Joint effort results in big defibrillator donation

MOSES LAKE - Two community groups worked together and raised enough money to provide a portable defibrillator to every school in the Moses Lake School District. Moses Lake High School and the transportation program will receive multiple units.

The donation will mean the district will have access to more defibrillator units than most districts in the state, maybe any district in the state, Kiwanis President Francie Irwin said.

Together the Moses Lake Rotary and Kiwanis chapters raised $36,000, which paid for 27 defibrillators, Ronda Franklin, publicity chair for Rotary, said. They will be distributed to each building in the school district; three will be donated to the high school and four to the transportation program, she said.

The units arrived earlier this week, and should be installed before the start of school, or just after it starts, Franklin said.

The groups' goal was $26,000, "and we raised about $10,000 more than that," Franklin said. The effort started about a year ago, she said.

Both organizations have charitable foundations that donate to selected projects; the fundraising effort received $14,000 from the Rotary foundation and $5,000 from the Kiwanis foundation.

The remaining money was raised locally, through various fundraisers including an auction among Rotary members, Franklin said.

The organizations worked with local emergency service workers to standardize equipment, Irwin said. Maintenance will be performed by the Spokane chapter of Project Adam, a nonprofit organization that promotes placing defibrillators in schools.