Dave Mangs opened the Rotary Interact/Rotaract Service Project Awards Fund to support service projects for Interact and Rotaract Clubs through the Rotary District 7890, which includes four western counties of Massachusetts and four northern counties of Connecticut.
The Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Hartford is proud to announce a new endowed fund to support service projects conceived and implemented by Rotary International’s youth programs within Rotary District 7890, which includes the four northern counties of Connecticut and the four western counties of Massachusetts. Interact Clubs include youth 12 to 18 years of age, and Rotaract Club members are older than 18. These service Clubs can be school based or community based and are sponsored by local Rotary Clubs.
Rotarian Dave Mangs committed the funds to establish this endowment after seeing first hand the creative and world changing service projects conceived and implemented by Interactors and Rotaractors. As a 30-year veteran of Rotary, Dave has served as Club president, District 7890 Rotaract and Interact Chair, and District Governor. He earned his Ph.D. from the Heller School at Brandeis University studying child welfare policy. Dave says: “If you want to change the world, make a positive difference in the life of a child. If you want to serve humanity, give our youth the tools and skills to carry on the job.”
Rotary International is a non-political, non-religious volunteer service organization located in 200 countries with over 1.4 million members. The mission of Rotary is to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace. Interact and Rotaract Clubs are located in clubs around the world and each club has a goal of providing at least two community service projects and one international service project focused on the Rotary’s Areas of Focus: Disease prevention and treatment: Clean and accessible water, and sanitation; Environment; Maternal and child health; Basic education and literacy; Economic and community development; and Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution.
In designing their service projects, Interact and Rotaract Club will:
- conduct a community assessment to determine needs
- marshal the resources to address these needs
- plan and implement service projects benefitting their community.
Interact and Rotaract prepare our future leaders by giving them real-world opportunities to learn how they can actually make a difference.
“These members are our future leaders — the cream of the crop,” explains Dave. “The fund will invest in their future as they forge their own path of tikkun olam — repairing the world. I have every confidence that JCF will handle this legacy in a way that will best support our Rotary youth programs for generations to come.”
If you want to support this effort, you can make a donation to this fund or any fund at the Foundation on our Donate page, or contact Kathryn Gonnerman at kgonnerman@jcfhartford.org. For questions about Rotary or its programs, contact davemangs@gmail.com or go to www.rotarydistrict7890.org.
Dave opened the Rotary Interact/Rotaract Service Project Awards Fund using his Required Minimum Distribution from his IRA. For more information on how this approach works, visit this Q&A.