Former Rotary President Clem Renouf recalls conversations with Rotary leaders as the organization turned its attention to eradicating polio.

This year marks 30 years since Rotary launched PolioPlus, its campaign to rid the world of polio. Beginning on Rotary's anniversary, 23 February, Rotary members worldwide will be holding events to celebrate three decades of polio eradication progress.

Since 1985 Rotary and its partners have helped reduce the number of cases from 350,000 annually to fewer than 400 in 2014, and they remain committed until the disease is eradicated. Rotary has contributed more than $1.3 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect more than 2 billion children worldwide. In addition, Rotary's advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by donor governments to contribute over $10 billion to the effort.

Before the global scope of PolioPlus, individual clubs with Rotary funding were attacking the disease closer to home.

In 1979 Rotary members and delegates of the Philippine Ministry of Health looked on as volunteers administered drops of the oral polio vaccine to children in the Manila barrio of Guadalupe Viejo.

When James L. Bomar Jr., then Rotary president, put the first drops of vaccine into a child's mouth, he ceremonially launched the Philippine poliomyelitis immunization effort. Bomar joined Enrique M. Garcia, the country's minister of health, in signing the contract committing Rotary International and the government of the Philippines to a joint five-year effort to immunize around 6 million children against polio at a cost of about $760,000.

In a 1993 interview, Bomar recalled how the brother of one of the children he'd immunized tugged on his pant leg to get his attention and said, "Thank you, thank you, Rotary."

The success of this project set the stage for Rotary's top priority to rid the world of polio. Since Rotary introduced its PolioPlus campaign, the number of polio cases worldwide has dropped 99 percent, and the virus remains endemic in just three countries -- Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

 

  This week marks 110 years since Paul P. Harris, Gustavus Loehr, Silvester Schiele, and Hiram E. Shorey gathered in Loehr's office in Room 711 of the Unity Building in downtown Chicago for what would become known as the first Rotary club meeting. It also is 30 years since Rotary launched its campaign to rid the world of polio.

 

 

 

I had an awesome weekend at PETS (President Elect Training) looking forward to our next year in Rotary. The Short Summary: Good People doing Good Things worldwide. Rotarians, share your stories!

 

 

 

Rex Teets moderated last week's 4 Way Speech Contest.  This contest is the beginning level for speakers who go through the various levels in order to get to the final contest that will be held later this spring at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.  Last year for the first time, RB Sunrise not only had a contestant in this final contest, but our contestant was the winner!

 

Last week's contests had only 2 contestants.  President Karen made the executive decision to move both of them on to the next level. 

 

 

Dr. Bruce Humphrey, the senior pastor at Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church announced a few weeks ago that he will be retiring from that position at the end of September.  He and his wife, Kate, bought a home in Harrisburg, PA last November during a family visit there.  All four four of the Humphrey children live in the Harrisburg, PA area so it was an easy decision for Bruce and Kate to relocate there in order to be able to participate in the lives of their grandchildren.  Kate has already moved into their home there and will return here for Easter and the send off by the church in September.

 

Because he will be focusing on the process of winding up his ministry here in Rancho Bernardo, Bruce contacted Karen and me this week to announce that he is resigning from the club at the end of February.  He intends to attend his last meeting this week.  Be sure to wish him well in his retirement.  We will miss him.

 

 

Rotary International recently announced a new membership pilot program.  This program is called the Innovative and Flexible Rotary Club Pilot.  After reviewing the information about this pilot and the restrictions involved, your board of directors has chosen not to participate.  However, the board is exploring other ideas that will make being a members of our club more attractive to new members, especially younger adults.  All Rotary clubs are encountering the problem of attracting younger members.  These younger people who will be the leaders of the future are often just beginning jobs and have to balance just beginning their careers and family obligations while still having to pay off education loans. These younger people do want to be involved, but often the meeting cost when a meal is involved is a barrier.  This and other issues are being explored by your board so that we can find new ways to make our club grow in the future.

 

 

Periodically, our membership database on our club website needs to be reviewed by all member.  A membership data roster is only as useful as the accuracy of the information it contains.  We have the advantage in our club of having our club database integrated with the RI membership database and the District 5340 membership directory.  That means that changes made in our roster are automatically made in both of the other databases.

 

Please review your membership profile to see if the information is correct and up to date.  Please fill in missing information such as:  date of birth, spouse name and date of birth, anniversary date, and any other missing information.  Also check to see that all of your contact information is current and correct.  I need your help in this because I can't maintain or update information that I don't have. 

 

Because our club has been using ClubRunner for six and a half years, we have a membership roster that is a model for the other clubs in our district.  As an administrator for the district website, I have been surprised at the amount of errors and missing data in the databases of the other clubs in our district.  The attendance records in the district have so much missing information as to be totally useless for evaluating the membership of clubs in the district.

 

Thank you for your help.  If you need help or have questions, please contact me.

 

Jim Dunny

Executive Secretary

 

 

Member Birthdays
Carol Prendergast						Feb 10
Jim Dunny						Feb. 12
Paul Gorman						Feb 16
Spouse Birthdays		Spouse:
John Russo		Jean Russo				Feb 3
Tobee Jackson		Pete Jackson				Feb 22
Anniversaries		Spouse Name
Wayne Hamburger		Sharon Losnick		14 yr		Feb 9
Peter Meisen		Ashley Meisen		22 yr		Feb 21
Date Joined RB Sunrise
Carol Prendergast				17 yr		Feb 10, 1998
Jeanne MacLaren				3 yr		Feb 28, 1012

April 25, 2015Rotarians at Work Day

Date		Event		Location
Feb 21, 2015		Dist. 5340 Peace Forum		Kroc Inst. for Peace
Mar 21, 2015		District Training Assembly		Kroc Inst for Peace
Mar 21, 2015		Grant Management Seminar		Kroc Inst for Peace
Apr 11-12, 2015		Model UN Seminar
Apr 17-19, 2015		RYLA
Apr 25, 2015		Rotarians at Work Day