Some Rotary Club members in Moore County are joining forces with their counterparts in Peru to improve the quality of life for some very needy children.

The North Carolinians have joined forces with the Rotary Club of San Isidre Este-Lima, Peru, to outfit a classroom and to bring running water to the 115 children who reside in the Westfalia Kinderdorf orphanage in Cieneguilla, Peru (about two hours outside the capital city of Lima).

"The only way for these kids to get fresh water is to hike over a mile with containers," said Bob Boone, international projects chairman for the Southern Pines Rotary Club. "Once this project is complete, the children at the orphanage will have a much safer, healthier, and more modern method for getting water."

Boone said his club first became aware of the orphanage and its needs in 2004 from a Southern Pines businessman and a local pastor who regularly travel to Peru on church mission work.

The Southern Pines club began to network with other Rotary clubs in Moore County, Rotarians in Peru, and Rotary International to work out this project's details and identify sources of funding.

The project's goal was to raise more than $20,000 to supply the orphanage with a 25-horsepower water pump, a 40-kilowatt generator, and tables and chairs to outfit a classroom on the orphanage's grounds.

Boone said the orphanage's administrators are hoping to use the new water system to irrigate crops that would be grown and sold to offset some of the orphanage's operating costs.

Nearly four years after initial discussions began, the North Carolina clubs and their Peruvian counterparts have raised the money needed to fund the project. The funds have been sent to the Rotarians in Peru to purchase the needed furnishings and equipment.

"Despite the language barriers, cultural barriers, and some government red tape, we've accomplished our mission," Boone said. "Business and community leaders from very different parts of the world have come together to do some good work on behalf of some very needy children."