November is Rotary Foundation Month

Clubs and Districts call attention to the programs of the Rotary Foundation and frequently cultivate additional financial support for the Foundation by promoting contributions for Paul Harris Fellows and Sustaining Members.

 

End Polio Now

Poliomyelitis is a highly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of 5.  Most people know it as Poliovirus. The virus is spread person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can attack the nervous system, and in some instances, lead to paralysis. Although there is no cure, there is a safe and effective vaccine – one which Rotary and our partners have used to immunize over 2.5 billion children worldwide.

 

When Rotary and its partners launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative more than three decades ago, polio paralyzed 1,000 children every day. We’ve made great progress against the disease since then. Polio cases have dropped by 99.9 percent, from 350,000 cases in 1988 in 125 countries to 33 cases of wild poliovirus in 2018 in just two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan. And we remain committed to the end.

 

With polio nearly eradicated, Rotary and its partners must sustain this progress and continue to reach every child with the polio vaccine. Without full funding and political commitment, this paralyzing disease could return to polio-free countries, putting children everywhere at risk. Rotary has committed to raising US$50 million each year to support global polio eradication efforts. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged to match that 2-to-1, for a total yearly contribution of $150 million. 

 

 

 

What would it take to change the world?

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What would it take to change the world? Rotary International is the world's first service club organization, with more than 1.2 million members in 33,000 clubs worldwide. Rotary club members are volunteers who work locally, regionally, and internationally to combat hunger, improve health and sanitation, provide education and job training, promote peace, and eradicate polio under the motto Service Above Self.

The object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and in particular, to encourage and foster:

1:The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service.

2:High ethical standards in business and professions, the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations and the dignifying by each Rotarian of their occupation as an opportunity to serve society.

3:The application of the ideal of service by every Rotarian to their personal, business and community life.

4:The advancement of international understanding, goodwill and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.