A fellow Rotarian does painting to raise money for children who need cleft lip and palate surgeries!
By George Lewis, Rotary Club of Venice-Nokomis, Florida, USA
Extraordinary.
Amazing.
Spectacular.
This is how I feel about Rotary. I’ll be 90 years old in June and joined Rotary at a relatively late age. I went on my first volunteer trip to Guatemala in 2006 to help install stoves for Mayan families. Those stoves changed their lives, and the experience changed mine.
As we installed stoves, I enjoyed talking with the families and asked them what other assistance would be helpful. Most often, someone would reply that clean drinking water would be the most significant improvement. I promised them I would help, and that became my purpose in Rotary.
My new Passion is to help kids with cleft lip and palate deformities. When I retired in 2000 after a career as a stockbroker with Merrill Lynch, I took an adult education class in oil painting and got hooked. I use only one palette knife and no brushes. I now use the hobby to support cleft palate surgeries. I have painted almost 800 pet portraits to raise money for this cause. The funds go to support Rotary global grants. (Watch my one-minute video to learn more.)
