Visiting Rotarian: Dave Hammond (Rotary Club of Nanaimo Downtown)
Guests: Suzanne VanGalin. Also, Rotaract students, Elizabeth & Kaitlyn
Foundation Minute - Colin provided information about the Benefactor program.
Announcements:
DLTA registration now open. This year the assembly will be held in Centralia Wash. On March 27-28. Follow the link from our event calendar.
50/50 Ticket Sales at WalMart on February 22. There will be 3 shifts again and there is a real push to sell out this year.
Bob L. advised that we still need a few more volunteers for Coldest Night of the Year Fundraiser on Feb 21. Also, we’ll likely need a few more volunteers for the paddlers Marine Festival to be held on May 16-17
RYLA interviews were held on Feb 14. 5 students were selected: 1 from Dover, 1 from NDSS and 3 from Barsby.
Reminder of the Rotary Celebration (Paul Harris Night) to be held on February 26 at the Nanaimo Golf Club from 5:30 -7:00. Tickets: $10.
Daybreak Swing Into Spring to be held on Mar 7. Volunteer servers are needed.
Ian advised of the many sponsorship and advertising opportunities available through the Rotary District Conference to be held on Jun 19-21. Registration page coming soon.
Nanaimo North Executive Installation will be held on June 16.
Rotaract will be having a Beer ‘N Burger event on March 7 at 7 p.m. at the Queens. Tickets: $15
Program:
Dave Hammond and our own Bob Moss gave an interesting presentation about their 12-day trade mission to China. They were accompanied by Sasha Angus from the Nan. Economic Dev. Corporation and Leslie Anderson from Tourism. The purpose of the mission was to meet the principals behind the conference hotel, meet the Hilton Hotel people and also to connect with tourism folk.
Happy/Sad: Jim
Final Vegas Toss was won by Sue Gibson! A fitting end to this fundraiser. Congratulations, Sue! This fundraiser will be replaced by a “Magic Dart” competition. Tickets will be sold and each one represents an opportunity to throw one magic dart. At the end of each quarter, the high scorer will earn 50% of the pot. So, we’ll see who has an ‘eagle eye’…
Next week’s regular meeting will be canceled so we may all attend the Rotary Celebration to be held on Thursday at the Nanaimo Golf Club.
EVANSTON, Ill., USA (20 January 2015) — The continued fight to eradicate polio gets an additional $34.8 million boost from Rotary in support of immunization activities and research to be carried out by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. The funds will be used by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF for polio immunization, surveillance and research activities in ten countries, as well as to provide technical assistance to additional countries in Africa.
In 2014, the world saw significant progress against polio in most places. Nigeria – the last polio-endemic country in Africa – saw a nearly 90% reduction in cases in 2014 over 2013, with the last case recorded six months ago. In addition, more than half of the world’s polio cases in 2013 were the result of outbreaks in previously polio-free countries, largely caused by instability and conflict in countries such as Syria, Iraq and Somalia. These outbreaks appear to have been stopped in 2014 following special vaccination efforts in 11 countries, reaching more than 56 million children.
The exception to this progress was Pakistan, which saw an explosive outbreak which resulted in more than 300 cases in 2014, the highest number in the country in more than a decade. As a result, Pakistan accounted for almost 90% of the world’s cases in 2014. In 2015, Pakistan has the opportunity to reverse that trend and in doing so, help the world end polio forever.
The progress made against the disease in 2014, while significant, is fragile. Rotary’s funds will support efforts to end polio in the three countries where the disease has never been stopped: $8.1 million in Nigeria; $1.1 million in Pakistan and $6.7 million in Afghanistan.
Additional funds will support efforts to keep other at-risk countries polio-free. The grants include $1.6 million, Cameroon: $2.5 million, Chad; $3.3 million, Democratic Republic of Congo; $1.1 million, Ethiopia; $250,000, Kenya; $2.8 million, Niger; and $7 million, Somalia. In addition, grants totaling $321,000 will provide technical assistance in Africa.
“We are encouraged to see the tangible progress made against this disease in 2014,” said Mike McGovern, chair of Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee. “However, until we eliminate polio from its final reservoirs, children everywhere are at risk from this disease. Rotary – along with our partners – will work hard to ensure the world’s most vulnerable children are kept safe from polio.”
Rotary launched its polio immunization program PolioPlus in 1985 and in 1988 became a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative with the WHO, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since the initiative launched in 1988, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99 percent, from about 350,000 cases a year to 350 confirmed to date in 2014.
Rotary’s roles within the initiative are fundraising, advocacy, and social mobilization. To date, Rotary has contributed more than $1.3 billion and countless volunteer hours to fight polio. Through 2018, every new dollar Rotary commits to polio eradication will be matched two-to-one by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation up to $35 million a year.
Save-On-Foods and the Nanaimo Dragon Boat Festival Society delivered $22,000 to the Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation to be put towards the purchase of a Breast MRI; offering progressive healthcare to Vancouver Island women. Proud of our hardworking members Bob Lasota and Jim Turley for their contribution to the Dragon Boat festival.
The global grant application submitted by the 5-club world community service alliance (Nanaimo Rotary Club, Nanaimo North Rotary Club, Lantzville Rotary Club, Nanaimo Daybreak Rotary Club, Nanaimo Oceanside Rotary Club) has been approved. Nanaimo Oceanside Club has taken the lead on this project. The local partner is the Sunyani Central Rotary Club.
The Global Grant is for US$66,500 US ($71,500 CDN or 227,000 Ghana Cedi).
The project will replace roofs of the Nyamaa Kindergarten & Junior High school. It will construct a new 12-seater latrine at Kotokrom and provide for annual visits by trained nurses to teach a hygene class to the school. The dirt floor in a classroom at Kotokrom will be covered. Southridge Model school will receive a security fence similar to the Sunyani Municipal Primary School. Surplus funds will be used to distribute malaria nets at one of the community hospitals. Bids are underway, work should begin by mid month.
Thank you to your club for its support of the 5-club alliance and the Ghana projects. While many projects are being carried out in areas to the south, it is important to retain our partnership with the Ghanaian Rotary clubs as the need of the people of Ghana is not any less important.
