In January of this year, we lost Bob Carroll (left), former CMIRC Rotarian and active volunteer in our Chiang Mai community. Bob was very passionate about three of our CMIRC service projects: The Children’s Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Program, the BEAM Education Foundation GED and Scholarship Program and the Burma Children Medical Fund (BCMF) B.K. Kee Patient House (a residence for children in need of specialty care in Chiang Mai and their families).
After Bob’s death and in consultation with Bob’s family in the USA, CMIRC created The Bob Carroll Memorial BEAM Scholarship Fund. Bob’s friends and family donated significant funds in his memory this year and with those funds CMIRC has been able to sponsor the fees for 17 students to take the U.S. GED High School Diploma Equivalency Exam (@US$300 each).
At its most recent meeting, the CMIRC Board voted to provide scholarships for three BEAM GED Program graduates who are studying nursing at Chiang Mai University (CMU). Each nursing student will have 25% of his/her annual tuition paid by CMIRC using funds raised from the Bob Carroll Memorial BEAM Scholarship appeal. CMIRC has committed to fund these students for each year they have remaining in the CMU Nursing Program.
In return, CMIRC asks that each student do a 3-month internship each year at the BCMF Mae Sot program and at the BCMF B.K. Kee Patient House in Chiang Mai. We at CMIRC think Bob would have really appreciated the giving back through the internship aspect of this program and that, with the cooperation between BEAM and BCMF, CMIRC has found a way to assist two of the programs Bob loved the most.
Thanks to Bob's legacy to the club, and to Bob’s family and friends along with many other donors who help make this scholarship fund possible!