SECURE ONLINE DONATION LINK FOR RHS INTERACT’S GOFUNDME PORTAL
For the second year in a row, the Roseburg High School Interact Club is partnering with Africa Heartwood Project. Our club is very excited to see our hard work and fundraising impact not only our community but communities around the world. Africa Heartwood Project does great things for those in need, and we are very happy to be a part of it and make a difference. – Lauren Sandfort, Interact Club President 2019-20
RHS Interact Cabinet 2019-20
The Roseburg High School Interact Club (Roseburg, Oregon) brings students together to develop leadership skills while discovering the power of Service Above Self through all of the club’s service opportunities. Rotary club sponsors mentor and guide Interactors as they carry out projects and develop leadership skills. Interact Clubs organize at least two projects every year, one that helps their school or community and one that promotes international understanding. For 2019’s and 2020’s international projects the Club has chosen to partner with Oregon-based 501c3 Africa Heartwood Project in their efforts to provide sustainable fresh water to communities throughout West Africa.
We chose Africa Heartwood Project because of the massive impact their wells have on communities and their focus on long-term sustainability. Our goal is to fully fund the construction of one well, which is a small price to pay for the benefits hundreds will receive as a result. – Zach Traul, Interact Club President 2018-19
At the request of club member Sierra Ricks (2019), and later by club president Lauren Sandfort (2020), Africa Heartwood Project founder and director Andy Jones met with students and mentors at two of their early-morning club meetings where he presented basic information about the NGO and their work in Liberia. The students seemed eager to learn about the global water crisis and how they could get involved be part of the solution.
I was impressed at the willingness of this group of students to go to work to help Liberian people they will likely never meet to get safe drinking water. The get up early to meet before school and plan their service work. They are enthusiastic and bright and concerned. It is wonderful that AHP can be the means by which a group of globally-minded high school students can reach out and make a difference by bringing a new clean water bore hole to a village in need. – Andy Jones, Director, Africa Heartwood Project
The community that benefitted from their service in 2019 is in Liberia, at a school in New City in the Johnsonville township near Mt. Barclay, Montserrado County. The school serves as a center for activity within the community, where hundreds of students spend all day without having water to drink because there is no clean water on campus. Hundreds of low-income residents in the New City area will have access to the well in the morning before school starts, and after school, and the hand pump will be regulated by school officials. This water project has improved the health of students and families, and will continue to have a significant impact on the learning environment at the school. Here are some photos and a map of the project.
Watch this video of Andy Jones at the New City Water Project, sponsored by the RHS Interact Club and a private donor, the McHenry Family. SEE the results of the donation for yourself!
To make a donation to this project please follow visit RHS Interact’s GoFundMe donation page.