HOME GROUND—Edwin Velarde of Oak Park gets acquainted with some of children in the Phillipines, his country of origin. Velarde is helping to build water wells for several villages on a remote island in the area. Rotary Clubs from Westlake and Conejo Valley are funding the project. As a child growing up in the Philippines, Edwin Velarde waited in lines for food and for vaccinations. He had no idea that one day he would help provide some of those same services.

Velarde, who owns Oak Park Family Dentistry with his wife, Dr. Cristina Velarde, has worked on several community service projects in the Philippines through the Rotary Club of Westlake Village.

"I know how it affected me, and I ended up being okay," Velarde said. "Maybe I can help an individual like myself."

Velarde will travel to the remote island of Marinduque in August to help construct water wells for several villages, where a two to threehour wait is required to obtain water, he said. He plans to construct eight wells in eight villages.

HELPING OUT—Edwin Velarde has traveled to the remote island of Marinduque in the Philippines several times to work on community service projects. The Rotary Club of Westlake Village member will return in August to help construct water wells to provide clean water to eight villages. "Every time I talk about it I get affected by it because it's the women and children who do all this work," Velarde said.

Manual pumps will be installed to pull out the water, as opposed to using buckets, which can become contaminated, Velarde said.

"The key there is, the more simple it is the more sustainable and the better off these people will be, rather than giving them something high-tech that would cost them more for upkeep and would become a burden," Velarde said.

He hopes construction will begin by the end of the year but isn't sure how long it will take to complete.

"They don't have the conveniences, the technology needed. A lot of times they have to import from the mainland," Velarde said, adding that the Rotary volunteers hire local experts "because they know the lay of the land, the terrain and where to find water."

Funding for the $27,000 project is being provided by the Rotary Club of Westlake Village, Westlake Sunrise Rotary Club, Rotary Club of the Conejo Valley and the Rotary Foundation.

Velarde heard about Marinduque in 2006 after a super typhoon killed hundreds of people and badly damaged infrastructure. A Marinduque high school had lost the few books and old computers it had. Through Filipino Rotary clubs, including the Makati South club, Velarde traveled to the island several times, providing new books, computers and furniture, and building several bathrooms for the school.

"I wanted to find something that I could do to help that would have a lasting impact in that area," said Velarde, who speaks Filipino. "This will affect a good number of the population, the future leaders of that island, for years to come."

Rotary Club of Westlake Village is supportive of Velarde's efforts to improve conditions for residents, particularly children, said Edward Pope, the Westlake group's president-elect.

"Rotary focuses on helping youth and empowering people to help themselves," Pope said. "These are extremely poor towns where many of the kids don't even have the opportunity to go to school."

Velarde was born in Manila, and his family immigrated to the United States in 1977 when he was about 15. The family settled in New York and then moved to Chicago. Velarde moved to California as an adult and wanted to learn about his roots in the Philippines.

"I wondered what it would be like to be back in the Philippines, with its different culture, different type of people and different way," Velarde said.

He joined the Rotary Club after a member invited him to a meeting in 1994. He has involved his family, volunteering with his children, ages 20, 17 and 12, in Rotary projects and at events.

"There are people outside of our lifestyle who are a lot less fortunate than we are," Velarde said. "We take what we have here in the U.S. for granted. We tend to complain a lot about life."