Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Santa Barbara Sunrise will be heading for Mexico on Sunday to spend the week visiting fellow Rotarians in Ezequiel Montes, Salamanca and Celaya.
The primary purpose of the trip is to visit an orphanage in Salamanca, called City of the Children, that the club has supported for nine years and to participate in Rotarians at Work Day on April 24 at an eye surgery clinic in Celaya, Guanajuato state.
About 50 cataract surgeries will be performed by a group of ophthalmologists, including U.S. surgeon Dr. Jeff Rutgard, a volunteer with Surgical Eye Expeditions (SEE) International of Goleta. The team will carry with them donated supplies for the surgeries from SEE. The clinic is only for people with very low incomes, many of whom travel for hours by bus or on foot to reach the clinic.
The Rotary Club of Santa Barbara Sunrise has been collaborating with an all-female Rotary Club, Nat-Tha-Hi, in Celaya for 17 years. Hundreds of surgeries have been performed since the first one, known as Milagro en Marzo — Miracle in March.
— Diana Washburn is the public relations chairwoman for the Rotary Club of Santa Barbara Sunrise.