Photo below: (L to R) Peter Maranger, President Rotary Club Stratford receives donation from Ralph Stanley EHFC Vice-Chair, and Pamela Scharfe, EHFC Past Chair on May 2, 2024
In 2023 the EHFC Board of Trustees raised $3,000 for the Stratford Rotary Club Aquabox Project through the generosity of our individual donors and a $1,000 donation from the CIPHI Ontario Branch.
Disasters such hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods & fire seem to be increasing in frequency and severity around the world. They leave behind damaged infrastructure and contaminated water supplies. People resort to drinking any water they can find, usually from polluted sources. Those who drink this unsafe water are at increased risk from water-borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid. The elderly and very young are particularly vulnerable. The EHFC Board of Trustees have chosen to partner again with the Rotary Club of Stratford Charitable Foundation in the production and distribution of AQUABOX which is a simple, low-cost filtration system that can provide purified drinking water to a family of five for up to a year. It uses silver-impregnated ceramic cartridges capable of filtering 15 litres of polluted water in each fill, trapping virtually 100% of harmful bacteria and protozoan cysts.
The AQUABOX is made from locally-sourced components, and is assembled here in Stratford by dedicated volunteers, so there are NO administration costs. A basic hygiene kit is also packed in each unit. Global Medic, a non-profit disaster response organization of paramedics and first responder volunteers, distributes the AQUABOX units globally to those most in need, including disaster stricken areas of Latin America, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia. The cost of each box is $30 to produce so the $3,000 donation will result in the production of 100 boxes for a future diaster in Canada or internationally.
To learn more about this terrific project go to: About Aquabox | Rotary Club of Stratford (rotarystratford.com)