I am pleased to be working together with Rtns Cindy Palermo and John Borst to promote and continue Dryden rotary sponsorship of the Cox’s Bazar Dryden Women’s School in Bangladesh. In 2019, our committee travelled to Kenora for an evening presentation to the RC of Kenora and to Winnipeg for an evening presentation to the Winnipeg Rotoract club at the University of Manitoba. We presented to our club and were overwhelmed by the generous support from members of over $2,000. Cindy organized a presentation by Tanyss Munro at the Dryden High School for her students and the public.
The School year for the Cox’s Bazar Dryden Women’s School is the calendar year (January to December). Our Dryden club met and exceeded the challenge for full year funding in 2019.  The 2019 school year budget of $10,000 provided education for 25 mothers and 125 children (less than $70 per student). We were able to access a district grant of $2,500, a contribution by the RC of Kenora of $1,000 and a one-time donation by the RC of Winnipeg-Assiniboine of $3,000.  I am pleased to report that we were able to raise the required $10,000 with a surplus of approximately $2,300 to be applied to our school sponsorship for the current 2020 school year. The Covid 19 virus has hit Bangladesh and the school is currently not holding classes but has retained staff to work on producing educational materials/programming and will resume classes when it is safe to do so.  Consequently, the cost to run the school for 2020 will be $8,000.
 
This year will present a challenge to raise money as ‘social distancing’ does not lend itself to most fund-raising events. We have not met recently as a committee but intend to discuss our 2020 plans in the near future and are fully committed to continue to raise money for full sponsorship for the current year and in the future. I have prepared and sent a report to the RC of Kenora and hope to retain ongoing financial support from them. John suggested that I send a report to the RC of Winnipeg-Assiniboine and to the Winnipeg Rotoract club. I will do that shortly in hope of getting some ongoing support in Winnipeg.
 
I have attached a separate report from Tanyss Munro (co-founder of Amarok Society) that outlines the scope and effect of the school that we sponsor. We are happy to see the expanding direct support of Rotarians in Bangladesh to Amarok schools as outlined in Tanyss’s report. Tanyss Munro offered to make herself available to the RC of Dryden as a guest speaker for a zoom meeting and I think that would be an excellent opportunity for our members to learn about the school that we sponsor.
 
Financial Report for 2019 school year:
 
 
Revenue
 
RC of Dryden
$2,000
Dryden Rotarian personal donations
$2,045
RC of Kenora  
$1,000
Fred Wright donation         
$  250
RC of Winnipeg-Assiniboine (one time)
$3,000
Rotary District Grant (one time)            
$2,500
Private business donation (one time)   
$1,518
TOTAL
$12,313
Expense
$10,000
Carry-over to 2020 year
$2,313
 
 
Thanks again for your support,
James Kroeker
 
Editor’s addendum: Tanyss will speak to the club via Zoom at the June 17th noon virtue meeting.