Newtown Rotary Updates and Coming Events

Newtown Rotary was proud to host Karen King at a recent weekly meeting who presented an update on progress at the New Sight Eye Clinic in Liberia.

The clinic opened in 2009 and is serving 1.1 million people in the area around Monrovia through their mission of providing affordable eye care, corrective lenses and sight-restoring cataract treatment in a country that has only 4 practicing ophthalmologists.

Thanks to a Rotary Global Grant initiated in Liberia and supported by Newtown Rotary, among others, the clinic has been able to add the equipment, logistics and medicine to provide actual treatment whereas before they were limited to doing screenings and then referring patients elsewhere for treatment.

Their long term goal is to expand beyond this single clinic into additional clinics thereby expanding eye health screenings, access to critical eye care and speedier treatment options.

Upcoming Newtown Rotary events and programs include:

Our annual Pancake Breakfast at Edmonds Town Hall on Saturday December 1st running from 8 a.m. until noon. Tickets are available at the door or from Newtown Rotary members. 

We once again are collecting bikes to be refurbished and presented to deserving kids through Danbury Youth Services. Last year the club received 57 bikes from Newtown residents and a total of 160 were provided to children in the Danbury area. Generally, bikes with a wheel diameter of 20 inches or less are preferred but there may also be some need for larger bikes as well. Please contact Pat Caruso at  203-426-8870 for further information or to arrange pick-ups or drop-offs before December 1st.

The Newtown Rotary Foundation is proud to be partnering with the Newtown Fund to collect, provide and distribute gifts for their Holiday Basket Program. Interested individuals can either make a monetary donation to "The Newtown Fund" at PO Box 641 Newtown CT 06470; 'adopt' a needy family by providing a complete holiday meal and gifts for each family member; drop-off new clothing, toys, food, blankets, etc., at Sandy Hook School on December 15th between 7:30 and 9 am; or volunteer to help deliver gift baskets. Please contact Rick Mazzariello at 203-270-9190 or e-mail him at Rmazzariello@aol.com for further details.

Our annual raffle will feature an electric generator complete with installation and will be held in spring of 2013 - details to follow. Tickets will be available early next year.