End of Day 8: $1865.00

No new donations today, but, seeing as there is no mail on Sunday, and if you were in and around the Madison, WI area, you should have been outside today, and not on the computer, it is understandable.  However, with the workweek starting again, now is the time to donate if you haven't!  Even if you only have $5 to give, don't be shy, please consider donating!  Or, if you are more interested in eating out, dancing, or bowling to help out, then check out these events!  Or, want to help plan a fundraising event or presentation in your area?  I will gladly help- just email me!  Thanks!!

(Repeat from yesterday, but worth stating again) Remember, 100% of the money being donated is going toward sustainable development in rural Ecuador, with the primary focus being construction of a community center that will also act as a sister neighborhood center to Madison, Wisconsin's Meadowood Neighborhood Center.  The center is being designed by the local community, on land that was already donated by one of the families living there, and will be both a meeting place, location for educational and health services, and a facility to assist in income generation, and cultural exchanges for local community members.  Any additional funds raised will be used to help complete a potable water project left incomplete since 2009 when the local government failed to provide the matching funds to the Rotary International project.

I have been asked a number of times about the currency in Ecuador.  As of March 13, 2000, the official currency of Ecuador became the U.S. dollar.  Prior to that, the national currency was the Sucre.  The Sucre was named after Antonio José de Sucre, who was apparently a good friend of Simón Bolívar's (extremely important figure in Latin American history of independence), and, like Simón, a Venezuelan independence leader.  Apparently Antonio José de Sucre participated in the battles for South American independence from Spain, and is buried in Quito, Ecuador.  The U.S. dollar was adopted as the official currency after the exchange value of the sucre drastically decreased during 1999.  Sucre notes were exchangeable for U.S. dollars at the rate of 25,000 sucre to 1 U.S. dollar.  Before the sucre (used from 1884 to 2000), the currency of Ecuador was the Ecuadorian peso.