Like most Rotarians, Lon and Helen are dismayed by hunger, thirst, extreme poverty, illness, slavery, injustice, etc.  As many BH-BL Rotarians already know, Helen and Lon have completed multiple Rotary Grants on 5 continents.   Their current thinking is instead of giving Fish (man eats for a day), or giving a Fishing Pole (man eats for a lifetime), that they want to give the fishing poles to the village WOMEN (her family and community are uplifted for generations.).  The “Fishing Pole” has 3 components:

1. A MoonCatcher Kit so schoolgirls can handle their menstruation, and are better able to stay in school.
2. K-12 Education and Vocational Education and Vocational Ideas.
3. Micro-Loans

These don’t cost much money.  The MoonCatchers are $5.  The Education provided electronically is $7.

Lon’s co-presenter, “Awesome Alice”, was born in extreme poverty, was once homeless, lives frugally (Alice doesn’t own a washing machine.  She still uses a bucket.)   Yet when she heard these ideas, she immediately put up $25,000, a substantial portion of her life savings: ($15,000 for items 1 & 2;  $10,000 for Micro-Loans.)  Niskayuna Rotary drafted a Global Grant to obtain TRF match money.   And they are hoping BH-BL might like to chip in.  Every $10 pays for 3 MoonCatchers after The Rotary Foundation’s 50% match, and earns Paul Harris Credits.