Awards

DITAC 2007

This Rotary Year ends with bang! At the recent District Turnover and Awarding Ceremonies (DITAC) held at the Hacienda Escudero in Tiaong, Quezon, the club garnered several top awards, including Outstanding Club, Outstanding President, Outstanding Leadership Award, Gold Award for Excellence for the Self-Help project, a Platinum Award for the club’s Livelihood Projects, and a Presidential Citation for balanced, high-impact projects to boot!

These awards show the high impact and quality of projects that the Club has undertaken this year—efforts that have been recognized not only in the District but also by RI President William Boyd.
Credit goes not only to the club’s energetic president, Pres. Lumen Gomez, who has provided an inspiring example to all Rotarians, but the behind-the-scenes support from all club officers and members, and the club’s partners in the community—the municipality of Los Baños, the University of the Philippines Los Baños, and other service and voluntary groups, including beneficiary-families and communities.
“The club’s success reflects the quality of effort that the members have given to make the projects succeed, the depth of their commitment to serve, and the strong support from the network of community partners,” said Pres. Lumen.

The self-help efforts that were recognized by the district, which is the centerpiece of Pres. Lumen’s stewardship, are off to a good start. The three-doe goat module, which started with a goat donated by a partner, is already beginning to make an impact in Putho-Tuntungin, the club’s adopted community. The does have already given birth to three baby goats (kids), which will be distributed later on to other beneficiary families.

The livelihood seminars for various groups of women and youth in the community have resulted in many women and out-of-school youths now having their own businesses to run. This not only helped the beneficiaries to earn their own income, but more importantly, uplifted the quality of life of their families, and for the women and youth to feel good about themselves, knowing that they are contributing to their families’ needs.

Many of the other ongoing projects will be continued, especially those that impact on significant sectors of the community. These include the Gawad Kalinga Rotaryville in cooperation with RCLB, the “Maginoong Driver” communication campaign, the livelihood seminar series, and environmental conservation projects with various partners, including the youth. These will be presented during the club turnover scheduled today at the College of Human Ecology (CHE) Research and Extension Center in UPLB.

According to incoming Pres. Lynda Rebugio, “With the help of the club and its strong membership base and partners, I will continue those projects that have high impact on the community, and also resurrect other projects that have lain dormant, but which have the potential to touch the lives of a huge number of people.” For example, the career fair, a project that was started during the time of PP Cora Villareal, and which became a model for the District vocational initiative, will be organized again this Rotary Year with partner community high schools to help prepare the youth not only for further studies but also for careers in business and other areas.
“Since I am in the field of environmental conservation, my greatest efforts will be in pushing for projects that address environmental degradation and that encourage care and nurturing for the environment, in cooperation with the youth and our local community,” Incoming Pres. Lynda further added. The other projects for implementation have been identified during the strategic planning exercise conducted in April and May in two club assemblies.