Interact Club
STUDENTS COME TOGETHER TO MAKE AN IMPACT ON THEIR LOCAL COMMUNITY AND CREATE CHANGE IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Photo by Cindy Igpe
The Rotary-sponsored Interact Club strives to make a difference in the community and the world. Interact Club hosts fundraisers and events with the goal in mind of making a long-lasting, sustainable impact.
Whether volunteering to rake leaves in front of Krasl, picking up trash on the beach, or reading virtually to elementary students, members hope these events send a ripple of change through the community.
“I strive to do what I can to help people and our community,” Reagan Trumbley, 9, Member-at-Large and Krasl project lead, said. “I’m just trying to do as much as I can to help as well as giving others the opportunity to help.”
The club is very welcoming. They provide opportunities to members to gain leadership experience by leading projects.
“The club is open to all ideas so everyone feels heard, and the events are fun because you get to hang out with friends and make a difference at the same time. There were always incredible advisors and also fellow leadership members that were willing to help if anything became too much,” Reagan said.
Internationally, they focus on a small Batay in the Dominican Republic. They send members every year (except 2020) to build a hurricane safe house. Over 150 members have traveled to La Romana, Dominican Republic since 2015. Installing water filters, providing medical care, and building homes for Haitian families are just a small sum of what they’ve done for others.
In 2019, the club instilled a new goal. They wanted to choose one student in the Batay to sponsor for school, but it was too hard to choose just one, so they decided to try to send them all. They named the initiative Interact4DR. “We made it a goal to raise $40,000—$20,000 for the home and the other $20,000 for education,” Taylor Hartley, 12, this year’s International Director, said. The education money was intended to cover transportation, uniforms, lunch money, and supplies, but due to COVID-19, some of the money was instead used to install WiFi and send devices to the children of the Batay so they could attend school virtually.
“It’s really touching to see how grateful they are for education even if it is just through a tablet,” Taylor added. “They’re excited to learn.”
Monday, April 25, Interact launched this year’s Interact4DR fundraiser through the fundraising platform One Cause. Their goal has increased to $50,000. The members are reaching out to friends and family to encourage them to donate.
Some local upcoming events for the club include gardening at Krasl Art’s Center and a clean-up in partnership with Beautify Benton Harbor.