Two friends Peter Neufeldt and Doug Mortin have used their love of motorcycles to raise money for the Ripple Effect Program. For more than twelve years the "Rotary Rides" gather on a Saskatchewan summer day to ride and raise funds for their favourite Rotary program.
On this episode Peter and Doug tell us about the ride and the program it supports. The next ride is set for July 9, 2022. If you wish to join the ride or support the Ripple Effect Program you can contact our guests at:
Doug Mortin - dougmortin@myaccess.ca
Peter Neufeldt - pwneufeldt@accesscomm.ca
Two friends Peter Neufeldt and Doug Mortin have used their love of motorcycles to raise money for the Ripple Effect Program. For more than twelve years the "Rotary Rides" gather on a Saskatchewan summer day to ride and raise funds for their favourite Rotary program.
On this episode Peter and Doug tell us about the ride and the program it supports. The next ride is set for July 9, 2022. If you wish to join the ride or support the Ripple Effect Program you can contact our guests at:
Doug Mortin - dougmortin@myaccess.ca
Peter Neufeldt - pwneufeldt@accesscomm.ca
Welcome to this episode of Talking Rotary. I'm PeterTonge and I'm a member of the Rotary Club of Winnipeg Charleswood.
Mandy Kwasnica:And I Mandy Kwasnica the Past President and also a member of the Rotary Club of Winnipeg, Charleswood. But we are so happy you joined us here and I are so excited for this new podcast and thankful to our many listeners. Let's start talking Rotary.
Peter Tonge:Hi, Mandy, we just had a bit of a Rotary district 5550 homecoming, because you and I are from that district around Winnipeg. And we talked to two past district governors, Doug Mortin and Peter Neufeldt, about two things, the ripple effect program, which our guests will hear more about, and the way that they raise money for the ripple effect program.
Mandy Kwasnica:It was a really interesting podcast, I think our listeners are going to learn lots about the work that our district is doing, specifically in Guatemala, through the program called the ripple effect program. And they go through a lot of details about some of the success that they're having through this program and how long it's been around. And I think it's it's a sixth really a spy inspiring and actually, when you listen to hear how many schools they have built, I'm in complete awe, I have been contributing to this. There are clubs as well, as I think most clubs in our district are all involved heavily in and I had no idea was that many schools.
Peter Tonge:No, I knew it was quite a few. But I didn't know that by far or that long for that matter. So that's interesting to learn. And then as our listeners will learn these, these young men then go out and ride their motorcycles to raise money. So that in itself is kind of neat. So
Mandy Kwasnica:yeah, really neat and pretty impressive that it even a small group of riders what they can do, I thought it was incredibly impressive how much they've been able to raise when they don't even actually have all that many riders going.
Peter Tonge:No, they do well. So Okay, everybody, enjoy thi s episode of Talking Rotary. It's gonna be fun. Hi, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Talking Rotary .
Mandy Kwasnica:I'm Mandy Kwasnica
Peter Tonge:And I'm Peter Tonge. And we're here with two Past Distrist Governors, Peter Neufeldt, and Doug Morton, and we're going to talk about two different things this evening. We're going to talk about the ripple effect program in Rotary Riders. Hello, gentlemen, how are you? Good, who say this is a little bit of a Rotary district 5550 reunion because it's not very often that everyone on the podcast is from the same district. So Man dy and I are in the same club and 5550and both Doug and Peter have been Past Distrist Governors and 5550. So it's a bit of a homecoming for all of us. Now, having said that, who wants to tell me a little bit about the ripple effect program.
Peter Neufeldt:In its Peter Neufeldt here, I would love to tell you a little bit about that. And they saw that there was a need. They built a school. They were builders. They wanted to they saw the difference that this could make there was a mindset of involving other people and growing the business. growing the business of helping people. Mother Teresa said, If you can't feed 100 People just feed one. And the the ripple effect can't improve every school. There are 17,000 schools in Guatemala, but we can certainly do one. And in 1999, the Rotary Club of Winnipeg West decided to build one school. And that one school began they called the program the ripple effect is that drop of water creates ripples. And even if it's just one drop, the ripples are there. The Rotary Club of Regina EastView got involved with this 10 years later, in 19, pardon me in 2009, Peter Peters and myself and our spouses, Peter and Margaret and Janet and myself, went to Guatemala to see what this program was all about. The first program, the first school that we saw was the shoal, which school was just finished. But they were up on the mountain. And when the rains came, people couldn't get there. And so they built a road, they couldn't afford to pay the whole road or concrete a whole road. So they built concrete strips down so that a car could drive up on the concrete if they were careful to stay in the tracks. We saw another school, what is now the CORCHADO school, and they were laying stones so that people could get to the school in all kinds of weather. We built relationships with the Rotarians in that Rotary Club of Rotella Leo, in South Western Guatemala, and we continue to relate to those people today. The district 40 to 50. Guatemala has a just heard, built so many schools worked with us worked with the ripple effect program, local. Local businesses have gotten involved in providing bricks and cement and in providing other programs that can help with a building. And we built schools, but we've also built kitchens and you can be what a Malian government provides rice for them to prove for the schools to provide food for the children are but the kitchens were deplorable. Just a tin roof suspended by some poles. Well, with the help of the ripple effect program, we have been able to build kitchens that are really kitchens, and the teamwork that makes the tree work, we could really see that happen, as the women just have fun working togethe r, providing nutrition for their kids. It also spun a business venture, they said, hey, you know what, we need to have more than rice. And they started planting vegetable gardens. And the gardens produced more than they thought. And they began to sell the vegetables. And so there was this, the children were held, the community was held all around. When we were there, there was a group of people that came together and asked us to please build a school. There was a Mayan lady that begged us.Please, she couldn't speak Spanish. Her Mayan was translated to Spanish from Spanish to English. She said, Please, for our children, build a school, we were able to do that. With the generosity of people in District 5550 of the big things in the school system was the lack of toilets, outdoor toilets, many of them didn't work. And it became a real problem, particularly for the girls to come to school. Rebuild with every school, functional toilets, toilets, where you can wash your hands, which just weren't there before. And all kinds of other amenities. And the school that this mind lady asked for became a reality for that community.
Mandy Kwasnica:That's a lot of money that you've raised in this last year. So I imagine that that number is probably pretty big when you consider all the years that you guys have been doing this. And what is the direct impact to ripple effect like how many schools have you been able to build or how do you how do you manage that part of it?
Peter Neufeldt:Oh we're in the in the neighborhood of 100 schools that we built for now, but since one of the things that the program has done, we there are a number of grant opportunities and and the matching programs. For for some time, the Government of Canada had a program where we could match. And then there's the Rotary Foundation as well. And since the inception of the program, more than $3 million has been invested in educational projects in Guatemala, and we have had more than 580 are one of the things we haven't talked about is scholarships. And in addition to building schools, we look at how can we help these children to get a an education. And really our vision is to create an environment and and opportunities for children in poor situations in Guatemala to achieve an education. And so we've had more than 100 schools that say that we built or refurbished 580 high school, middle and high school scholarships. And we've invested just in this last year 19 Pardon me, it's two years ago, 2018 19 we invested over $130,000, building or refurbishing classrooms, and that includes the washrooms Why did enough funds to build a three, three, classroom addition, we built three classrooms earlier, the because of what we did the influx of students was so great, they needed another three classrooms. And they were able, because of some local help, as I mentioned about the cement factory, they were able to save enough money that they could also build a kitchen. And to get another grant for that.
Peter Tonge:Fabulous.
Peter Neufeldt:Then another thing is installing computers that fun SEPA organization is a local Guatemalan organization, they have ties to Microsoft, they refurbished computers. And we've been able to SEPA put in 17 computers into 36 schools in the last several years with a project cost of over $160,000. That's 160,000. Us. So the communities get into this, and the parents want to come and learn some computer skills. This is just opening the whole new world for those folks. It is just amazing.
Mandy Kwasnica:There's so imagine that demand is pretty great in Guatemala overall for new schools to be built. So how do you select what areas you're going into and building these schools?
Peter Neufeldt:That's one of the the really strong points of the ripple effect program is our liaison with Rotary Rotary Clubs. In Guatemala. We work only through the rotary clubs, and they identify the need. And then we partner with them. And we said, Can you really do this, this is what needs to happen. The Rotary Foundation sets some very strict guidelines for getting grants that we have to make sure that the the there's no water contamination from the toilets, that there there's good water supply, that everything is is done according to code so that the schools are substantial, they won't collapse on them, the washrooms are well done and so on. And Ruthie, the health we have a a Canadian ripple effect committee. There's also a Guatemalan ripple effect committee. And we work together as a team to ensure that all the funds that come are actually used in the way that they were intended to be used, and that the results are there that all the goals are being met.
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Peter Tonge:Now this doesn't sound like this project, or this program is going to end anytime soon. Do you see it going a long way in the future?
Doug Mortin:I think it will, Peter. You know, we've promoted it over the years, as, as Peter mentioned, with all the funds raised going to record to the program. There's no additional hidden costs that go elsewhere. And I think that's one of the reasons why it's so well supported by by donors, who are also concerned that all their money is going to the program rather than some good being siphoned off to cover expenses.
Mandy Kwasnica:What about the sustainability piece of it? Like, how do you keep these schools running? Because I'm sure like, it's, it's easy. It's not easy to raise the money, but it's easy to come up with a plan, build the school, but then there's also the expense of keeping the school running. How do you how do you maintain that?
Peter Neufeldt:That's a great question. We really, and that's where it really helps having the Guatemalan Rotary Clubs involved, because they build liaisons with the schools. And we've had a couple of occasions where the schools were starting to become neglected, with encouragement from the rotary clubs, and also from the, from the Ministry of Education, of, for example, we don't for every school, we have a relationship with the Ministry of Education that in every school that we build, they guarantee that there will be qualified teachers. Okay. When we began, many of the teachers were only a great 12 graduates, if that they, the level of education has gone up substantially. And so there's so much community support, whole communities have been transformed because of this. And we had an example of a school just kind of and not being maintained. With some help from the Rotarians and a new principal that came in, it was totally rejuvenated. So we try to stay up on top of that whole thing. And I guess that's the difference between having a project of hey, we're going to build a school, to having a program where it isn't just a one off, we want to have that sustainability.
Peter Tonge:Doug, we've heard quite a bit about the ripple effect program and that great work. Can they take a few minutes to tell us about the rotary riders and the motorcycle fundraiser you guys do to help financial?
Doug Mortin:Peter and Mandy, thank you very much for allowing us this opportunity to talk about our motorcycle ride and, and the project in Guatemala. Peter and I are both members of the Rotary Club of Johnny EastView. And both of us are motorcycle enthusiasts and have been so for a number of years. About 12 years ago 2009 I guess it was Peter and I rode to Saskatoon one early early Saturday morning and joined a group of motorcyclists who were on a ride with the Mennonite Central Committee and from Saskatoon we spent most of the day traveling north of there and returned back to Saskatoon and it was all part of a fundraising project that they had. They had initiated on our return to Regina the following day, Peter and I got talking about these motorcycle rides and thought there's no reason at all why we couldn't establish a motorcycle ride out of Regina. And so we called it the the rotary riders. And we decided also that since since the ripple effect program was in its infancy about the same time that we would that we would support that with any funds that we were able to raise. And so that was 12 years ago, and we have we have posted the ride every year since then, usually in July or August. And over those 12 years we've had a number of Rotarians and motorcycle enthusiasts who have continued to join us every year. But also every year we get new ones some leave some We will wait. But we always seem to have about the same number each year. This year, as an example, we had six motorcycles seven riders, who started the ride at 830 on August the 20/21, August the 21st. And we rode to Moose Jaw have for breakfast that was hosted for us by the Rotary Club of Moose Jaw walk them all. And they have to first cyclist in their club. Greg Bathgate and Monty Bennett who then after brea kfast joined us on the ride. So in fact, we had eight bikes and and nine riders.
Peter Tonge:Now in order to raise funds, do people get sponsorships? Or how does it relate to the to the writing around?
Doug Mortin:Every year since we started, we reached out to friends and relatives and Rotarians and anybody we knew, we thought might be prepared to support the ripple effect program. Sure. And over the years, we were able to develop a fairly concise description of where the funds are used. And Peter has already alluded or explained how involved we are with the ripple effect program. In our district and in our in our rotary club. This year, for example, we raised just north of$16,500. Nice. And and when you consider that it's basically four or five of us ride that raise those funds is pretty significant. That's kind of been the level over the last three or four years been our certainly our best years in terms of fundraising, people will either send us a check or give us cash or a lot this year actually didn't want to eat transfers. And then once the ride has been completed, we file all this, this these donations and, again, ride them up on our motorcycles to Melfort, Saskatchewan, where where the district treasurer is for real community service. And they issue all the tax receipts for all the donors that that action on their part, saves us upwards of $500 or $600 Every year be as opposed to the more common and much easier method of supporting these kinds of programs through electronic methods.
Peter Neufeldt:Canada Helps particularly is an easy way. Yes,
Doug Mortin:They all take a percentage and we eliminate that because treasurer's and pleasure in his wife issued tax receipts during
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Peter Tonge:While it's great fun to collect the cash, what's the other great things about the ride ride he doing it?
Doug Mortin:Well, I think it's the camaraderie that we experience among the riders who participate. They all seem to look forward to it. We've been extremely fortunate over those 12 years to have really great days, summer days to ride in. Although we have had a couple of instances where thoroughly soaked with rain, but generally it's been a very positive experience weather wise and then the camaraderie that we experiences has been awesome over those 12 years.
Peter Tonge:Hey, do you have any regular stops or regular traditions that are part of the ride?
Unknown:Well, we try and all alter their route change the route every year which in Regina gets to be a bit of a challenge after 12 years loving places you can go and not cover the same ground over 12 years. But there are some things that we have done. Like I mentioned earlier, Rotary Clubs in Moose Jaw and Fort Capelle have been gracious enough to sponsor breakfast for us, which is another opportunity for socialization and promotion of rotary in that community.
Peter Neufeldt:And then the other thing, we've had people from across the district, from as far away as Souix Lookout, which is way out in Ontario, or Northwestern Ontario, so in our district, people from Saskatoon coming down to Regina, and of course, a lot of local people. And so that helps to keep the interest when you get to people who are that committed. And they don't just come there come to ride there, they provide sponsorship, and it gets to be known across the district of what we're doing and the difference that was made. And I might just want to come back to Guatemala for a minute, just to direct beneficiaries of the program exceeds 21,000 students, and teachers. We've also had bursaries for teachers to enhance their education. And so it becomes quite a far reaching program. And that that excites us. That's why people keep coming back because they know the difference that it makes.
Mandy Kwasnica:I wonder how, if some of our listeners hearing this, how can they get involved if they're interested in learning more about this,
Peter Neufeldt:Get on their motorbike and come join us?
Peter Tonge:I understand that the next Rotary Riders carry ride will be held on July 9, 2022.
Peter Neufeldt:But the other thing that they can certainly do is to connect with us and make some donations are anything over$20. That's a tax deductible receipt. And whatever they donate, oh, will be totally changed the lives of children in Guatemala, the children of Guatemala and their parents, they're the ones who really thank the donors.
Peter Tonge:And what's the best way for people to connect with you?
Peter Neufeldt:I guess email would be the easiest way.
Peter Tonge:So I'm gonna ask each of you guys this question. We only have one set question that we do on our podcast episodes. So I'm gonna ask Peter Neufeldt. First. You've been you've been involved in Rotary for many years, why do you keep coming back?
Peter Neufeldt:Well, you know, Rotary makes such a difference in in lives of people. And it's just so gratifying to see that we can make a difference and that that working together, creates peace, and contributes to world peace. We need it so badly. And this is a wonderful vehicle to help build peace in our world, and to make lives better for others.
Peter Tonge:So Doug, you've had a minute to think about how the company been involved in rotary all these years.
Doug Mortin:Well, I got involved in rotary initially 30 years ago, Peter through the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. We were very fortunate in our family to have two daughters who were accepted to the program, both of them sponsored by the Rotary Club of Regina EastView. And it it took only seconds for my wife and I realize the importance of that program, and how much we wanted. Since then, of course, our rotary has changed. B, we began to understand the importance of supporting both local and national projects and rotary does an awesome job of doing both. And the fact that we have joined an organization that allows us to participate in those kinds of initiatives is what keeps us coming back year after year. Excellent, of course, people that we've come to meet and know during that 30 year period, awesome.
Peter Neufeldt:And, I would would include in that the two of you, Mandy and Peter and all that you do to contribute and Rotary. Thank you are wonderful examples of how you make the team and how you make the teamwork that makes the dream work.
Peter Tonge:Go there you go. I'm blushing but nobody can see it. Thank you gentlemen.
Mandy Kwasnica:Thank you so much for joining us on another great episode of talking Rotary. We would love to hear from you. Please send us your comments and story ideas and you can share with us easily by sending us an email at feedback at talking rotary.org Let's keep talking Rotary.