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International Service
We have just completed our thirteenth Rotary International sponsored trip to the Dominican Republic where we have served over one thousand hard of hearing patients at the Good Samaritan Hospital in La Romana.
In addition, we will continue to provide solar rechargeable technology for recharging hearing aid batteries. This technology will reduce the operation expense for hearing aid users and make hearing affordable and the project sustainable.
Every trip has been a wonderful opportunity for all of us to give these children and adults the gift of hearing and a chance for a better life. We wish to thank Rotary International, Portland Rotary, Starkey Labs for their recent hearing aid contributions and Oaktree Products and Global Biotechnologies for donations of supplies and to all those individuals who donated cash, used hearing aids, and cell phones.
See a news story about our work in the Dominican Republic:
Donate Your Cell Phone
On average, Americans replace their cell phones every 12 months. Over 65 million cellular phones are stockpiled in U.S. households creating 30,000 tons of potentially hazardous waste. By 2005, an estimated 130 million cellular phones will be discarded annually in the U.S. alone.
Cell phones contain toxic substances including arsenic, anitmony, beryllium, cadmium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc which leach into soil and groundwater from landfills and from highly toxic dioxins & furans during incineration.
These toxins have been associated with cancer and a range of reproductive neurological and developmental disorders. The cadmium from a single phone is capable of polluting 158,200 gallons of water. (That's 2.4 million 8-ounce sodas!)
Some cell phones can be refurbished and resold and when that happens, Portland Rotary uses those funds to purchase hearing aids, solar battery chargers and batteries for the hearing impaired people in the Dominican Republic.