January 21 2016 Mtg - H2OpenDoors
Posted by Editor: FDBobko
The FOGHORN
ROTARY CLUB OF HALF MOON BAY
Article by Denali St. Amand
Photos by EJ Dieterle
Program: JON KAUFMAN on "H2OpenDoors"
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Member Brian Lee introduced speaker Jon Kaufman who belongs to the Rotary Club of Peninsula Sunrise. Brian tells us of Jon's huge heart and immense drive as an advocate for the less fortunate, manifest by his dedicated involvement in "H2OpenDoors".
Jon has a Marketing Company background and was a long-time donor to Water.org but left it to start H2OpenDoors through Rotary to leverage the benefit of Rotary's network of clubs and members around the world. The name comes from H2O (water) - Technology and OpenDoors -Opportunity.
Their approach is not a "straw into the earth" but a means of taking advantage of the worlds preponderance of contaminated water as a source. He looked far and wide for a technology robust enough for the Third World application. The system chosen, Sun Spring, is solar powered and can produce 20,000 liters a day. The business model is to set up a purification plant which provides a community potable water to sell and the profits go to causes/needs of their choosing. Water - Education -Peace!
This fits with all the Rotary International Areas of Focus:
Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution
Disease Prevention and Treatment
Water and Sanitation
Plus the Millennium Goals
Jon makes the poignant case by noting that 15 years ago 4,400 kids five and under were dying every single day - every day! In the ensuing 15 years that has been halved to 2,200 dying every day. He illustrated this by asking what the world would do if eleven jumbo jets filled with children five and under crashed in a day killing all aboard? The world would stop until the problem was resolved!
Half of the hospital beds in the Third World are filled by water victims according to the World Health Organization. Three and a half million people die each year of contaminated water. Rural poor pay up to one third of their daily income for water. The largest sellers of water are Coca-Cola, Pepsicola, Nestle and DeSante - it is Jon's goal to make #5 - The Poor!
Sun Spring systems have a ten year life span, cost $20,000 + transportation. They do have a wind generator option. This is a five stage ultra filtration. It operated by membrane technology with seven miles of membrane with 20 nanometer pores in it which filters out bacteria and viruses. The machine carries the WQA Gold Seal and can be up and running in three hours. I requires 90 minutes of maintenance a month and is ideal for 1,000 to 10,000 people.
Progress in water needs to focus in rural areas so that is the focus of H2OpenDoors.
The first installation of a Sun Spring by H2OpenDoors was in 2013 in Northern Thailand followed by Tacolaban, Philippines (where he saw the death toll up close viewing 700 bodies.)
He showed slides of installation is Mexico in September 2014 in Ciudar Guzman and Centra Fox. He was working with past president Vicente Fox. He showed a video of the leadership Academy at Centro Fox i and the VAmos Mexico Foundation. The busiines model of "Charisma" helps perpetuate the good works. It demonstrated kids going along as a service trip and cross cultural outreach. One was installed on the roof of a hospital along a lake looking a lot like Tahoe but polluted by the waste of the 40,000 surrounding residents. The other up on a hillside in a rural area where they had to roll the 10,000 gallon tank by hand which was a big community event and students from USA participated.
Other illustrations were from rural Haiti, 15 miles from Port au Prince, in April 2015 in a school yard where a cholera outbreak had claimed 52 students. And Mexico in July of 2015 at San Miguel de Allende which was a Vamos Mexico project for disabled kids. There they put the water in 2.5 gallon plastic jugs and sell it. They have to truck in the contaminated water for $25 and treated it sells for $5,000/truckload.
The Sun Spring is a five stage ultra filtration system but some chemically-polluted waters require the optional sixth stage to remove chemical contamination called Bone Char filtration. In this stage the water is passed through a column of pulverized cow bones which have been heated to 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit. This sixth stage takes all the pollution out of the water.
Jon is working with AT&T's u-verse in Mexico on a marketing campaign tagged "Peace, Love and TV". AT&T makes a small donation for each transaction which has generated funding for two Sun Springs. AT&T wants to be known as good guys in that market. With the $50K generated he is taking 10 college students for the installation of the two systems.
There are two systems on the books and Cuba is next in April 2016. The Cuba trip will be a large group of 40 visiting the two sites and touring Cuba. It is one of Jon's goals to bring Rotary back to Cuba! He can be reached at Jon@H2OpenDoors.org
January 21, 2016 Meeting Recap
Article by Joe Brennen
Photos by EJ Dieterle
Rose Serdy gave some lovely words of inspiration. Dick Charnock was our Past President Greeter welcoming everyone to the meeting and lunch.
Visitors Our visitor for the day was our speaker, Jon Kaufman of Rotary Club of Pennisula Sunrise. Many thanks for his very interesting presentation!
Happy/Crappy News Teresa Adam started off the Happy-Crappy reports with her cheery account of her trip to Italy, which meant an extra great deal to her because of her Italian heritage. Viva! John Evans is very thankful and enchanted that his daughter gave him one of her traditional coupons for his 70th birthday, nine years after the 1st coupon she gave him, for a day of golfing. And they even walked the whole course! Rusty Reiley-Pond made her donation in honor of her birthday. A happy year to you, Rusty! Liz Shcuck is very thankful for and delighted with the wonderful people who have worked on “Magic”, especially Mary Corcoran who alerted us that “Magic” tickets will be on sale soon, so go online and buy!
Announcements Plenty of announcements followed!
The “Service Above Self” award nomination form submission deadline has been extended. Dianne Bobko urges all of us to “Hurry!” She gave an inspirational plea for entries, as she’s already begun advertising the event. She also reminded us to buy raffle tickets. They make good gifts for friends and colleagues after you’ve bought your own, Linda pointed out.
Liz Schuck reminded us that the District assembly is Saturday, March 19th at Redwood High School in Larkspur, from 8:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. This is a great occasion to become a part of the larger picture of Rotary and bond with folks from other districts around our grand goals and aspirations.
The dictionaries are here, and Warren Barmore will be unloading them today with the help of a few kinds souls. You can check in with the organizers for each school handout day, if you’d like to help.
Catherine Yaque gave an update on Robin Jeffs, who is much better, she is happy to report, but not yet ready for visitors. You could email or give a happy call, though, if you like.
Dave’s Quiz of the Week Pres Dave's quiz on ghost towns followed. Bodie! Don’t miss a visit to California’s famous haunt! What an interesting town, which is there yet in good condition, from the old school house to the salon! And besides, it is right near a set of divine hot springs, where you can take a relaxing dip.
The MARBLE DRAW - Green Again
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