Rotary Community Heroes of Hope
Introducing "Rotary Community Heroes of Hope" - a podcast dedicated to showcasing the profound impact of Rotary in District 5330 and beyond. Join us as we explore the remarkable stories of rotary heroes and initiatives that are transforming communities and creating hope around the world.
Rotary Community Heroes of Hope
From Dialysis Machines to Global Audits: Dr. Kalfas' Rotary Adventure
What does it take to transform communities through heartfelt service and diligent stewardship? Join us on the Rotary Heroes of Hope podcast as we sit down with the inspiring Dr. Helene Kalfas, a visionary in the Rotary community. Dr. Kalfas, a past district governor and current global grants chair of Rotary District 5330, shares her remarkable journey and the impactful global grant projects she's spearheaded. We highlight the Rotary Club of Cathedral City's transformative project in Southern India, where a recent grant is providing vital dialysis machines to a local hospital. This initiative is a beacon of hope, addressing critical health issues and offering free dialysis to those most in need. Through Dr. Kalfas' story, you’ll discover how small clubs can make a massive impact through collaboration and dedication.
In addition to her leadership in grant projects, Dr. Kalfas delves into her role as a committed member of the Rotary Foundation's cadre, a specialized team ensuring the proper use of grant funds. She recounts her global experiences in auditing and verifying projects, including a virtual investigation of a Cleft Lip and Palate project in Bali during the pandemic. Dr. Kalfas emphasizes the importance of maintaining high standards in grant management, showcasing how meticulous stewardship can lead to profound community benefits. Tune in to learn how your contributions, no matter how small, can drive significant change and uphold the Rotary Foundation's mission of effective and transparent service worldwide.
Welcome to the Rotary Heroes of Hope podcast. I'm your host, judy Zolfakar, proudly serving as the current district governor for Rotary District 5330. Co-hosting with me is Jamie Zinn, our esteemed immediate past district governor. Heroes of Hope brings to light the remarkable stories of impact from Rotarians within our district. Our episodes shine a spotlight on transformative community projects taking root in our region and extend their reach to initiatives making waves on a global scale. Each story is a testament to the profound influence Rotarians exert on the lives of individuals and communities we are committed to serving. Join us in this inspiring journey. Dive deeper into the world of Rotary with us and witness firsthand the extraordinary ways in which Rotary touches lives and reshapes our world. Welcome to the Rotary Heroes of Hope podcast, where hope takes center stage and the heroes are the Rotarians among us, turning vision into action.
Speaker 1:Well, I am here today with a very wonderful guest, dr Helene Kalfas, who is also a past district governor of District 5330. Welcome, dr Helene. How are you? I'm good, helene Kalfas, who is also a past district governor of District 5330. Welcome, dr Helene. How are you? I'm good. Helene does a lot of things in Rotary and one of them is also a cadre for our global grant projects and she also assists many of our clubs with global grants. But, helene, why don't I have you introduce yourself, kind of talk about the things that you're doing in this space with Rotary, and then we can talk about a specific grant that you're working on now?
Speaker 2:I'd be happy to. I'm Helene Kalfas. I am a longtime Rotarian and past district governor of District 5330, and at present time I'm the global grants chair of the district for like the past five years.
Speaker 1:She's done such a great job. That's why.
Speaker 2:I have been very fortunate to have been able to participate in hundreds of grants, way back when, Once upon a time, we called them matching grants. Now, of course, we call them global grants. And all over the world, Rotary is just doing such remarkable things and many of our members really don't understand how important and impactful the grant programs are that the Rotary Foundation provides. You know I've always said that Rotary is an opportunity provides. You know I've always said that Rotary is an opportunity and all a Rotarian has to do is grab hold of that opportunity, and they can almost do anything anywhere in the world. So the organization is just a phenomenal place to do things that sitting home on your couch is not going to allow you to do.
Speaker 1:That's so true, and you know that is really the purpose of the Heroes of Hope podcast is to point out all of the impact that our Rotarians are making in our home, around in our region and also around the world, and this particular one that we're focusing on today came out of. Was it Cathedral City that put this grant together? Can you tell us a little bit about the grant, where and how it started and kind of where it is at this time?
Speaker 2:Well, I've been involved with a district in India in Southern India District 3201, for many, many years. I was there as the group study exchange team leader in 2013. I was there in 2007, right after my governorship to help my husband inspect cataract surgical sites for the Rotary Foundation, so I have a long-time relationship with this particular district. Their stewardship is excellent in terms of grants and we were made aware by one of my rotary family in District 3201 that there was a grant that needed a partner to provide dialysis machines for a local hospital.
Speaker 2:India has a terrific problem with diabetes. About 40% of the population there is diabetic and, as a result, they have a lot of severe kidney problems that require dialysis. So we have a lot of poor people that can't afford it and through the Rotary Grant Program, we actually set up dialysis that is free for those that can't afford it, and District 3201 does a great job of that. So when my Rotary family member notified me that this grant needed a partner, I was very eager to see if we couldn't help. The Rotary Club of Cathedral City had never done an international grant before.
Speaker 1:So this was a new process for them.
Speaker 2:This was a new process and since I am in that club, they naturally asked me to do it Right. Can you help us? I was delighted to be able to do it and, you know, the club is so small that our contributions to the Rotary Foundation have not really achieved the level that would have allowed us to participate in this grant were it not for our district 5330. Having a district pool of district-designated funds, and we applied for the district-designated funds and were approved, and the grant, as written, was approved by the Rotary Foundation and is in process of being implemented as we speak. This is a real example of even the smallest Rotary Club being able to do outstanding, life-saving projects Truly life-saving, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Because when it comes to hemodialysis and diabetes, you can't fool around, you must. To prolong their lives, they have to have dialysis. So this is really remarkable for this small club.
Speaker 1:And how many members are in that Cathedral City Club.
Speaker 2:We have approximately 22 at the present time. Not all are active and that is considered somewhat of a small club. Some clubs, of course, in this district are over 100 members, so they have a lot more that they can use than we have. But because of the district and having that pool, we were allowed to take advantage of that and again, it's an opportunity. Rotary is an opportunity.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and it really is exciting to see that you know, this club here in Cathedral City is making such an impact on the lives, literally the lives of individuals in India and that's something that you don't get, that opportunity very often to make such an impact like that around the world.
Speaker 2:You are absolutely right. And how many people have the opportunities we Rotarians can take advantage of, the opportunities we Rotarians can take advantage of, and it really makes you feel good. It also it really reinforces the importance of contributing to the Rotary Foundation so that we can generate that money to be able to do good in the world. And you know, we Rotarians refer to ourselves as do-gooders and we're not embarrassed to admit that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good thing, and you know, I know that we have both Rotarians and general public and our community listening to this podcast. Can you do kind of a brief high-level primer of how the money, the foundation money, is given at the club level and then you know kind of the pathway it goes, so that it comes back, so that we can do these good things?
Speaker 2:Yes, I can.
Speaker 1:As a matter of fact, I love to do it.
Speaker 2:When we contribute our money to the Rotary Foundation, it goes into an account that is designated to stay put for three years. During that three-year period of time it's either earning interest or dividends, so that at the end of the three-year period of time the money then is all removed from that account. Then we squeeze off the dividends or the interest, and that goes towards the expenses that the TRF needs in order to function Right, and we take the bolus of the money that was contributed and we split that in half. One half of it goes into a designated account called the World Fund. The other half is designated to the districts that contributed it, and it's called we call it DDF district designated funds. Those funds sit at the Rotary Foundation until we use them, and it's important for us to use them because that's why we gave the money in the first place to do good in the world.
Speaker 2:So when we do something like grants a district grant or a global grant we use that district designated fund pool.
Speaker 2:If we do a global grant, though, we not only use the pool that's at the district designated funds account in the home office, we also get an 80% match for that DDF that we use from the World Fund. So we're getting 80% more that we can add to the amount we're going to use for a project. When we take that amount from, let's say, my little club and we add that up and then we take the same amounts from another club somewhere in the world that needs a project, like India, they also have their DDF. They also can get their 80% match from the World Fund and so they elevate the amount of money they have available to them and when we put that together we're capable of doing remarkable things. A global grant starts at a minimum of $30,000 and a maximum of $400,000. So you can see we have a very, very big area of being able to do great things, and some of our projects are strictly $30,000 projects and some are $400,000 projects.
Speaker 1:Some of them are bigger and some of them are bigger, it is amazing to me.
Speaker 1:I mean the way that Rotary is set up, that the donations that we give at the club level go up and are put into that account and not touched.
Speaker 1:I mean that balance, that principle is not touched and Rotary International runs only on the interest of the money that is donated from Rotarians all over the world Again, 1.4 million Rotarians, any of all of us that participate and donate to the fund that money is just sitting there and that it grows to a level of being able to do these amazing projects. And I think the thing that always excited me whenever I heard this story about how when we donate, then it gets matched, you know. So if I donate $10,000, $8,000 more gets added to that. All of a sudden, it starts really making an impact. That really gets exciting because it's like we're making our money grow and then using it to impact people around the world and in our own communities, because a lot of these global grants are also being done in our communities. And that's really exciting to me because it seems like, first of all, smart business, second of all, really impactful and, as you always say, an opportunity for Rotarians to really make an impact around the world.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know I have had some complaints from members that well, all of our money goes over there. That's not true. We do projects right here, here in the Coachella Valley, where I live, and in Riverside. We do a lot of projects right in this district. So it's not just over there, it's over here too.
Speaker 1:Over here too, I know we have a couple of them. We're going to be talking about those in the near future as they start coming together. Helene, since we have you here because you have a very special classification as well I don't know if that's the right word, but a special job you do in Rotary called a cadre Can you tell us what that is? And I think it really speaks to the. You know how well we try to manage these projects as well, so tell us what a cadre is. The?
Speaker 2:cadre was formed along around 2006, I think, and I became a member in 2007. I was one of the first members in it. It is a group of people whose professions are are needed to verify things about our grant programs and the projects that we do. My husband had joined as an orthopedic surgeon, so that was his profession that he offered as a volunteer. My PhD is in speech pathology and audiology, so I have classifications for disease prevention and treatment, maternal and child care and basic education and literacy. So I've got three classifications in the cadre.
Speaker 2:We have about 750 cadre members from all over the Rotary world, all different professions, many of them in medicine, many of them in education and a lot of them in accounting, because we will do spot check accounting on grants throughout the world. The cadre is kind of like the grant police, if we want to put it in common terms Stewards, yeah, because what we do is we really give the Rotary Foundation information about what's going on with these grants that they need to know, because we want our Charity Navigator four stars to be maintained at all costs, and in order to do that, we have to ensure that the stewardship of Rotary funds, of foundation funds, are being handled properly, and this is what the cadre does. My last assignment was during the pandemic, so I couldn't go to Bali Gosh darn it but I did a virtual examination of a project for Cleft Lip and Palate in Bali that they've been doing for years a marvelous, marvelous project of fixing these children, and this is the kind of thing we do. I had to investigate their finances and how they were treating these kids and whether they were giving them hearing tests and who was doing the surgery, and it was just a phenomenal opportunity for me to get to know about this project. And then we all have to write a very detailed report for the Rotary Foundation attesting to what we saw, what we did and what we thought about that, so we can help ensure our members that every dime they put into the Rotary Foundation is being spent properly.
Speaker 2:That's really what we need to do and we do a great job of it, and we're always asking for more volunteers who want to do it and who are qualified. We are vetted by the cadre committee at Rotary International and our classifications are given based upon our professions. So it's an interesting organization In this district. At the present time we have three Cogre members. One is in financial accounting. One is in economic development and peace prevention of non-peace Right, and then, of course, there's mine. I've got the multiple classifications. My husband is no longer a member of the cadre, he is retired and we also assist our membership in grant writing, implementation planning and we want to be used. That's why we volunteer, because we want to make sure that our foundation consistently remains at the top level of all the foundations in the world.
Speaker 1:I think that's so important because you know, you hear sometimes where you know people have a wonderful heart and they have a heart of giving and then that money gets sent somewhere that doesn't actually land where it's supposed to or do what it's supposed to do. And it is really reassuring that Rotary International and every step of the way through this process, we're really being good stewards of the money the money that's coming in, the money that's being held so that it can grow, the money that's being matched and then through the process of the actual grant and how it's implemented and how it's actually helping, so that we're ensuring that those dollars that are you know everybody, those are important and that's an important reason why somebody gives is they want it to do good and they don't want it to go somewhere where it's not being useful. So it's very good stewards of the process.
Speaker 2:You're absolutely right. I couldn't agree more. I can't speak highly enough about the foundation. It's been for me, it is really the apex of Rotary. It is our signature. The foundation does everything that we ever imagined we could do, and then some. So, whatever you can think of, we do and we do it right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's definitely a lot of focus in our community. I don't know them all, haven't had them all memorized, but maternal health and I know we've been working on the polio challenge for very many years and are very close to eradicating polio in the world due to all the work with Rotarians around the world for many years. But it is a pleasure to have had you here, Helene. Is there anything else you'd like to share or anything more you'd like to share with us about Global Grants and or the foundation before we go today?
Speaker 2:Well, I would like to ask everybody who hears this to remember to contribute to the Rotary Foundation, because if it's only $10 that you can give, that $10 will buy two insecticide impregnated mosquito nets to get rid of malaria. It'll pay for two obstetrical sterile mama bags for women who give birth out in the bush. If that's only $10 that you can afford, and if you can afford $10,000, think of what that can do Amazing, saving lives all over the world.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for joining us. I hope we can have you back sometime with the next project that you're working on to talk about more impact that we're making around the world. Thank you. So that wraps up this episode of Heroes of Hope. We are so happy that we have an audience out there listening. We want you to subscribe, share and tell your friends about the Rotary Community Heroes of Hope, because that's how we get the word out about the impact we're having in this world.