fetching water from a single well that provided way too little of the precious commodity. This means, of course, that the women can’t grow food in a kitchen garden or any other more satisfying work, and that the girls can’t go to school.

And thus, the idea of a solar-powered pump and storage tank was born. Engineers Without Borders has gotten involved, and between science – and dowsing – the men expect the new artesian well will provide 6000 liters of cold, clear water per hour. Wow!

With the help of Roland Gagne, long time member of the Biddeford-Saco club who has perfected the art of international grants, the men set to work to raise the necessary money. Their goal is to raise in cash approximately $25,000, which will be matched and rematched through the Rotary Foundation matching program, which puts our donations to work supporting the projects that most excite us, the donors. The men were pleased to recognize that our club has already donated $1,000 to this project, which through the matches will come out at something like $3,800 on the ground. Good for us!

Guests at the meeting were Paul and Maria Thompson, who live in Hershey, Pennsylvania, when they are not at their camp on Belgrade Lake. They know this correspondent through regional and international Rotary events, and it was great for them to finally make it to my home club.

Happy dollars were expressed for everything from the lack of mosquitoes due to the cold weather to snow days to a certain photo in the Rotary magazine to the Pats making the Super Bowl. Amen to that!

And then it was on to planning future events. Next Thursday, Feb. 5, District Governor-electa Michele Bois-Gilbody will be here to talk about yet another Global Grant, this one a literacy program in Guatemala. Michele is a member of the Freeport club, and active in the Basic Education and Literacy Rotary Action Group (BelRag), which provides support around the world for literacy projects. Michele came by her interest in literacy after a career in elementary ed, including founding director of the Cricket Hunt School, a private, independent child-care center and K-2nd grade elementary school in Freeport.

Then, Feb. 12, we celebrate Mardi Gras. President Laurie suggests wearing green, gold and purple. Jeff not only has access to more Mardi Gras beads than ought to be legal, he has ordered two official King Cakes straight from the French Quarter. What this really means is, even if you’re not wearing green, gold and purple, our dessert will be those colors. You gotta love it.

And speaking of love, President Laurie has set a Barn Clean-up Day for Saturday, Feb. 21. It’s a tentative date, because if the past is prologue, note that Barn clean-ups have proved more reliable weather predictors than Punxsutawney Phil – We always have snow on Barn Clean-up Day. Just saying. Also please note: Once the clean-up is complete, we’ll start pickups in March. Can’t wait!

Interested in giving back to the community we all love? Like to hang out with similarly-minded people? Speak to any Rotarian or join us on a Thursday evening for one of our meetings at 66 Montgomery Road, Boothbay Harbor. We gather by 6, dinner is served at 6:30, and we are outta there by 8. Join us! You’ll be glad you did.