Our speaker will be PDG Carl Kruse. He will talk about Ethics and Vocational Service.
Meeting Assignments
Date
Who am I
Rotary Minute
Jan 30, 2018
Jean Loo-Russo
Bill Mortimer
Feb 6, 2018
Adrienne Wells-Holmes
Kim Muslusky
Feb 13, 2018
Jeanne MacLaren
Fred Nasseri
The member assigned to Who Am I is also responsible for providing the positive thought for the day at the beginning of the meeting. During the meeting the Who Am I assignment member has the task of introducing visiting Rotarians and guests.
The member assigned the Rotary Minute is also a Greeter for the day and is assigned to sell opportunity drawing tickets.
Rotary International President-elect Barry Rassin laid out his vision for the future of the organization on Sunday, calling on leaders to work for a sustainable future and to inspire Rotarians and the community at large.
Rassin, a member of the Rotary Club of East Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas, unveiled the 2018-19 presidential theme, Be the Inspiration, to incoming district governors at Rotary’s International Assembly in San Diego, California, USA. “I want you to inspire in your clubs, your Rotarians, that desire for something greater. The drive to do more, to be more, to create something that will live beyond each of us.”
EVANSTON, Ill. (Jan. 25, 2018) — With 22 confirmed cases in 2017 to date, and just one case in 2018, the world is on the brink of eradicating polio, a vaccine-preventable disease that once paralyzed hundreds of thousands of children each year.
Rotary is giving $53.5 million in grants to support immunization and surveillance activities led by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).
More than half of the funds will support efforts to end polio in two of the three countries where polio remains endemic:
Afghanistan: $12.03 million
Pakistan: $19.31 million
Further funding will support efforts to keep 10 vulnerable countries polio-free:
Cameroon: $1.61 million
Central African Republic: $428,000
Chad: $2.33 million
The Democratic Republic of Congo: $6.48 million
Ethiopia: $1.82 million
Iraq: $2 million
Niger: $1.71 million
Somalia: $3.29 million
South Sudan: $835,300
Syria: $428,000
An additional $731,338 will fund research to be conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), and another $518,000 will go toward technical assistance in West and Central Africa.
While significant strides have been made against the disease, polio remains a threat in hard-to-reach and underserved areas and conflict zones. Despite a historically low case count, as long as a single child has polio, all children are at risk, which underscores the need for continued funding and political commitment to eradication.
Rotary has committed to raising $150 million over the next three years, which will be matched 2-to-1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, yielding $450 million for polio eradication activities, including immunization and surveillance.
Rotary started its polio eradication program PolioPlus in 1985, and in 1988 became a partner in the GPEI, along with WHO, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation later became a partner. Since the initiative launched, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 percent, from about 350,000 cases in 1988 to just 22 confirmed cases in 2017 (as of 25 January). Rotary has contributed a total of more than $1.7 billion — including matching funds from the Gates Foundation — and countless volunteer hours to protect more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries from polio.