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TAYLOR — In rural areas of Liberia, many hospitals do not have supplemental oxygen for patients, due decades of civil war that destroyed the country’s infrastructure.
To help, the Rotary Club of Taylor, the Rotary E-Club of Central Texas, as well as several other clubs, are partnering with the Rotary Club of Sinkor, Liberia to fund an oxygen regeneration plant that could be used for 77 Liberian hospitals and clinics.
“We are partnering with a rotary club in Liberia to do a global grant,” said Bastrop resident Joan Bohls, a past president of the E-Club, which currently has three members from Liberia.
Bohls said the project will cost $125,178, and it will be funded in part through a matching grant from Rotary International for $99,000.
“Five rotary clubs are donating cash to the project, and we need $4,728 to complete funding for the project,” Bohls said.
The Rev. George Qualley, a board member of the Taylor Chapter, said they would be contributing $500 towards the effort this month.
“We as a Rotary Club are a small club, so we are not going to be able to do a big project where we drill wells or that sort of thing,” Qualley said. “What we do is partner with another club because you only have so much money in the bucket.”
Bohls said she became involved with the cause based on a member of her club with a connection to Liberia.
“During COVID, our club was already on Zoom, and so many other clubs went on Zoom, and a doctor in our club had been in Liberia,” she recalled. “A nurse that he had worked with years ago when he was in Liberia had contacted him … and so they invited me to visit their club on Zoom and invited me to judge a talent show, they were doing a fundraiser and so I started to get to know some of them.”
Through that first partnership, other people with connections to Liberia joined, due to the flexibility of the online membership, Bohls said.
“It’s a really close relationship, which is very meaningful,” Bohls said.
