ISC and RFE Committee Updates

Posted by Edwin Bos on Mar 05, 2025

We are excited to present the following International Project Opportunities available for clubs in our District. These projects have been preliminarily vetted, and initial agreements have been made with the host Rotary Clubs overseas.

This is a fantastic opportunity for clubs, or even individual Rotarians, to participate in smaller Global Grant projects where the Host Club takes the lead on grant writing and project implementation.

For each project, the Host Club has agreed that a District 6250 Club will be the Primary International Partner, and a Rotary Friendship Exchange will occur upon project completion, providing a chance to witness the Magic of Rotary firsthand.

Project Opportunities:

India District 3060 (Gujarat): Dental Project
Global Grant Project Value: $44,258
A District 6250 Club can participate as follows:

$3,200 Club Donation
$3,200 DDF (District Matching)
$2,560 World Fund (80% matching from the World Fund)

Tanzania District 9214:

Global Grant Project Value: TBD

A District 6250 Club can participate as follows: TBD

The project is currently only a concept and is being developed by various Tanzanian Rotary Clubs. A Rotary Friendship Exchange Team from District 6250 visiting the Netherlands in 2024 and heard from a Dutch woman who is aiding a Maasai Tribe school located in the deserts of northern Tanzania. The project aims to bring a sustainable water supply to this school. Project HAS NOT been vetted by District 6250 ISC Committee but a Powerpoint is available.

Brazil District 4590 (Sao Paolo area): Vaccination Promotion Campaign
Global Grant Project Value: $44,850
A District 6250 Club can participate as follows:

$3,500 Club Donation
$3,500 DDF (District Matching)
$2,800 World Fund (80% matching from the World Fund)

CLAIMED BY EDGERTON: This Global Grant was claimed by the Edgerton Rotary Club. Kirsten Almo, Cathe Engler and Marc Augsburger of the Edgerton Club met with Alexandre Censi of the Rotary Club of Jundiaí Serra do Japy in mid-January. Basic terms of the grant were agreed as outlined above. The following week the Edgerton Club voted to participate and will be the Primary International Partner. Congratulations Edgerton!

India District 3060 (Gujarat): Laparoscopy Unit
Global Grant Project Value: $32,134
A District 6250 Club can participate as follows:

$2,300 Club Donation
$2,300 DDF (District Matching)
$1,840 World Fund (80% matching from the World Fund)

CLAIMED BY FORT ATKINSON: This Global Grant was claimed by the Fort Atkinson Rotary Club. Fort Atkinson will be the primary International Partner. A possible future RFE has been agreed and District 3060 has agreed to consider funding for any District 6250 Global Grants where one of our Clubs is the Host Club.

In the April Dispatch additional project opportunities will be added to this list including requests by District 6250 Clubs for partial funding of Global Grants in which they are involved as International Partners.

For more information on how to get involved and how the ISC Committee can assist, please contact Past District Governor Edwin Bos at edwin@bosdesignbuilders.com.

We are thrilled to announce several exciting Rotary Friendship Exchange (RFE) opportunities for 2025! If you're interested in participating, please don’t hesitate to reach out to any of us. At the moment, only the Newfoundland Trip is open for participation.

Additionally, if you’re passionate about international travel and eager to share your knowledge and connections, consider stepping up to lead an RFE. This could be the perfect time for you to take on this rewarding role!

Upcoming Friendship Exchange Opportunities for 2025:

District 7815 – Newfoundland, Canada (September 2025)

Team Leader: Dave Clemens (dclemens541@gmail.com)

District 1590 – Netherlands (Mini-exchange, April 2025)
Team Leader: Edwin Bos (edwin@bosdesignbuilders.com)
Note: This trip was advertised in the Dispatch and is currently full.
District 2231 – Poland (Mini-exchange, April 2025)
Team Leader: Edwin Bos (edwin@bosdesignbuilders.com)
Note: This trip was advertised in the Dispatch and is currently full.
District XXXX – Sweden (June 2025)
Team Leader: Dave Clemens
Note: This trip was advertised in the Dispatch and is currently full.
District XXXX – Turkey (May 2025)
Team Leader: Mark Etrheim
Note: This trip was advertised in the Dispatch and is currently full.
District XXXX – Italy (Spring 2025)
Club Only RFE by La Crosse Valley View Rotary
Note: This trip is full.

For more details, and to express interest in the open exchanges, please contact us directly.

Past Friendship Exchanges:

Here’s a list of our recent Friendship Exchanges. The list is continuously updated at Rotary District 6250 Friendship Exchange. If you have participated in a past RFE and don’t see it listed, or if you have a trip report you’d like to share, please let us know!

District 9220 – New Zealand (November 2024)
Team Leader: Mark Etrheim
District 3850 – Philippines (May 2024)
Team Leader: Aaron Frank
See gallery and diary of the Philippines Trip.
District 1590 – Netherlands (Mini-exchange, April 2024)
Team Leader: Edwin Bos
See Netherlands Trip Report.
District 4620 – Brazil (April 2024)
Team Leader: Mark Etrheim
District 1913 – Croatia (September 2023)
Team Leader: Edwin Bos
See Croatia Trip Report.
District XXXX – Hungary (April 2023)
Team Leader: Mark Etrheim
District 2231 – Poland (October 2022)
Team Leader: Edwin Bos
See Poland Trip Report.
District 4340 – Chile (January 2020)
Team Leader: Dave Clemens
See Chile Trip Report.
District 5520 – New Mexico (October 2019)
District 5520 – Netherlands (May 2019)
Team Leader: Edwin Bos
District 3850 – Philippines (March 2019, by Fort Atkinson Interact)
Team Leader: Jim Nelson
District 9640 – Brisbane, Australia (February 2019)
Team Leader: Mark Moody
District 3231 – Tamil Nadu, India (January 2019)
Team Leader: Dave Clemens
District 4920 – Argentina (August 2018)
Team Leader: Mark Etrheim
District 2410 – Latvia/Sweden (May 2018)
Team Leader: Dave Clemens
District 4455 – Peru (November 2017)
Team Leader: Dave Clemens
District 3060 – Gujarat, India (January 2017)
Team Leader: Dave Clemens
District 3850 – Philippines (January 2017)
Team Leader: Edwin Bos
See Philippines Trip Reports #1 and #2.
District 3292 – Nepal (October 2016)
Team Leader: Dave Clemens
District 3850 – Philippines (January 2015)
Team Leader: Darla Leick
See Philippines Trip Report.
District XXXX – Australia (2015)
District 9110 – Nigeria (2014)
District 3230 – Tamil Nadu, India (February 2012)
Team Leader: Dean Ryerson

Open World Program:
We also have Rotary Clubs participating in the Open World Program with District 6900 Georgia and District 6250 (La Crosse Clubs).

Republic of Georgia & Valley View Rotary Club (October 13-21, 2023)
Final Report available.

*****

This is the translation from Polish of the attached promotional flyer – the Rotary Club of Janesville is facilitating the opportunity for six Parker High School Arts Academy students to participate in some concerts in Poland this coming summer.

While operetta reigned supreme on the European continent, musicals were winning the hearts of music lovers in Great Britain and the United States. This is where singing and dancing are perfectly integrated with the presented story, and the whole thing aims to evoke authentic, complex emotions - here laughter, tears, uneasy tension and expected relief reign simultaneously, and all this is often glued together by excellent music. We will recall the most famous Broadway hits, including works by one of the greatest musical masters, Andrew Lloyd Webber (The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Evita), but also melodies from favorite musicals for children from Walt Disney productions. We will show the diversity of this genre, as well as the whole spectrum of emotions it evokes in listeners. And our special guests straight from the United States will move and delight! Students from the renowned Parker Arts Academy in Janesville, Wisconsin, will visit Poland in August to share their talents with us! We have selected six of the most talented vocalists, whose interpretations of selected musical songs will certainly touch the hearts of Polish viewers. They will be accompanied by the Bydgoszcz Symphony Orchestra, whose director, Emilia Czekała, is a Rotarian active in the Rotary Bydgoszcz Stare Miasto club, which is not without significance in this case! This project can come into being thanks to Rotary International, a global humanitarian organization that brings together people from various professions who share a common goal of making the world a better place through humanitarian service. This organization is famous for organizing youth exchanges, among other things. It is the friendly social activists from Poland and Wisconsin who have joined forces to support the organization of this unique artistic undertaking, which will be the August concerts "A Walk Along Broadway"!

Helpful resources

https://rotary6250.org/page/friendship-exchange

https://www.rotary6250.org/photoalbums/rfe-philippines-2024

https://www.rotary6250.org/photoalbums/rfe-netherlands-2024

https://www.rotary6250.org/photoalbums/rfe-croatia-2023