The West Jordan Rotary Club is all about making a difference. Whether it is distributing dictionaries to third grade classrooms within the boundaries of our club (over 2,500 last year), doing a global grant in the Philippines to help farmers irrigate their crops during the dry season, giving a high school student an opportunity to study academically for a school year abroad, endowing high school students with scholarships, or building a safe house in South Africa to prevent the violation of girls and women, West Jordan is there making a difference. If you are similarily interested in doing the same, this is the club for you! For a small sample of our many projects, please scroll below.
The marquee project of the West Jordan Rotary Club was to build the first ballfield in the State of Utah for disabled children so they could enjoy playing America's pastime.
The club regularly partners with other NGOs in order to make the world a better place to live. Days for Girls is an example of a great partnership better WJ Rotary and an NGO.
The club prides itself in a nice balance between global projects and community projects like ensuring the domestic violence center in West Jordan is well stocked with the necessary supplies to maintain operational status.
The club secured a $30,000 grant from Rotary International to partner with a Rotary club in the Philippines to bring irrigation water, in the dry season, to the fields of framers through the use of solar-powered pumps.
The club is a leader in its support of The Rotary Foundation. Pictured here is the club giving away a house in West Jordan to the Foundation.
Not only does the club partner with other NGOs, but also other Rotary Clubs to do more good in the world! Here the club purchased wheel chairs for kids in South America.
The club has a special place for the education of young girls. The club has made significant contributions to schools in South Africa and in Afghanistan.
Feed hungary children is a priority for a club that knows all too well where much is given, much is expected.
The Goshute Indian Reservation in Utah has been the recipient of a fire truck donated by the club but also recently a compressor to help keep the tires on the truck inflated as well as bike tires inflated to service the children of the community.
DNEWS
IBAPAH, Tooele County — The town of Ibapah received a big donation, which will help this isolated community when a fire breaks out. Ibapah sits on the west side of the Deep Creek Mountains, about an hour south of Wendover.
“It’s quiet and isolated. We like that,” said Richard Henriod, the volunteer fire chief for Ibapah. “Most people don’t even know where it is.” There’s only one paved road to get to town, which ends at the Goshute Indian Reservation just a few miles south. “It’s very peaceful out here. The solitude, the quiet, the privacy. And there’s no traffic,” Henriod said with a laugh.
However, even in a peaceful place, life can be tough. "For fuel, you have to go to Wendover, which is an hour away. Groceries, you go to Wendover, it's an hour away,” he said. “There are no stores for shopping.” "I guess if you're not used to it, it can be very tough,” said Melissa, who didn’t want to give her last name. “There's no Wal-Mart, no malls, anything, or fast food places." Life is even tougher when there’s a big wildfire burning nearby. Ibapah has a volunteer fire department, but they often have to call for help with those bigger fires.
"By the time somebody calls it in, you're probably looking at an hour and a half, two hours response time probably,” Henriod said. The town has two brush trucks and a structure truck for fighting fires. However, fire hydrants are scarce for the 140 or so who live in Ibapah and the Goshute Reservation. “Half the valley doesn’t have fire hydrants. That’s when we need help,” Henriod said. So, last month, he thought somebody was playing a joke on him when he got a phone call from someone wanting to donate a fire truck.
But, sure enough, during a ceremony in Wendover Friday, Henriod was handed the keys to a tinder fire truck capable of carrying 1,000 gallons of water.
“We are making a gift of our 1983 GMC FMC fire pumper truck,” said Stuart Richardson. “The truck runs great."
Richardson is with the West Jordan Rotary Club. The club bought the truck to give to a small town in Mexico that one of the club's members was from, but too much red tape kept them from getting it across the border. So, they found Ibapah.
"This truck only has 18,000 miles on it. It’s going to work well for the Ibapah people for a long time to come,” Richardson said. The West Jordan and South Jordan fire departments also donated hoses, nozzles and turnout gear.
"It'll help and it'll be good. We'll all feel a lot more safe,” Melissa said.
It is an older truck, but for Ibapah, it’s perfect. “This is good. We’re going to have better fire coverage,” Henriod said.