VOCATIONAL PROJECTS AND CHARITABLE GIVING^*

Some, but by no means all, of our Vocational Service activities include:

• Governors State Scholarship:  A $1,000 scholarship is given annually to a non-traditional student through the Governors State University Foundation.
• GSU Promise Scholarship:  Club helps fund the Governors State University Promise, a scholarship created to assist economically disadvantaged students to complete a bachelor’s degree at GSU.  Eligible students must be active participants in the Dual Degree Program and be eligible for the Pell Grant.  To apply, students must have a GPA of 2.75/4.0 
• Public Safety Award: Given out to members of one of our local community police and fire departments for service promoting public safety. Nominations are received from the police and fire departments of our communities.  

^{*Some of these projects have been completed while others are ongoing.}

COMMUNITY PROJECTS AND CHARITABLE GIVING^*

Some, but by no means all, of our Community Service activities over the years include:

• Rich Township Food Pantry.  Club provides financial support to help fund the continuing needs of the hungry in our communities.
• Thanksgiving Baskets.  Purchase and delivery by the Club of Thanksgiving dinner for needy families in our communities.  We have delivered 12 to 25 meals each year we have participated in this project. Meals are delivered the Tuesday before Thanksgiving as our program that week. 
• Holiday gifts.  Club members purchase and deliver gifts to help make the Christmas Holidays brighter for disadvantaged children in our communities.
• Adopt-A-Highway. You may have seen members of our club out picking up litter either along Lincoln Highway or The Old Plank Road Trail in Matteson.
• Family Health Society Clinic in Chicago Heights, IL.  A collaborative project sponsored by the Rotarians of Chicago Heights, Homewood and Matteson, St. James Hospital and Health Centers, and the Cook County Department of Public Health.  The clinic opened its doors on May 31, 1996 and continues today.  Volunteers provide the health care services and other services, such as nutrition education, violence prevention education, parenting education, and supervised group encounters to help people recognize illness.  It was a winner of the 1997 Governor’s Home Town Award.
• Old Plank Road Trail Gazebo rest stop was funded and built and then donated to the Village of Matteson.
• Matteson Metra Station Shelter was funded and built and then donated to the Village of Matteson.
• Club members participated in Stand Down Day to provide coats and medical help for homeless veterans. The stated goals of a Chicago Standdown are to provide a respite from the rigors of life on the street, help veterans obtain housing and establish a source of income, and stabilize medical conditions.  However, just as important as these, is the opportunity to acknowledge the contribution veterans have made for all of us.
• We provided financial support to South Suburban PADS, Public Action to Deliver Shelter. South Suburban PADS began in 1990 as a response to the growing numbers of individuals and families becoming homeless in the “southland” region (Chicago’s south suburbs). Since it’s opening nearly 24 years ago, SSPADS has served 14,229 men, women and children; and 422,780 shelter nights have been provided.  In addition to emergency shelter SSPADS now manages 136 permanent supportive housing units, of which 77 are located in PADS’ owned Country Club Hills Wellness Center, an on-site health care program, employment services, intensive case management and food program.
• The Cancer Support Center:  Club provided financial support of Its Relay for Life. The Cancer Support Center mission is to give strength, guidance and support to anyone living with a cancer diagnosis, as well as to their loved ones.
• Our Club provided restoration support for the Matteson Historical Society railroad caboose. The Matteson Historical Society (MHS) brings together those people interested in history and especially in the history of the Village of Matteson. The Society discovers and collects any material which may help to establish or illustrate the history of the Matteson area. It also provides for the preservation and dissemination of this information. To do so, it offers educational services and provides partial support for the operation of an historical museum by the Village of Matteson.
• Health Fair: Matteson Rotary provides financial and volunteer support to the Rotary Club of Homewood in conjunction with Ingalls Health System who have partnered in providing free and low cost medical screenings to the public for the past 30 years.  The screenings offered include free total cholesterol blood test, free 12-lead EKG, free cancer screenings for skin, colon and breast health, free screenings for osteoporosis, arthritis & joint pain, back & neck pain, free allergy tests, vision exams & hearing screenings. Other blood tests are provided for as low as $10.

INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS & CHARITABLE GIVING^*

Some, but by no means all, of our International Service activities over the years include:

• Half the Sky Foundation:  Financial support for an orphanage in China. Half the Sky was created in order to enrich the lives of orphaned children in China. They provide model programs and caregiver training designed to offer loving, family-like care to children of all ages and abilities. It is their goal to ensure that every orphaned child has a caring adult in their life and a chance at a bright future.
• Bicycles Against Poverty:  Club provided financial support for a program which supplies bicycles for distribution in Uganda as a way to promote economic growth and independence.  Bicycles are utilized to increase accessibility to critical resources, facilitate community cooperation, and build financial management skills among low-income entrepreneurs. To date BAP has distributed over 830 bicycles to low income families in Uganda.
• Rotary Netra Eye Hospital:   Club purchased equipment for the Rotary Netra Eye Hospital in Visakhapatnam, AP India.  Dr. Sriram Sonty, a member of Matteson Rotary, was instrumental in establishing this facility.
• Sun Oven Project:  Matteson Rotary has purchased two sun ovens.  Since 1986, Rotarians have supportedSUN OVEN®projects on five continents, saving countless trees and improving the lives of thousands of people. Rotary still remains an active participant in numerous projects around the world.
• ShelterBox:  Matteson Rotary has purchased two shelter boxes. With ShelterBox we can respond instantly following natural and other disasters by delivering boxes of aid to those who need it most. Each ShelterBox supplies an extended family with a tent and essential equipment to use while they are displaced or homeless. Weare now firmly established at the forefront of disaster relief and our work constantly earns the respect of outside agencies.

• Medical Missions to Peru:  Helped fund Homewood Rotary’s medical mission to Peru.

• Alliance for Smiles:  Club helped fund medical missions to China to provide surgeries and treatment for children with cleft palates.Alliance for Smiles organizes and sends surgical teams to sites for two week missions. A surgical team is comprised of approximately 15 medical volunteers, supported by approximately 5 non-medical volunteers. During a mission 70 to 100 under-served children receive surgery for cleft lip & palate anomalies. The AFS team works side-by-side with local medical practitioners to exchange ideas on proper medical techniques and procedures, as well as to provide follow-up care.

• We Supplied text books for schools in Africa

• Heifer Internatioal:  We purchased livestock to be given away in Haiti following their recent Earthquake. Heifer International empowers families to turn hunger and poverty into hope and prosperity. Heifer links communities and helps bring sustainable agriculture and commerce to areas with a long history of poverty. Their animals provide partners with both food and reliable income, as agricultural products such as milk, eggs and honey which can be traded or sold at market.

  When many families gain this new sustainable income, it brings new opportunities for building schools, creating agricultural cooperatives, forming community savings and funding small businesses. Families share the training they receive, and pass on the first female offspring of their livestock to another family. This extends the impact of the original gift, allowing a once impoverished family to become donors and full participants in improving their communities.

• We assisted a church group sending a truck trailer of supplies to Haiti following the recent earthquake.
• We dug a water well in Mexico to supply clean water to a poor, rural community.
• Medical Equipment donations.  Club members collected donations of medical equipment (including the equipment from Northwestern University Dental School when it closed) for distribution in other countries.
• And, of course, our club’s donations to the Rotary International Foundation are helping to eradicate Polio in the world.

*Some of these projects have been completed while others are ongoing.