Rotary celebrates World Polio Day on 24 October with a Livestream event featuring expert speakers and celebrity performers. Hosted by Time magazine science and technology editor Jeffrey Kluger, the Chicago event also includes a global status update on the fight to end polio and the challenges that remain, as well as information about joining Rotary's historic campaign.
The program, being held before a live audience at 18:30 Chicago time (UTC-5), includes a performance from Tessanne Chin, 2013 winner of the TV show "The Voice," an introductory message and videotaped performance by reggae star...
When asked to describe his future, a refugee child from Iraq draws a picture of himself as a doctor. Another child uses colorful paints to depict happy memories of his former life in Iraq. Both children are among the 200,000 displaced Iraqis who now live in Jordan, a country that has become a safe haven for those fleeing oppression and war in neighboring Palestine, Syria, and Iraq.
Alexandra Dawley, a former volunteer with the Collateral Repair Project in Jordan, emphasizes how something as simple as an art project can help young refugees adjust to their new lives in a foreign country. With...
Hunger affects more than 800 million people worldwide, according to the United Nations' World Food Programme, and one-third of all the food grown every year goes to waste.
Together, we can change that. On World Food Day, Thursday, 16 October, join a conversation on Twitter from 12:00 to 13:00 Chicago time (UTC-5), using the hashtag #RotaryHunger. During the chat, food experts will talk about ways to alleviate hunger and malnutrition in your community and around the world.
Rotary (@Rotary) will moderate the chat, and experts from organizations including Rotary First Harvest (@RFHarvest), the...
This year's Women of Action honorees were selected by Rotary senior leaders and endorsed by the White House. All members of clubs in the U.S., the women were recognized for their humanitarian service projects, which affect the lives of millions of people around the world.
Watch the women of action event held at the White HouseRead more about the women and why they were honoredRead more about the event at the White HouseRead RI Director Julia Phelps' take on the honored women
Four years ago, Rotary member Moonyeen King decided to take action to help residents of the impoverished neighborhood of Tepehua, located in Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico, who faced daily struggles with crime, malnutrition, and limited access to health care. King, together with Susan Netherton and Gin Pelzl, fellow members of the Rotary Club of Ajijic, turned an abandoned building into the Tepehua Community Center.
For its first year, the center provided a soup kitchen every Friday to feed over 200 women and children. That enabled King and her fellow Rotary members to gain the trust of the...
Senior Rotary leaders gathered Tuesday at the White House to honor 10 women for their service projects, an event attended by members of U.S. President Barack Obama's senior staff.
The Rotary members presented their projects, in the hopes of creating new inroads for government partnerships and support.
"This is recognition of the great work that they do but also serves as a great vehicle to inspire others to do similar kinds of things," said Rotary General Secretary John Hewko. "One of the things we're doing a better job of is sharing our story to the non-Rotary world."
The honorees were...
More than three years after an earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster triggered widespread devastation in Japan, the physical scars are beginning to mend. Debris has been removed. Coastal communities are being rebuilt. Farming and fishing have resumed, and thousands of people have moved in to new housing.
But the Rotary Clubs of Koriyama West, Japan, and Englewood, New Jersey, USA, are concerned with the emotional and psychological impact caused by the triple disaster, known in Japan as 3/11, which claimed more than 19,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
In a country...
This Membership Month, in celebration of over 100 years of service, we dug into the archives and found any number of parallels between today's Rotary and yesterday's. Though our world is constantly changing, this gallery reminds us how Rotary's core values have remained intact through the decades.
With bloody conflicts raging in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and parts of Central Africa, the message of nonviolence and reconciliation that nations worldwide will observe on 21 September demands more urgent and collective attention.
In 2001 the United Nations designated the September date as an annual International Day of World Peace "to be observed as a day of global ceasefire and nonviolence" according to a General Assembly resolution.
The day's devotion to peace connects closely with what Rotary members have been fostering since The Rotary Foundation's mission to advance world...
When a serious illness stripped away many of her professional ambitions, Amanda Wirtz, a former U.S. Navy code breaker and professional violinist, turned to humanitarian service and Facebook to give her life new purpose.
Wirtz was in her twenties and pursuing a career as a fitness trainer when a sharp pain in her abdomen sent her to the emergency room. Expecting something manageable like appendicitis, she instead found herself facing a rare tumor disorder that required her to undergo 30 surgeries over the next several years.
Forced to rethink her life plans, Wirtz began focusing on how to...
With 12 children -- six girls and six boys -- the Labordes hardly needed to add another member to their family. But they did: Over 40 years ago, Julia Mullikin, a Rotary Youth Exchange student from the United States, became like another daughter to this large family in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico.
"She's been a blessing for us," says Maria Victoria Hallal de Laborde who was 18 when Mullikin arrived in 1973. Like many exchange students, Mullikin remains close to her host family. So close that when one of Laborde's sisters was diagnosed with a rare, fatal disease, Mullikin arranged to send the...
Imagine a community where the residents are all free to plant, grow, harvest, and eat healthy food whenever they want without having to pay for it.
Sound too good to be true?
That's exactly what residents of more than 20 cities and towns in France are doing through a project called Potalib. Launched by the Rotaract Club of Versailles, Potalib was inspired by the Incredible Edible project, an international food-sharing movement founded by Nick Green in England. The Rotaract members obtained Green's permission to apply the concept in France, changing the name to "Potalib," a contraction of "...
Supporters of the anti-vaccine movement question the safety, efficacy and necessity of the very medicines that have so greatly reduced our children's risk of catching a host of once-common but potentially very serious infectious diseases, such as mumps, measles and whooping cough.
And then there's polio, the disabling, sometimes fatal virus that was every American parent's worst nightmare until effective vaccines were developed in the 1950s — and which still infects children in the developing world.
Some who oppose vaccines are well-meaning parents who have come to believe — wrongly in the...
Rotary continues to follow the developments surrounding the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and advice of the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, our partners in international public health.
Strengthening the health infrastructure and supporting and sustaining the deployment of government health workers throughout these outbreak areas are greatly needed. Although Rotary has limited opportunities to respond at a corporate level, our strength as an organization is firmly rooted in the grassroots response of Rotary clubs and Rotarians.
Clubs around the...
The history of Rotary's work with youth dates back to the 1920s, when many clubs took part in an international event known as Boys' Week.
The first Boys' Week was held in New York City in May 1920 by the Rotary Club of New York and other local organizations. The event was part of an effort to promote youth development in the areas of education, citizenship, health and hygiene, and vocation.
New York club members reported on the success of Boys' Week at the 1920 Rotary convention, hoping that it would become part of the Boys' Work program, which Rotary had established several years earlier...
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The Norwood Rotary Club met on Wednesdays this summer and early fall for a variety of interesting programs and the comradeship of fellow Rotarians. The Club received a warm welcome from the manager and staff of Byblos Restaurant, as the Club met to plan several community projects in keeping with the Rotary motto ”Service Above Self”
One highlight of the summer was the dedication of an Information Screen and Plaque in memory of George Ruboy, a 33 year Library Trustee and Past President of the Norwood Rotary Club. It was held in the Simoni room of the Morrill Memorial Library with Rotarians, family members and Library personnel in attendance.
In early August, the Club welcomed District 7950 Governor Valerie Perry. The Governor spoke about the Rotary International goals for the year, to address health concerns and promote global literacy and education. Gov. Perry also gave a report that was enlightening and encouraging for continued progress in the goal to eradicate Polio. The club celebrated the news that Southeast Asia is now Polio free, as Rotary has been dedicated to the International Program of Polio Eradication since 1985. Gov. Perry also congratulated Club members on their timely project; collecting the necessary Back to School items for the children of the Military Family Support Group. The items were distributed under the Direction of the Director of Veteran’s Services, Ted Mulvehill.
The most recent project was the collection of food items for the Ecumenical Food Pantry. On September 25, non-perishable food items were delivered to the Food Pantry in memory our past members who often shared memories of their holidays with fellow Rotarians. The Club is looking forward to welcoming the Superintendent of Schools, James Hayden as a guest speaker on October 15. For more information about Rotary, please contact Membership Chair Miriam Nijo, Norwood Rotary Club , Post Office Box 763, Norwood, MA, 02062, or email at rotarynorwoodma@gmail.com. Please visit our web site at www.norwoodrotary.org . All are always welcome to attend our meetings held on Wednesday evening at 6:00 pm at Byblos Restaurant, Washington St. Norwood.
Only five weeks to go before the INCREDIBLE, GREAT, STUPENDOUS, FABULOUS, OUTSTANDING, MEMORABLE, ANNUAL Rotary Foundation Paul Harris Dinner!!!
Those of you whom have attended in the past know what a good time we have with good drinks, fellowship, and outstanding speakers. This year Dr. Anne L. Matthews will share her Rotary experiences throughout the world on her way to becoming the first female Vice President of Rotary International. This will be a great evening and a rare opportunity to dust off and wear those Paul Harris medallions! This is our districts major fundraiser for our foundation so let's all support it with our attendance.
The dinner is Thursday, November 13th at the Venus de Milo in Swansea MA. Social time starts at 5:30 pm with dinner being served at 7 pm. Sign up today! You can register online by clicking HERE .
With the arrival of Fall, the Norwood Rotary Club will conduct their Annual Fall Coat Drive for needy local families. With the cold weather approaching, the Club welcomes all donations of clean, wearable coats for men, women and children.Receptacles will be located at the Town Hall, Norwood Senior Center, Police/ Fire Station, Recreation Center and the Norwood Senior High School to collect coats in good condition.Members of the Club will maintain the receptacles and collect the contents during the Drive from October 13 to November 13. Ruth Taeger has offered to assist the Rotary Club and will coordinate the coat distribution at the Ecumenical Food Pantry in November. It has been a busy season for the Rotary Club, fulfilling its mission of service for 88 years. Rotary members appreciate the support of all the dedicated members of our community who share in meeting the needs of others, and hope everyone will take time to help this worthy cause.
If you haven't already, please put a placeholder on your calendar for joining Rotary's End Polio Now livestream event on World Polio Day - 24 October.
This October we also celebrate the 100th Birth Anniversary of Jonas Salk, inventor of the first effective vaccine against Polio. It is said that Jonas Salk refused to patent his invention in order to keep the cost low.
How are you planning to celebrate World Polio Day?
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