Community digest 11/4/01

Rotary Club donates medical equipment

On Oct. 22, Rotary Club 448 of Cape Girardeau joined with Rotary District 6060 and the International Rotary Foundation to purchase critically needed medical equipment for a hospital in Liberia, Africa.

By committing $1,000 of its funds and securing matching grants from District 6060 and the Rotary Foundation, the Cape club was able to purchase five reconditioned surgical instrument sets. The equipment will be hand-carried by a member of a Volunteer in Mission from the United States to Ganta United Methodist Hospital in Ganta, Liberia.

The project originated when Dr. C. John Ritter and his wife, Marcia, a nurse, reported to the Cape Rotary Club on their mission trip to the hospital in 1998.

Members of the club were stirred by the account of insufficient basic surgical equipment to permit sterilization between procedures. The hospital is the only significant medical facility in an area with a population of 30,000. The area was laid waste by several years of civil war and lacks the basics of food, clean water, health care and shelter.Bell employees raise $975 for Red Cross

In response to the tragedy of Sept. 11, Southwestern Bell Telephone employees in Cape Girardeau raised $475 during a special program given by Amanda Sechrest of the American Red Cross on Sept. 21.

Additional fund-raising efforts generated donations totaling $500. A check was presented to Mary Burton Oct. 22 at an open house for Bell employees and their families.

The total amount of $975 will be matched by the SBC Foundation and given to the American Red Cross.