International Service Committee

The Minneapolis City of Lakes Rotary Club (COL) has a strong commitment to International Service, providing its members with numerous opportunities to be engaged and actively partner in service and friendship with other Rotarians around the world.

City of Lakes members have been hard at work locally to make a difference globally. With clean water initiatives in progress, partnerships with local and international clubs, and continual support of local ongoing programs like Group Study Exchange, Youth Exchange and RI’s PolioPlus, our members are passionate about our role as global citizens.

Some of our current efforts include:

  • Rotary Partnership in Haiti: Over the past three years, the International Service Committee has leveraged our members’ energy to raise over $500,000 to construct two schools in Haiti – including helping to secure a coveted $50,000 matching grant from Rotary International. The inauguration of this second school took place in January 2013. The Partnership is actively planning for the next iteration of our work in Haiti, including the building of more than 30 wells to bring clean water to residents.
  • 28 foreign exchange students hosted/sponsored since 1986.
  • Contributed over $36,000 in the past 4 years to 17 small to medium sized projects in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, India, Madagascar, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Honduras supporting a wide range of school, hospital and water projects.
  • Contributed $44,000 in the past 3 years as the lead club on district and global grants, including a district grant of $22,000 to provide a new water system for a Home for the Aged in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa (2019), a global grant of $155,000 for the Milla Tres, Honduras community to install a water distribution and water filtration system serving 2,500 residents (2020), and a global grant of $75,000 for the Mayan Women’s Prosperity Initiative to support and expand community sourced loan cooperatives in remote Guatemalan villages (2021).
  • Lead club in Honduras WASH Global Grant project, raising $400,000 in total Rotary funds (including approximately $85,000 from 12 Rotary partner clubs), matched with $400,000 from World Vision, for a total of $800,000 to provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene education in 17 rural villages in Western Honduras, immeasurably improving the lives of approximately 6,500 people.
  • Through a partnership with Compatible Technology International (CTI), COL is helping to test water filtration units intended for single-family units. The hope is that these types of units will benefit people in more rural and remote areas, in addition to assisting with emergency relief efforts. Tests are currently underway in Haiti and will soon be in Nicaragua, Senegal and Guatemala. In addition to funding, COL members also are assisting with assembling the units, creating training manuals, and exploring travel opportunities to travel and help with the actual testing.
  • Friendship Exchange: members are actively involved with planning travel opportunities for members to visit other Rotary districts around the world. Members visited Australia in 2012, 2013 will see members travel to India, and Brazil is being considered for our 2014 adventure abroad. We will resume the Youth Exchange program in the 2022-2023 school year. For more information, go to Northstar Youth Exchange.
  • Rotary only exists because of the passion of members. Not every idea aligns with our strategic priorities, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t deserving of our support. We aim to actively support and promote member’s interests and have allocated a small portion of our committee’s budget to support member requests.

For more information or to participate in International Service, please see the Club Officers page to contact the current International Service co-chairs: click here for Club Officers.