Areas of Focus: Disease prevention and treatment, Maternal and child health
Activity Type:
Health: General
Summary: Provide Vitamin D3 to Rotary Health Fair Attendees
Homer Kachemak Bay Rotary Club serves a diverse Alaskan community at 59 degrees north latitude. The annual Rotary Health Fair provides a singular source for improving access to essential medical services, trained community health workers, and health care providers. Due to our far northern latitude, the natural production of Vitamin D from sunlight is inadequate resulting in a population with some of the lowest Vitamin D blood levels in the United States. Vitamin D deficiency is a public health concern that can lead to skeletal problems such as osteomalacia and rickets, a special concern of the Native Alaskan population where absence of vitamin D supplementation during the first 6 months of life was associated with vitamin D deficiency and subsequent development of rickets. (J Pediatr Endocrinol Metab. 2015;28(0):815-23). Vitamin D status is related to pregnancy outcomes in many ways. Preterm birth is very high in Alaska and it has been demonstrated that supplementing to get vitamin D levels above 40ng/ml will lower preterm birth risk by 60% compared to mothers at levels below 20ng/ml. (PLos ONE 12(7):e0180483). Data from the Rotary Health Fair in 2016 found more than 30% of women had levels below 20. Several studies have demonstrated that maintaining a vitamin D level above 60 compared to below 20 yields more than 80% risk reduction of getting breast cancer (McDonnell 2018 , Song 2019). Garland demonstrated that 5000iu(125 micrograms) per day achieves 60ng/ml for the average person (Anticancer Research 31:617-622, 2015). To address these key health issues, our proposal is for the purchase and free distribution of 350 bottles of 500@125 microgram (5000 IUs) VITAMIN D3 at $14.00/bottle, to a diverse range of residents at the annual Health Fair in November 2026. The Homer Rotary Health Fair is organized and run by the local club members. This booth is operated by members showing charts, graphs, and research to inform community members how they can avoid detrimental health conditions and diseases through preventive nutrition enhancement. The Fair is conducted on a Saturday in early November. This is the time where vitamin D cannot be produced in the skin due to the low sun angle exposure. The bottles of Vitamin D will be purchased via Amazon with free shipping to Rotarians. The vitamin D will be given out at the Rotary Booth. Any remaining vitamin D will be given out at the local Food Pantry as many do not attend the Health Fair. Signage will be provided indicating it is a gift of Rotary.
Fully Pledged
This project is "Fully Pledged". This means the amount of the pledges is equal to the total budget of the project. Now the project needs to be finalized and go through the club signature process. This process gets started on the administration page.
Project listed for the 2026-27 Rotary Year.
Proposed Financing
Existing Contributions Towards This Project
Date
Cash
DDF
Total
Homer-Kachemak Bay (5010)
23-Mar-26
$2,450
$2,450
$4,900
Total
$2,450
$2,450
$4,900
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