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North Delta couple help Rotary bring clean water to Laos

Mike and Kathy Storey joined their fellow Ladner Rotarians as part of the club’s Adopt-A-Village initiative
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North Delta residents and Rotary Club of Ladner members Mike and Kathy Storey (right) present a water filter to the mother of a young family in a remote village of Laos, as fellow Rotarians Chris and Penny Offer (left) look on. (Photo submitted)

A team of Ladner Rotarians, including a couple from North Delta, has recently returned from delivering water filters and education supplies to remote villages in Laos as a part of the club’s Adopt-A-Village initiative.

This year, the team travelled to five villages in the Luang Prabang province, distributing 240 water filters to each community.

Providing water filters significantly reduces water-borne illnesses that would otherwise prevent kids from attending school and adults from supporting their families, according to a press release.

“Education was the original aim of Adopt-A-Village, which has expanded into providing clean water, in a poor country still suffering the impact of the Vietnam War and struggling to look after its people,” the release said.

It was the fifth Adopt-A-Village tour for two North Delta residents, Mike and Kathy Storey. Mike said that helping people with limited options and means is worth the continued investment of time and money.

“We see first-hand that what we do has tremendous meaning to them, and we can see the appreciation in their faces,” he said. “I have found that these trips abroad give me a new appreciation for Canada and for the opportunity and freedoms that we have here.”

Each family that receives a filter pays a small amount of money, and at least one family member must go through a hygiene course to learn how to use and maintain the filter.

Last year, the Rotary Club of Ladner led a project to fund and help build two small dams, 6½ kilometres of pipe, a large concrete water tank and 15 tap stations spread throughout the village.



sasha.lakic@northdeltareporter.com

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Members of the Rotary Club of Ladner deliver water filters to villagers in northern Laos. Left to right: Chris Offer, Beau Brennan, Dawn Rutledge Brennan, Diana Cabott, Penny Offer, Mike Storey and Kathy Storey. (Photo submitted)
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Rotary Club of Ladner members Chris and Penny Offer present a new water filter to a mother and a son in a remote village of northern Laos. (Photo submitted)


James Smith

About the Author: James Smith

James Smith is the founding editor of the North Delta Reporter.
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