On Friday March 25, a small group of local Rotarians was fortunate to meet with David Talbot, Founder of Crutches 4 Africa, at the Casco Federal Credit Union in Westbrook.  Jeff Malloy, Manager of the branch, was our host.  We were joined by Israel Collins, President of Saco Bay Sunset Club and Dennis Robillard, our District's Crutches 4 Africa Coordinator.
 
During our nearly one hour discussion, we learned that David is a videographer and also a polio survivor.  He was working in Uganda in 2005 when he saw a site that stopped him in his tracks - a woman, a polio survivor, with her leg severely deformed and bent back touching her shoulder.  Also on that trip, at the head of the Nile River, he saw a billboard displaying Rotary's 4-Way Test. This was his first real exposure to Rotary. He liked the straight forward and moral message of the statements of the 4-Way Test.
 
July 17, 2005 was the beginning of Crutches 4 Africa, when he awoke from a dream realizing what he needed to do to help people like the woman he saw, right down to what the logo should look like.  in 2006, he joined Rotary and credits the reach of Rotary with helping Crutches 4 Africa grow to what it is today.  In fact, Maine Rotarians have contributed significantly to this project, shipping items in quantity only second to that of the home base in Colorado.
 
As of this meeting, 73,000 units had been distributed, with 5,000 in transit.  We learned that David and his wife Candace were on their way to Africa, via Maine, to meet and distribute this latest shipment.
 
L-R: Dennis Robillard, David Talbot, Jeff Malloy