Wheelchairs for Malawi

Wheelchairs for Malawi
The Team

Kirk Collins

Kirk is a member of the Del Mar/Solana Beach Sunrise Rotary Club since 2001. He is currently the Sergeant at Arms elect for the next year. He also coordinates the Del Mar portion of the Student Exchange during the summer. He has been working as a Contracts Manager for Jacobs Engineering for seven years in San Diego. Kirk has a wonderful wife Glenda and four children.

When Larry Scott came to the Del Mar/Solana Beach Sunrise Rotary club meeting to talk about Wheelchairs for Malawi Kirk knew he had to be a part of this wonderful project. He has never traveled internationally so he is very excited to have this opportunity to help fellow Rotarians in another part of the world and travel to their homes.

Chuck DuVivier

Chuck DuVivier is a member of the Encinitas-LaCosta Rotary Club in Encinitas, California. Chuck joined as a Charter Member in 1984 and is currently President-elect. He is a Paul Harris Society member. He worked for 9 years in livestock and crop production in Wisconsin before moving to Encinitas in 1982 to start a real estate development and construction company. Chuck also served for 13 years on various city and regional government boards including eight years on the Encinitas City Council, serving two years as Mayor.

Chuck has traveled to Africa previously. In 1995, Chuck and their oldest son visited Chuck's brother and family, who were working for an NGO in Namibia. In 1999, Chuck traveled to Eritrea with other District 5340 Rotarians to participate in a National Polio Immunization Day. In 2001, he traveled to South Africa to attend a Rotary African Presidential Conference and then traveled to Namibia where he visited Herero and San homelands with a local NGO. In 2002, he took his youngest son and a niece and nephew on a trip to western South Africa, to Namibia including the Caprivi strip and through Botswana to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.

It was the 1999 trip to Eritrea that really opened his eyes to the unique possibilities for International Service that Rotary offers. The person-to-person, club-to-club and district-to-district networking really provides a fantastic foundation for getting things done in a neighborly way. He looks forward to this trip as a chance to learn, a chance to help out with the wheelchair project and also as a chance to be part of the bridge-building of goodwill that Rotary excels at.

Tod Ferguson

Tod is not a Rotarian, but he is however a Paul Harris Fellow. This honor was bestowed on him in recognition of his voluntary service on behalf of the Rotary Club of La Mesa in helping with new home construction in Mexico, placement of rest stations at Lake Murray in La Mesa, and participating in other Rotary Club Projects on behalf of the La Mesa Club.

Tod is also the son-in-law of District Governor Larry Scott of District 5340, who is a member of the La Mesa Club. Tod is employed as a project manager at the University of California, San Diego. He is married to DeeDee and is the proud father of three children ages 9 to 13 years, the oldest of which is also a Paul Harris Fellow for her work on behalf of the Rotary Club of La Mesa on projects both in Mexico and in District 5340.

Although not able to join Rotary at this time during his career, Tod felt compelled to join in the delivery of the wheelchairs after reviewing the pictures and information he received from his father-in-laws recent trip to Malawi.

During his military service career, Tod had the opportunity to travel to various countries throughout the world. He has participated in several projects on behalf of Rotary in Mexico.

Russ and Suzanne Hanthorn

Russ Hanthorn has been a member of the Rotary Club of Carlsbad since 1984, with two small detours to the R.C. of National City and the R.C. of Bonsall. Russ is a past president of the Carlsbad club and is currently the Youth Exchange Chair for our District. He has also served as the Chair of the District 4 Way Test Speech Contest, as a governor's representative and as a facilitator at the RYLA retreat. Russ, a retired 30 year Marine and 9 year high school junior ROTC instructor, and his wife Suzanne, a marriage and family counselor at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, have had the good fortune of frequent travel internationally over the past fourteen years. They will both be part of the district team that will visit Malawi this March. Their motivation is to have the opportunity to represent our district as good will ambassadors and to share their emotional and loving support with fellow human beings half way around our world.

Philippe Lamoise

Philippe has been in Rotary for 9 years. He is a past-president of the Torrey Pines Rotary Club. He has served in many committees at the District level, and was named Rotarian of the Year for District 5340 last year. He has been involved with all major programs of the Rotary Foundation. He recently went to India as a Rotary Volunteer, and you can see the stories of this previous adventure on this site. He previously traveled to East Africa with Rotary on a GSE Team to Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania in 2001, and already went to Malawi for the previous District project over there, Operation Malawi in 2001. He also traveled to Costa Rica, Mexico and France on Rotary-related projects.

Professionally he is self-employed and develops websites and does video productions. He has very often used his professional skills to serve Rotary. He travels with his digital video camera, and digital still camera, and produces pictures and documentaries of the projects he visits. He is the official photographer of this endeavor in Malawi.

He is the webmaster of this website for Rotary District 5340, and wrote the programming to allow the publishing of this story from Africa.

Bill McDade

Bill McDade joined Rotary in 1971. He is a member of the Rotary Club of San Diego #33 and has served in various positions of responsibility in his Club and was Club President in- 1997-98. He was the founding member of of the Rotary sponsored MOST (Mercy Outreach Surgical Team) program and over the past 10 years has made numerous trips to Mexico providing orthopaedic care for poor and under privileged children in that country. He has served as a Rotary International Volunteer Orthopaedic Surgeon in Malawi Africa on 3 occasions over the past 5 years and will be returning to Malawi Africa for the 4th time on this trip...

He organized the fund raising for D-5340 "Operation Malawi" 2 years ago which provided new orthopaedic equipment for the 34 rural and city hospitals in that country personally returning with other Rotarians to deliver the equipment and organized the "Wheelchairs for Malawi" project this past year that has resulted in some 2,000 wheelchairs to be delivered in Malawi.... a project of District 5340 and The Wheelchair Foundation.

Bill received his AB and MD degrees from Stanford University and his Orthopaedic training from the University of California/San Francisco. Bill was an orthopaedic surgeon in private practice for some 30 years in San Diego and an Associate Clinical Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, UCSD. He retired from active practice in 1996.

He served as District Governor, D-5340 in 2000-200. He is married to Carol and has 3 children and 5 grandchildren

Jim O'Meara

Jim has been a Rotarian with the Rotary Club of Carlsbad since 1995. Leading up to his presidency in 1999-2000 he was presented with, "Rookie of the Year," then, "Rotarian of the Year." by his club. Later in 2000, Rotary International presented him with the "Four Avenues of Service Citation for Individual Rotarians."

Since 2000 he has served as Sergeant at Arms/Assistant Governor for District 5340 and was named, "District Rotarian of the Year" in 2002.

Jim's and wife JoAnn, president of El Camino Real Rotary, have traveled internationally over the past 10 years which includes attendance at five Rotary International Conventions.

Jim says, it has been an exciting year working with governor Larry Scott and when the the opportunity to present the District Project, "Wheelchairs for Malawi," I couldn't resist. To participate within an international project is both exciting and an opportunity to participate in what Rotary does so well... providing humanitarian service around the world.

Chuck Ruane

James "Chuck" Ruane joined La Mesa Rotary in March of 1959. He served as president from 1975 to 1976; he is currently serving as club secretary.

The opportunity to travel to Malawi and participate in "Wheelchairs for Malawi" gives meaning to Rotary's belief in "Service Above Self"

Larry Scott

Member of the Rotary Club of La Mesa since 1984. Previously a member of the Rotary Club of Escondido. Rotarian for over 20 + years.

Served Rotary at the club level as, Foundation Chair, Membership Chair, Vocational Service Chair, Program Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Director and President. Served in District capacities as Chair for District Conference, Chair for District Directory, Chair for Membership and Retention.

Spokesperson for Polio Plus Campaign during 1987/1988. Chair for Polio Partners 1995/96. Spokesperson for Infant Immunization. Currently serve as District Governor for District 5340 for Rotary Year 2002-2003.

Have traveled extensively throughout the world. Travels on behalf of Rotary projects have involved travel to China, Philippines, Mexico, Africa, Germany, Italy, Spain, England and France. Participated in medical supply delivery to Malawi in 2001. Recognized need for wheelchairs throughout the country, and accepted the challenge to arrange to provide wheelchairs to Malawi as soon as possible.

Richard B. Stevens

Dick has been an active member with the Encinitas Rotary Club for over 10 years. During that time he has been involved in many community service projects and particularly involved with the Annual Soccer Tournament. Over the course of his time in Rotary he has held the offices of Secretary and President of our club. And at the district level, an Assistant Governor and currently responsible for Membership Development.

He is recently remarried with three, thirty something, married children and unfortunately no grandchildren. He is a multiple Paul Harris Donor and member of the Bequest Society

Professionally he is President of West Coast Mortgage. He has been actively involved with mortgage financing for over 25 years. He has also owned a travel agency in Encinitas that he operated for many years. This will be his 5th trip to Africa and his second to Malawi. He was tremendously impressed with the Malawi Rotarians that we worked with last time and he is looking forward to working with them again. Projects like this represent to him Rotary at it’s best. He feels it is an Honor to be involved.