Our International Projects
Currently our international projects involve a hands-on assembly or packing activity to construct or pack items to support specific charity groups operating in important fields overseas. In so doing we are supporting other organisations that make a difference around the world through their own international organisation and networks. The main projects we have been involved in are summarised on this page.
Assembling Prosthetic Hands (Helping Hands)
The club raised $5000 to purchase and build 10 prosthetic hand kits to send to land mine affected countries (https://helpinghandsprogram.com.au/ ). Through this activity we helped transform the lives of ten children whose lives have been significantly limited through the loss of a hand.
Packing Birthing Kits
Maternal health is a strong priority for our club and over the past five years we have raised funds for and helped pack around 3000 birthing kits for mothers in developing nations https://www.kit.org.au/. In 2022 we used $4,500 of funds raised to purchase and pack 900 birthing kits. The full day event, with two shifts of about 20 members and friends included a strong commitment from our Corporate sponsor - Keane Consulting's team. This surpassed our previous best event in 2021, when we used $3,000 of funds raised and donated to purchase 600 birthing kits and about 30 members and friends enjoyed a few hours packing them for shipment to countries where the need for these items is great.
Our 2023 Birthing Kit Packing event was bigger and better than ever. With the generous support from Keane Consulting, RCD Consulting, the Rotary Club of Woden Daybreak and our own fundraising, we purchased 2,000 kits (that's $10,000). With the help of over 100 friends, family and Rotarians we packed all of these kits the weekend of 29 and 30 April.
The packed birthing kits are distributed by the Birthing Kit Foundation Australia to areas in the world where women often give birth in less clean and sanitary environments due to limited facilities being nearby. Our kits have been distributed around Africa, Asia and some areas in PNG.
Birthing kit contents
Packing Birthing Kits
A busy packing session
The Sundowners have run collection drives to send bras to regional countries (supporting the Uplift charity). Bras and other intimate items can be extremely difficult and cost-prohibitive to source in many countries and these items make an incredible difference in the everyday lives of local ladies.