Columbia Falls Rotary helps with ‘Tippy Taps’ in Guatemala

Have you heard the one about a pandemic, a friendship, and an international service organization? It’s neither a punch line nor a joke, but a story about quiet yet important humanitarian work being done in the midst of an economic and health crisis by community leaders in Columbia Falls.

The service organization is the Columbia Falls Rotary, one of 33,000 clubs around the world. The Columbia Falls group and its members support numerous community projects close to home, including Falls Fest, Night of Lights, Brunch with Santa, and local Rotary Youth Leadership Academy scholarships. Its broader mission includes: peace and conflict resolution; disease prevention and treatment; water and sanitation; maternal and child health; basic education and literacy; economic and community development.

The rest of this story centers around international friendships and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rotary club member Dave Renfrow, a frequent traveler from Columbia Falls to Guatemala, received a phone call in March from friends in the town of San Andres Iztapa. They had organized a small service group to help their neighbors who were hanging out white flags, signaling they had no food. The two men and three women, including a woman who translates Spanish to the native Kaqchikel language, call themselves “Buenos Vecinos,” or “Good Neighbors.”

The virus lockdown has exacerbated hunger and poverty in the region. Poor sanitation and lack of clean water is making it difficult to keep hands clean and prevent the spread of the virus. “After helping with some donations for food, the group asked what more they could do. I sent them a couple of tippy-tap videos, and they got right on it,” said Renfrow.

The tippy tap hand wash station device has been used for many years to fight infectious disease in underdeveloped countries around the world. The cost for each tippy tap, including three soap replacements and hand-wash training, is $12.

“The cost is low enough that it is easy for people to make contributions at any level,” said Columbia Falls Rotary Secretary-Treasurer Roger Elliot.

So far, he said, individual contributions and club donations for tippy taps total $4,500, noting that a school in Seattle joined the effort with contributions from its Read-a-Thon fundraiser.

Buenos Vecinos made and installed about 20 Tipitaps in barrios around San Andres Iztapa and more are being located in nearby mountain villages.

“In just two days in May, the group, working in Corrales (Guatemala) completed 162 wash stations with training and soap for the subsistence farmers of the community.” said Renfrow. The next project is Xeparquiy, a village of 90 families higher in the mountains. There are nine mountain villages within the municipal district of San Andres Itzapa.

Oversight of the money, the volunteers, and the work is in accordance with Rotary International rules, which includes supervision by the president of the Guatemala West Rotary.

Contributions can be sent via PayPal to Rogerelliot80@gmail.com, using the “friends and family” feature for no-fee giving, or donate by check mailed to Columbia Falls Rotary, Box 2331, Columbia Falls, 59912.

Among the other projects funded by members and donations to the Columbia Falls Rotary are the School District 6 Bookmobile and after school sports programs, the School Snack Program, CASA, Braveheart Ministries, Local Scout Troop 1941, Montana Veterans, and the Glacier Country Boys and Girls Club.