Rotary D6330 Foundation Newsletter - September 2023

Rotary International President 2023-24, Gordon McInally (Scotland) District 6330 Governor, Sonja Glass (RC of Meaford, ON) Newsletter Editor – Kitty Bucsko (RC of D6330 Passport)

ROTARY D6330 FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2023

Rotary International President for 2023-24, Gordon McInally, plans to make mental health a focus, and emphasized continuity in advancing the goals of previous leaders, including empowering girls and eradicating polio.

He urges members to promote peace in troubled nations, help those affected by conflict, and maintain the momentum of initiatives begun by past leaders.

Click this link to hear RI President McInally’s speech at the 2023 Melbourne Convention.

RI PRESIDENT Gordon R. McInally

* Editor Kitty Bucsko

ROTARY INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT SEPTEMBER 2023 MESSAGE

Peace in practice

The International Day of Peace takes place 21 September. The United Nations General Assembly declared this a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire.

It is not enough, as people of action, to simply avoid making war. If we are to Create Hope in the World, we must aggressively wage peace.

Where can we begin? There are countless armed conflicts around the world, and the global population of displaced people is higher than ever. The opportunities are nearly limitless, but the cycles of violence and hardship seem endless.

My advice is to start small but think big. I look to Rotary members in Pakistan and India for inspiration.

In March 2020, about 50 Rotary members from Pakistan met about 50 Rotary members from India at Kartarpur Sahib, a shrine in Pakistan. The sanctuary honours Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, a religion practiced in both countries. Tensions between the two countries barred many religious pilgrims from India from visiting the shrine. That is, until Pakistan opened a visa-free pathway to them in 2019.

Earlier this year, Rotary members from opposite sides of the border again met at the shrine, this time with about twice as many participants.

Any work toward building peace needs to be brave and bold. What these Rotary members have done is just that. The Pakistani government took an important step toward peace when it admitted Indian pilgrims to the Kartarpur Sahib shrine, but Pakistani Rotary members took the next step when they welcomed Rotary members from India as friends and family. That is Positive Peace at work.

These peacebuilders did not stop there. Club representatives at this year’s meeting signed Twin Club Certificates to recognize their long-term commitment to continue to learn from each other and to work together on more peacebuilding efforts, and they have held joint meetings via video chat.

The importance of communicating with and learning from another culture cannot be overstated, and Rotary is making it even easier to do so. One way of engaging in cross-cultural dialogue and building relationships across borders is through virtual international exchanges that build on our current programs and make them more accessible.

A virtual exchange uses online platforms to connect people from different parts of the world so they can share their traditions, priorities, values, and more. Virtual exchanges can serve as a window to another part of the world through activities such as teaching a digital cooking class, learning a new language, or even designing service projects with a global impact.

These online chats have the potential to inspire new connections and more respect between societies. Taking that knowledge and using it to better the lives of our fellow human beings is the next step.

Let’s see where it takes us.

R. Gordon R. McInally President, Rotary International

THE ROTARY FOUNDATION TRUSTEE CHAIR SEPTEMBER 2023 - MESSAGE

Create your Rotary moment

When was your Rotary moment? It’s when you realize that being part of Rotary means more than just showing up for a meeting, when you discover you are part of something that changes the lives of others as it changes yours.

I will never forget the moment when I learned about Daniel, a Haitian child. Rotary Foundation Trustee Greg Podd, who at the time was serving with me on an RI committee, had been trying to get Daniel on a plane for urgent heart surgery through the Gift of Life program. But Daniel couldn’t get the visa to travel, and doctors had given him only months to live.

When Greg told me this, I remembered that Gift of Life was operating in Haiti, and we could do the surgery there. This was on a Wednesday. Greg helped get hold of Daniel’s medical records. The Gift of Life surgeon I knew – who visited only once or twice every month – happened to be in Haiti. By Thursday, the surgeon had looked over the medical charts and told us that he could repair Daniel’s heart but said he was traveling soon. We had to get Daniel to a medical facility by Friday morning.

Daniel and his parents rode 90 minutes on a scooter through the bumpy roads of rural Haiti to get to the facility, and the surgeon successfully performed the procedure. Thankful, Greg and I moved on to other projects.

A few months later, I got an email with a picture of Daniel. I will never forget his smiling face, despite the foot-long scar running down his chest, and what he wrote: “I know you helped me. You save my life. Thank you.”

On behalf of Daniel and countless others, I am passing along that gratitude to all Rotary members who have helped or will help this year.

The beauty of Rotary, especially with The Rotary Foundation, is that we can create these Rotary moments anytime. Just reach out to others in Rotary and discuss our work. Our caring network, our dedicated volunteers, and available resources will take care of the rest.

If two people can make such a difference imagine what we can accomplish by working together in larger groups through The Rotary Foundation. Picture the impact of clubs within a district joining forces for a Foundation district grant to boost literacy, or two districts rom different parts of the world transforming a community through a water, sanitation, and hygiene global grant.

If you haven’t discovered your Rotary moment yet, keep searching. Serving Rotary through our Foundation is a great place to find it, and it will change your life.

BARRY RASSIN Foundation Trustee Chair

RI PRESIDENT NOMINEE - 2025-26

Mário César Martins de Camargo, a member of the Rotary Club of Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil, is the selection of Nominating Committee for President to become Rotary International’s president for 2025-26.

Mr. de Camargo will officially become the nominee on the 15th of September if no other candidates challenge him.

De Camargo plans to boost Rotary’s public image by working from the top down.

“Rotary today has strong competition for members and funds,” he says. “We need to rejuvenate the brand, especially in some zones. We should utilize post-pandemic meeting tools … to allow the president to address Rotarians all over the globe. We also need to develop more long-term partnerships with political, community, and business leaders. Let’s emphasize our greatest asset: 1.4 million volunteers.”

He also hopes to improve Rotary’s process for appointments and governance.

“Rotary should adopt a more transparent system to appoint volunteers for positions, with clear criteria and databased evaluation of results,” he says.

De Camargo was president of Grafica Bandeirantes and has been a consultant to the print industry in Brazil. He has also served as president and chair of several printing and graphics trade associations, including the Brazilian Association of Graphic Technology and ABIGRAF, the Brazilian Printing Industry Association.

He has served on the board of Casa da Esperança (House of Hope), a hospital sponsored by his Rotary club that serves 150,000 children with disabilities every year.

De Camargo studied in the U.S. and Germany and holds degrees from EAESP-Fundación Getulio Vargas in business administration and Faculdade de Direito de São Bernardo do Campo in law.

A Rotarian since 1980, de Camargo has served Rotary as director, trustee, RI learning facilitator, committee member and chair, and task force member.

De Camargo and his wife, Denise, are Major Donors and Benefactors of The Rotary Foundation.

To learn more about de Camargo, read his interview and vision statement, which outline his goals for Rotary.

Click here to read more.

The word “BelRAG” stands for “Basic Education & Literacy Rotarian Action Group.”

We are a Rotary Action Group – a network of Rotarians throughout the world who have a special interest in acting upon the mission and goals of Rotary International related to

1. Alleviating illiteracy

2. Enhancing literacy teaching and learning globally, and

3. Helping to provide materials and equipment for literacy education at different levels

Like all Action Groups, it is an autonomous association of likeminded Rotarians, partners of Rotarians, and Rotaractors working in partnership with Clubs and Districts on literacy projects of mutual concern.

BelRAG’s Mission and Goals

• Increasing general awareness of the severity of illiteracy throughout the world; its effect on the quality of the lives of individuals, families, communities and nations from generation to generation.

• Increasing awareness among Rotarians, Rotary Clubs and Rotary Districts of ways they can implement basic education and literacy projects that strengthen the capacity of communities to provide education and literacy to all.

• Assisting Rotarians, Rotary Clubs, and Rotary Districts to increase the scale and effectiveness of their participation in the alleviation of illiteracy and its consequences - supporting the pursuit of the Object of Rotary by providing programs for both children and adults and reducing gender disparity in education.

• Actively collaborate with Rotarians to establish partnerships for projects involving the other areas of focus.

What Strategies will LitRAG/BelRAG use to achieve its Goals?

The following strategies are among those that will be used to achieve BelRAG’s goals.

• Publicize the extent and consequences of illiteracy in terms of human experience and welfare using a website, newsletters, pamphlets, diverse other publications, displays, and conferences;

• Attract and involve Rotarians, their partners and Rotaractors as BelRAG members;

• Develop support systems for Rotary literacy activities, including the nomination of project advisers, and

• Develop productive relationships with appropriate non-Rotary organizations and agencies, e.g. International Reading Association

For Rotary and Rotarians, our goal is to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender disparity in education, and increase adult literacy.

We support education for all children and literacy for children and adults.

HOW ROTARY MAKES HELP HAPPEN

We take action to empower educators to inspire learning at all ages.

The Rotary Foundation supports education through scholarships, donations, and service projects around the world.

Click here to view a short video about how Rotary supports Education.

Literacy Month hits home for Rotarian in Fort St. John, BC

Posted by Scott Wisdahl

September is Literacy Month. While you could be provided with a list of statistics that would astound you, especially relating to your own community and country, instead I will relate a moving message/story from Quintin.

Imagine that you are a wealthy westerner from Canada, and you are traveling in the middle of Africa. You are in a small village. The clothes you wear and the bags you are carrying are probably worth more than what the entire village could make in a year. You are surrounded by curious and mostly friendly children, trying to get your attention.

What would be one of the most moving things you could see or hear? Would it be the distance between your two cultures? The inequity of personal wealth? The request from locals to act as a guide or to sell you something? Or the eager requests for candy or money? While all of these requests tug at your heart strings, it is the desire of the children to learn that evokes the strongest feelings and forges the most moving experiences.

Imagine a little girl, who only owns one set of clothes, and they are very worn out. She only asks you for a book, any book. You see, she and her siblings are learning to read, and they have only one book between them. She has read it 40 times and can almost recite it. So great is her desire to learn and better herself and her family, the one thing she asks for from this rich visitor is a book.

Quintin told me that in most places they traveled in Africa, they were asked for English books. Books are rare and are very expensive. They are heavy. How much harder do you think it would it be to become literate if you had no books to access?

For the rest of this month, perhaps you can think about the story of the little girl with one book, and about how important literacy is to each of us. In the promotion of world peace, literacy must be one of the most important steppingstones. Let’s find a way, as Rotarians, to feed the flames of education and to promote literacy.

Click here to read more

Rotary members make amazing things happen, like:

Opening schools: In Afghanistan, Rotary members opened a girls’ school to break the cycle of poverty and social imbalance.

Teaching adults to read: Rotary members in the United States partnered with ProLiteracy Detroit to recruit and train tutors after a study showed that more than half of the local adult population was functionally illiterate.

New teaching methods: The SOUNS program in South Africa, Puerto Rico and the United States teaches educators how to improve literacy by teaching children to recognize letters by sounds instead of names.

Making schools healthy: Rotarians are providing clean, fresh water to every public school in Lebanon so students can be healthier and get a better education.

Enhancing educational systems: In Kenya, Rotary clubs are working with the Global Partnership for Education and local and national governments to advance life-long learning opportunities for poor and marginalized children.

Click here to learn more

While we don't know its exact origin, the above widely quoted saying summarizes what Rotary and The Rotary Foundation are all about:

We do quite a lot of good, serving people around the world in myriad ways, and we are in it for the long haul.

How many other charities do so much good - in so many ways - for so many as The Rotary Foundation?

"Do all the good you can, for all the people you can, in all the ways you can, just as long as ever you can."

LIFE CHANGING PROJECTS ARE POSSIBLE BECAUSE

OF DONORS LIKE YOU!

Dear Rotarians

Thank you for Doing Good in the World by donating to The Rotary Foundation. Because of your generous support, we can take action together to improve lives in communities that need our help the most.

Did you know that we have a recurring giving program, Rotary Direct? With Rotary Direct, your gifts are transformed into projects that mobilize Rotary members around the globe.

Last year, our Foundation awarded more than 1,100 global grants to address the world's most pressing challenges, including providing clean water, supporting quality education, and alleviating poverty. Projects like this one and more are possible because of donors like you.

Help us continue making a difference in your community and around the world by enrolling in Rotary Direct today. It’s a simple and secure way to make a big impact.

Sincerely,

The Rotary Foundation

WHEN YOU DONATE TO TRF

Thank you to everyone in D6330 who has given to the Foundation, who has participated in a Foundation project, or has helped spread the word about the Foundation. Thank you!

Click here to view a short video about your contributions to TRF and the good that you do! We’re changing lives through our vision and unwavering commitment, bringing hope to those who need it most.

PAUL HARRIS SOCIETY

What's the Paul Harris Society?

Not to be confused with a Paul Harris Fellow (which means a life-time gift of $1000 to The Rotary Foundation's annual fund), the Paul Harris Society is the name given to those Rotarians who pledge a $1000 gift annually –every year.

You may know these committed individuals they wear a "flag" below their Rotary pin that reads "PHS."

One easy way to give at the $1000 level is through Rotary Direct sign up and an amount of money you designate is automatically deducted from your account each month. Learn more at www.rotary.org

Members of the Paul Harris Society know that the need never ends and neither should the giving.

D6330 Long-time Paul Harris Society Chair is Rotarian Jamie Pole.

What your giving supports

Paul Harris Society gifts have helped provide:

• Vocational training for teachers establishing an early childhood education center in South Africa

• Water filters, toilets, and hygiene training to prevent fluorosis, diarrhea, and other diseases in India

• A scholarship for a medical professional in Italy to research treatments that minimize mortality rates among premature babies

• Peace-building seminars for 200 teachers and 1,300 students in Uganda

• Treated mosquito nets and medical services that prevent malaria in Mali

In District 6330 we are proud to have over 116 members in our Paul Harris Society.

We have over 32 of our clubs that now have members in the Paul Harris Society.

For information please contact our District 6330 Co-ordinator, Jamie Pole

Rotarian Jamie Pole

by Diana Schoberg and Vanessa Glavinskas Illustrations by Gwen Keraval

As part of the polio eradication campaign, Rotary and its partners have trained millions of health care workers and volunteers and vaccinated nearly 3 billion children. Polio cases have dropped 99.9 percent since Rotary took up the cause in 1985, and the number of countries with endemic wild polio has dropped to two: Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“What you’ve done with polio is remarkable,” says Larry Cooley, a well-known international development consultant. “But it shouldn’t be a study of one.”

Rotary is stepping up to that challenge through Programs of Scale, a new Foundation program awarding grants to Rotary clubs or districts with evidence-based interventions that are ready to scale. The first such grant, announced in February, will provide $2 million to Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia, a member-led program focused on fighting malaria. Co-funders World Vision U.S. and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are also involved in malaria mitigation efforts and will each contribute $2 million to the program. This $6 million program will train and equip 2,500 community health workers in Zambia to support the government’s work to eradicate malaria in that country.

What you’ve done with polio is remarkable, but it shouldn’t be a study of one.

Larry Cooley

A well-known international development consultant

The concept of Programs of Scale dates back to 2013, when global grants, introduced through The Rotary Foundation’s updated grant model, expanded the scope and size of Rotary projects with the aim of increasing their impact. After a 2016 evaluation of the grant model, the Foundation Trustees requested that a new grant

By building on a proven concept — such as efforts to stamp out malaria in Zambia — Rotary’s new multimillion-dollar Programs of Scale grants help make good better

Larry Cooley

type be developed that would fund “scalable” grant projects in the areas of focus meaning projects that were planned in a way that allowed them to be expanded, built upon, and further developed.

The Programs of Scale grants are the result: a way to fund large-scale, high-impact projects that can attract partners while tapping into Rotary members’ capacity and enthusiasm. “While global grants and district grants have been very successful, we want to give opportunities for projects with even more impact,” says Foundation Trustee Sangkoo Yun, who was on the Programs of Scale selection committee. “We want to better quantify that impact and share what we learn with all Rotarians engaged in international service.”

So what, in this context, does “scale” mean?

“It’s a simple question with a complicated answer,” says Cooley, who is an expert on the topic. One way to think about it, he says, is that you are looking for a solution that matches the scale of the problem. If you define the problem in local terms, then the scale of the solution is local. If you define it as international, as with polio, then the scale of the solution is international.

While global grants and district grants have been very successful, we want to give opportunities for projects with even more impact.

Sangkoo Yun Foundation Trustee and Programs of Scale selection committee member

“Problems have denominators,” he says. “If somebody said, we helped distribute blankets to 10,000 villagers, I’d say, congratulations, but how many villagers needed blankets? If the answer is that it was 10,000 out of 15,000, I’d say, holy mackerel, that’s great. If it’s 10,000 out of 10 million, I’d say that’s still great, but that’s not the right strategy.”

Clubs can think about scale whenever they’re developing a project, not only when they are aiming to apply for a Programs of Scale grant. Cooley suggests that rather than focusing on projects, Rotarians focus on problems. “Take on a problem and [don’t] let go until it’s solved, or materially improved, whether at the community or national level,” he says.

When thinking about scaling up, Tusubira notes, you can take a successful project and add new aspects to it to deepen the impact. Or you can expand the project to reach more people, as is the case in Zambia, where Rotarians are building on successful global grants and other programs that funded training for community health workers in other parts of the country. The challenge, he says, is figuring out which are the unique environmental factors that are responsible for the success of a project in order to be sure you are scaling up the right things.

The Foundation received more than 70 proposals from around the world for the first Programs of Scale grant in March 2020. After a rigorous review process, including proposal evaluations, three finalists were recommended.

“I was bowled over by the quality and strength of the applications, and by the expertise and experience of Rotarians on the ground and the connections they have,” says selection committee member Judith Diment. “What I really liked about [the malaria project in Zambia] was the partnerships and the collaboration they had

Trustee Sangkoo Yun

established,” adds Diment, who is also the dean of the Rotary Representative Network and a longtime polio advocacy adviser. “It had many parallels with the polio program.”

Rotary’s success in the polio eradication program provides valuable lessons for clubs not only those interested in applying for a Programs of Scale grant, but those planning any project.

To read and learn more, click here

For further information directly from Malaria Partners International, click here.

Reach out now to schedule one of our Rotarian board members to speak at a meeting of your club.

Find out what you, and your club, can bring to the fight.

ZAMBIA

Click here to read more

Zambia is a large, landlocked, resource-rich country with sparsely populated land in the center of Southern Africa. It shares its border with eight countries (Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe) that expands its regional market for goods and services.

Zambia is experiencing a large demographic shift and is one of the world’s youngest countries by median age. Its population, much of it urban, is estimated at about 19.6 million (2021) with a rapid growth rate of 2.7% per year, reflecting the relatively high fertility rate. As the large youth population attains reproductive age, the population is anticipated to double in the next 25 years, resulting in additional pressure on the demand for jobs, health care, and other social services.

Zambia ranks among the countries with the highest levels of poverty and inequality globally. The incidence of poverty worsened with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is projected to slowly return to prepandemic levels by 2025, reflecting the sustained growth in the services and construction sectors that are expected to benefit the urban poor and reverse the recent increase in urban poverty. Progress with rural poverty, however, is more uncertain. While the agriculture sector is projected to grow, rates are just above population growth and the sector is subject to high volatility. Structural barriers to agricultural productivity and limited ability to cushion external shocks among the rural poor mean that additional support may be needed to improve their livelihoods.

More than 61% (2015) of Zambia’s 19.6 million people earn less than the international poverty line of $2.15 per day (compared to 41% across Sub-Saharan Africa) and three-quarters of the poor live in rural areas.

Chola, a Community Facilitator from Serenje District, Zambia, trained through the MAMaZ project, found himself playing a key role in his community when COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in early 2020. This is his story.

Chola is a fisherman, a cassava farmer, and a family man who was first involved in the Mobilizing Access to Maternal Health Services in Zambia (MAMaZ) programme almost 10 years ago as a Community Health Volunteer (CHV). In this role, Chola helped to raise awareness of the danger signs of several childhood illnesses including severe malaria and ensured that children at risk received the urgent care they needed.

A successful pilot project led to scale-up

In 2017, Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) joined Transaid and the National Malaria Elimination Centre Zambia to launch the MAMaZ Against Malaria (MAM) pilot project to improve the treatment and case management of severe malaria in Serenje district. After the exceptional success of the pilot that recorded a 96% reduction in child mortality from severe malaria in the District, the programme was scaled up to cover 355 rural communities across Zambia under the name MAM at Scale.

“Seeing the number of lives that have been saved from severe malaria and the reduction in maternal deaths due to the work of CHVs motivated me to continue supporting these projects for the last 10 years,” explains Chola.

Adapting to the challenges of COVID-19

Little did anyone know at the time when MAM and MAM at Scale were launched that the physical and human infrastructure developed through these projects would turn out to be life-saving support not only for malaria but also for COVID-19, when the pandemic struck in 2020.

Today, Chola is a Community Facilitator, which means he also acts as an information link between public health programmes and rural communities to raise awareness not only of the danger signs and protocols around malaria and other diseases affecting maternal and child health but also for COVID-19. His new role involves a range of tasks from mobilizing communities to mentoring CHVs. Chola and other CHVs have been supporting MAM at Scale to disseminate key information and guidelines from the Zambian Ministry of Health on measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Following their new training adapted to the context of COVID-19, Community Facilitators and CHVs continue their work while adhering to social distancing and safety guidelines. The well-established CHV networks for malaria have opened doors to utilize the same forces to raise awareness on COVID-19 related practices like handwashing and social distancing in the rural communities of Zambia. The MAM at Scale project has also supported CHVs and their communities to establish hand washing stations and food banks.

Chola – a respected family man

Community Facilitators like Chola are well placed to perform this role as they are typically influential and trusted figures within their communities who are therefore able to mobilize people and help spread key information. Despite the added responsibilities, Chola smiles widely and says, “I am still a family man and I squeeze out a little time in my schedule to go fishing or tend to my cassava farm”.

Click here to read more.

U.N. INTERNATIONAL DATES TO NOTE (plus links)

September 5

International Day of Charity

September 7

International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies

September 8

International Literacy Day

September 9

International Day to Protect Education from Attack

September 15

International Day of Democracy

September 16

International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer

September 21

International Day of Peace

September 23

International Day of Sign Languages

September 26

International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

September 28

World Maritime Day

September 29

International Day for Awareness of Food Loss and Waste

Summary of new polioviruses this week:

• Afghanistan: one WPV1 positive environmental sample

• Algeria: one cVDPV2 positive environmental sample

• Benin: one cVDPV2 positive environmental sample

• Botswana: two cVDPV2 positive environmental samples

• Burundi: one cVDPV2 case and one cVDPV2 positive environmental sample

• Cameroon: two cVDPV2 positive environmental samples

• Chad: three cVDPV2 cases

• DR Congo: one cVDPV1 case, two cVDPV2 cases and one cVDPV2 positive environmental sample

• Guinea: one cVDPV2 case

For more information, click here - http://polioeradication.org/polio-today/polio-now/this-week/ Click here to learn the difference between Wild Polio Virus (WPV) and Vaccine-derived Polio Virus. (VDPV)

World Polio Day – October 24

Dear polio eradication supporter,

I’d like to reflect on the progress that the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has made this year, the challenges that lay ahead for the program, and the insights from my recent visits with health workers and leaders in polio-affected countries

In Pakistan, efforts to stop transmission of the final strain of wild poliovirus (WPV1) remain strong, but risks remain high.

Last month, I led a delegation of Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) leadership to visit affected areas and meet with provincial and national leadership in Lahore, Peshawar, and Islamabad. My last visit in November 2022 came on the heels of a polio outbreak that paralyzed 20 children in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. Since then, only two cases have been reported and the virus has been cornered to just seven endemic districts in South KP.

In meetings in Peshawar with the Provincial EOC Coordinator in KP, the KP Chief Secretary, and commissioners of several Divisions in south KP, the delegation highlighted that KP is making great progress towards ending the outbreak but emphasized the critical importance of the work yet to be done to vaccinate all children across the southern districts of KP. This means restarting campaigns as soon as possible in the Mehsud belt and ensuring children in that area have better access to health camps implemented by partner organizations.

Click here to read the complete letter from Christopher J. Elias, MD, MPH President, Global Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Chair, Polio Oversight Board, Global Polio Eradication Initiative

Donate to the cause or follow us on Facebook to learn more about how Rotary is working with our partners to #endpolio

REMEMBER - World Polio Day – October 24

POLIOPLUS SOCIETY

Our District 6330 proudly joins The Rotary Foundation and fellow districts across the world to announce the new Polio Plus Society and invite all our members to join.

This simple act of generosity by our fellow Rotarians around the world will bring the life saving polio immunization to countless children until the day that the world has been rid of the virus. We are truly This Close, and we need your help to complete the job.

The Polio Plus Society is an organization of like-minded individuals who have committed to contribute $100 US or more each and every year to Polio Plus until the world has been declared free of the Wild Polio Virus. This is our commitment to fulfill the promise Rotary made in 1985 to immunize all the children of the world.

It’s easy and rewarding to become a member. Download, complete and submit the Polio Plus Society Pledge Form and email to the Polio Chair at katherine.hahn@rotarystratford.com Complete your contribution commitment in one of three ways:

Contribute with your credit card online at: https://www.endpolio.org/donate

- OR -

Write a for cheque for $100 or cheque for the US $100 equivalent (or more!) to The Rotary Foundation with "Polio Plus" in the memo line and give it to your club's Rotary Foundation Chair for submission.

- OR -

Enroll in Rotary’s recurring giving program, Rotary Direct, which makes giving easy, fast, and secure. You can schedule a monthly, quarterly, or annual donation that empowers Rotarians to change lives in communities around the world. https://my.rotary.org/en/rotary-direct

YES, all donations will be matched 2 to 1 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Anyone can join the society, not only Rotarians. Everyone will be recognized with a special pin, an End Polio Now bracelet, a Society Certificate, and a great feeling in their heart.

With your help, we will reach every last child and achieve a polio free world. Please reach out to Katherine and sign up today

The Beginnings of Rotary –

continued from last month

The Secretariat – RI World Headquarters

Many Rotarians consider the Secretariat simply another name for the RI World Headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, USA. Actually, it is much more. While it does include the World Headquarters, the Secretariat encompasses nearly 800 individuals working to make Rotary International run smoothly and effectively.

The term describes the entire operations of the general secretary and his staff. The Secretariat also includes eight Rotary Service Centres around the world, all of the staff serving in those centers, as well as all staff assigned to The Rotary Foundation. Its sole purpose is to serve the clubs, districts and administrative officers of Rotary International and the Rotary Foundation.

RI World Headquarters, in a building called One Rotary Centre in Evanston, is the headquarters of the Secretariat. One Rotary Centre, as it is called, enhances the efficient operations of Rotary International.

Rotary Council on Legislation

What the Council does: Council on Legislation is the legislative or parliamentary body of Rotary. The council is composed of one delegate from each Rotary district as well as several ex-official members. It meets every three years, and its next meeting is in 2025. It has the responsibility of considering and acting upon all “enactments,” which are proposed changes in the Rotary International Bylaws and Constitution and Standard Rotary Club Constitution.

Proposals may be submitted by any Rotary club, district, or the RI board. The council’s actions re subject to review by all the Rotary clubs of the world before they become final. If 10 percent of the voting strength of the clubs oppose a council action, such legislation is suspended, and it is submitted to all the clubs for a final vote. The Council on Legislation provides the membership of Rotary a democratic process for legislative change in the operations of Rotary International.

Selecting Representatives: Each Rotary district sends a representative to the Council. Representatives deliberate and act upon all proposed enactments and resolutions. Enactments seek to change Rotary’s constitutional documents, and resolutions express an opinion or make a recommendation to the RI Board.

Proposing legislation to the Council on Legislation

Proposed enactments and resolutions may be submitted by clubs and districts, though club items must be endorsed by the club’s district. Proposals may also be made by the General Council or Conference of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland, the RI Board, and the Council itself.

Source: https://rotary1.org/101-things-about-rotary/

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Giving Tuesday 2023 will be Tuesday, November 28, 2023. The date is always the Tuesday after U.S. Thanksgiving.

As of September 1, there are only 89 days left until November 28 – Giving Tuesday!

Considered by many as the day that kicks off the giving season, Giving Tuesday directly follows three major shopping days in the U.S. - Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday.

Because it usually falls on a day in late November or early December, some nonprofits use the day as an opportunity to launch end-of-year giving campaigns to take advantage of people making their final tax-deductible donations for the year.

Nonprofits benefit from the generosity of those wishing to make a positive impact during the holiday season. Giving Tuesday is a day that encourages people to give back in whatever ways they can. It presents nonprofit organizations with the chance to raise even more money than they would on an average day.

How will your club help to raise money for The Rotary Foundation on Giving Tuesday?

• A goal to consider is a total club donation equal to $100 USD per member.

• You can challenge your members to pledge support for Rotary’s Foundation!

A challenge - Which Rotary Clubs in D6330 will reach their TRF goals or more on Giving Tuesday?

Why should you donate to TRF?

The bottom line - Giving Tuesday happens once a year, but your gift of Rotary will make a difference for a lifetime. This Giving Tuesday, consider making a special gift to The Rotary Foundation and together we can continue doing good in the world and we can Create Hope in the World.

The Rotary Foundation – the Engine that runs Rotary!

WAYS TO GIVE TO THE ROTARY FOUNDATION

Your donation changes lives! and this information bears repeating…

There are numerous ways to support The Rotary Foundation.

Every amount contributed to The Rotary Foundation is spent in support of humanitarian, educational, and cultural programs, and their operations. Clubs and districts apply for and receive Foundation grants to carry out worthy projects worldwide.

Here are a few of the ways that your contribution can make a difference:

• $100 can buy textbooks for one elementary school in Zambia

• $5,000 can buy vaccine to immunize 10,000 children against polio

• $24,000 can buy an academic-year Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship

• $100,000 can buy funding for two to complete a two-year graduate program for a Rotary World Peace Fellow

Donate Online

When you donate online, you get to choose where your donations go. Support thousands of service projects our people of action are tackling around the world. Outright gifts can be made easily with The Rotary Foundation online contribution form.

This method expedites processing your tax receipt and Paul Harris Fellow recognition points. For online donations please visit https://www.rotary.org/en/donate

• Memorial or Tribute Donations: A gift to The Rotary Foundation is a meaningful way to honour a loved one.

• Recurring Donations: Rotary Direct allows you to help year-round by automatically giving each month, quarter, or year.

FOUNDATION GRANTS – 7 AREAS OF FOCUS

Rotarians can get involved in various types of service –Club Service, Community Service, International Service, Vocational Service, New Generations (Youth) Service

A list of Rotary's 7 areas of focus and a brief description of each:

1. Peacebuilding and conflict prevention: Rotary aims to address the root causes of conflict and promote sustainable peace through initiatives that support education and training, promote community dialogue, and build networks of peacebuilders.

2. Disease prevention and treatment: Rotary works to improve health outcomes and reduce the spread of disease through initiatives that promote immunization, provide access to clean water and sanitation, and support medical research.

3. Water and sanitation: Rotary aims to improve access to clean water and sanitation in underserved communities, through initiatives that promote infrastructure development, support education and training, and raise awareness about the importance of clean water and sanitation.

4. Maternal and child health: Rotary works to improve maternal and child health outcomes by supporting initiatives that provide access to prenatal and postnatal care, promote vaccination, and support nutrition and education programs for mothers and children.

5. Basic education and literacy: Rotary aims to improve access to education and literacy for children and adults, through initiatives that support teacher training, provide educational resources and materials, and promote community-based programs that increase literacy rates.

6. Economic and community development: Rotary works to support economic and community development initiatives that promote job creation, increase access to financial services, and support small business development and entrepreneurship.

7. Supporting the environment: Rotary aims to support environmental sustainability initiatives, through programs that promote conservation, improve access to clean energy, and support the development of sustainable agriculture and other eco-friendly practices.

Overall, Rotary's areas of focus represent some of the world's most pressing challenges and reflect the organization's commitment to making a positive impact in local and global communities.

By supporting initiatives in these areas, Rotary can leverage its resources and expertise to address some of the most complex challenges facing the world today.

Do you need a make-up? missed meetings?

To learn about other Rotary clubs?

Here is a list of online clubs where you can earn a make-up along with learning a whole lot more about Rotary! Why not visit them all?

• Rotary E-Club of Canada One – Rotary On Demand, Where you want, When you want!

• Rotary Club of One World

• Rotary E-Club of World Peace Click

† Jean-Claude Brocart – The Rotarian Minute

FAST FORWARD TO OCTOBER

October’s Rotary focus is on Economic and Community Development. This is a great opportunity for Rotarians to become aware of, and consider, United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 8.

SDG 8 aims to promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all. This goal emphasizes the need to create opportunities for quality employment, enhance labor rights, improve the overall work environment, and foster entrepreneurship and innovation. It also seeks to address issues such as child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking.

WORLD POLIO DAY

OCTOBER 24

ROTARY’S CORE VALUES

WHAT IS ROTARY?

Rotary International is an international service organization whose stated purpose is to bring business and professional leaders together to provide humanitarian service and to advance goodwill and peace around the world. It is a non-political and non-religious organization.

Rotarians can get involved in various types of service –

Club Service, Community Service, International Service, Vocational Service, New Generations Service

Click the 4-way test above to hear the Four-Way Test by RC of Saskatoon Nutana

THE ROTARY FOUNDATION EREY – Every Rotarian Every Year

Our Every Rotarian, Every Year (EREY) initiative encourages all Rotary club members to contribute something each year to The Rotary Foundation. We hope that you can consider at least $100 USD every year to help us reach our goal to support the Rotary Foundation financially each year.

Sustaining member. One who contributes $100 USD every year is a Sustaining Member. With EREY, we encourage you to contribute an amount you can afford every year.

ROTARY BEQUEST SOCIETY

What is a Rotary Foundation Bequest Society Member?

Those who have made commitments for future gifts of $10,000 or more to The Rotary Foundation are invited to join the Bequest Society.

Donors may elect to receive various benefits and recognition pieces commemorating their commitment at each new recognition level, including pins, crystals, named funds, and special seating at the Rotary International Convention.

A bequest gift of at least $10,000 in your name to The Rotary Foundation creates a legacy of your generosity and compassion as you are helping many people live better lives around the world.

Today there are over 18,000 Bequest Society Members worldwide.

Will you join them by leaving a gift to Rotary in your estate? Contact the Rotary Foundation’s Planned Giving team

When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever. In its place is something that you have left behind. Let it be something good.