Rotary World Help in BC ships needed equipment to the world
Posted by Peter Roaf on Sep 06, 2016
Rotary World Help -- a non-religious, non-political charity run by Rotary Clubs from British Columbia -- is a non profit organization aimed at collecting and distributing medical equipment & supplies, dental, optical, education & sports equipment and disaster relief supplies to international recipients in need.
The original mandate of RWH was to ship medical supplies to hospitals which had been built but couldn’t fully operate because of a lack of supplies or equipment. Today, medical supplies and equipment are still the main focus, but dental and optical, education, sports equipment and disaster relief supplies are now included.Rotary World Help began in 1992 when District 5040 sent a delegation of Rotarians to the former Soviet Union to assist with establishing the first Rotary Club in Kiev in the Ukraine. The delegates saw the state of the medical facilities and decided to find a way to help. A year later members of the Rotary Club of Vancouver organized the first shipment of medical supplies and equipment to Kiev.
Some members then travelled to Kiev to oversee the distribution of the supplies. On their return home they found more 
supplies waiting for them, so Vancouver Rotary decided to carry on the project as an international service project. In 1997, after four succesful years as the project of a single club, seven other clubs joined the Vancouver club and the Rotary clubs of the Lower Mainland of British Columbia World Help Network was incorporated as a society in BC with registered charity status from Revenue Canada.
supplies waiting for them, so Vancouver Rotary decided to carry on the project as an international service project. In 1997, after four succesful years as the project of a single club, seven other clubs joined the Vancouver club and the Rotary clubs of the Lower Mainland of British Columbia World Help Network was incorporated as a society in BC with registered charity status from Revenue Canada.Today the Rotary Club of Ladner and 43 other clubs mainly in District 5040 are members of the Rotary World Help Network. In 2012 the estimated value of the goods shipped passed the $100 million mark. In 2013 RWH shipped its 300th container.
Richmond Sunrise Rotarian and former business person, Elena Agala, an educator originally from the Philippines, is a past board director of Rotary World Help. Among her many achievements, she has raised $1 million towards a 63-bed licensed 
nursing home in Port Coquitlam, organized dental missions to remote areas in the Philippines since 2008 and led the $38,000 project, funded by The Rotary Foundation, to send three shipping containers of hospital equipment to help six public hospitals in the Philippines, serving two million patients a year.
nursing home in Port Coquitlam, organized dental missions to remote areas in the Philippines since 2008 and led the $38,000 project, funded by The Rotary Foundation, to send three shipping containers of hospital equipment to help six public hospitals in the Philippines, serving two million patients a year.Past District Governor Sonia Baron (left), with President Walt Hayward, thank Elena Agala for her presentation on Rotary World Help and her tremendous contributions to the community and the world through Rotary