The city of Chennai in India, formerly known as Madras, is the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located along the coast of the Bay of Bengal and with a population of about eleven million, Chennai is a major cultural, political, and educational center. One of several Rotary clubs in Chennai, The Rotary Club of Madras South, has established an important relationship with the Rotary Club of Lake Spivey/Clayton County through District 6900 Assistant Governor (and Lake Spivey/Clayton County Rotarian) Paddy Sharma, who is a former resident of Chennai. Because of Paddy's leadership and the efforts of other Lake Spivey/Clayton County Rotarians with close ties to India, the Rotary Club of Lake Spivey/Clayton County and The Rotary Club of Madras South are partnering in a Global Grant.

This grant addresses the need to more aggressively harvest rainwater instead of just disposing of it through the wasteful practice of diversion through storm drains to the Bay of Bengal. More specifically, the Global Grant with a total value of $100,000.00 is designed to support rainwater harvesting facilities in 10 public schools in Chennai. In doing so, the harvesting will benefit approximately eleven thousand students in those schools and will conserve about five million gallons of water that otherwise would have drained into the ocean. The clubs jointly launched the project in October 2020 via a virtual event over Zoom. Members of both clubs participated as did District Governors S. Muthupalanippan from India and Kirk Driskell from our own District 6900.

Note the adjacent photos from the newsletter of the Rotary Club of Madras South. The screen shot from the Zoom event last October features Dr. Masi Sambandham and Judith Bennett of the Rotary Club of Lake Spivey/Clayton County and DG Kirk The second photo features members of the Rotary Club of Madras South and representatives of the schools benefiting from the rainwater harvesting. Currently, Paddy Sharma is visiting in Chennai with one of her obligations to be monitoring the project.