When Julia Yank and a team of Rotary members and health workers entered Kaduna, Nigeria, to immunize children against polio they expected to encounter some tough situations. They found one in a mother of three who stubbornly refused to have her children vaccinated.
"She argued with us for over 15 minutes," says Yank, a member of the Rotary Club of St. Clair County Sunset in O'Fallon, Illinois, USA. After the team explained to her the importance of what they were doing, she finally agreed to allow her children to be immunized.
"We were told later that she only consented because of the presence...
In 1996, routine polio immunizations in Nigeria and other African countries were anything but routine. Competing health priorities and lack of funding hampered many governments from putting polio eradication high on their agenda. The drive for a polio-free Africa needed a playmaker.
Enter Nelson Mandela. Herb Brown, Rotary's president in 1995-96, recalls seeking the South African leader's support.
"President Mandela was so gracious and listened as we described the problem," Brown says. "I told him only he had the influence to persuade the countries to resume immunization."
Mandela agreed to...
Rotary will provide a $500,000 emergency response grant to support efforts to stem the recent polio outbreak in Syria. The funds are the first to the World Health Organization in direct support of a Global Polio Eradication Initiative plan to conduct large-scale immunization campaigns in the Middle East.
“It is imperative that we stop this outbreak quickly to protect children in Syria and throughout the region,” says Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee Chair Robert S. Scott. “Rotary and our partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative are working together with local health...
Mothers play a fundamental role in every culture. But depending on where a mom and baby live, they have a different chance of living or dying, suffering or thriving. In sub-Saharan Africa, one in 39 women will die of pregnancy-related complications, and one in nine children will die before age five. (In developed countries, the likelihood of dying drops to one in 4,700 women and one in 167 children.) Globally, 19,000 children die every day. The Rotary Foundation is working to improve maternal and child health around the world.
Our photo essay explores the Rotary projects that are saving new...
For more than three hours, Typhoon Haiyan violently shook the roof, walls, and windows of Edgar Chiongbian’s house. The heavy winds and flying debris threatened to collapse his home to its foundation at any moment.
After the winds subsided and the rain stopped, he emerged from where he and his family had taken cover and inspected the damage.
“We were one of the lucky families,” says Chiongbian, governor of Rotary District 3860 in the Philippines. “There was no major damage to our house.”
The outcome was very different for communities and towns in central Philippines closer to the sea. One of...
Club Information
Ignite, Engage, Empower - Rotary is You!
Having Fun While Changing Lives
We meet Wednesdays at 12:00 PM
Corpus Christi Country Club
6300 Everhart Rd.
Corpus Christi,
TX 78413-2638 United States
First,A big thank you to all our members who helped make all the wishes of our "adopted" family come true. In just two weeks enough money and presents were donated by you to this wonderful project, just brought in by Marilyn Spencer, to not only help this family of 6, but also another Teen and Mom that were just added. This is the magic of Rotary! People doing good for the sake of good, willing to help people that they never saw, and will never see. You really made a difference for these two families in need! You, truly, are wonderful!
What a great Presentation we had at our last meeting by Louis Boldt, President of the Victoria Club about Early Act First Knight, also known as EAFK. This program is just an amazing way to introduce young children, through Rotary, to the the real meaning of values in daily life. I am very happy to announce that the Principal of Rose Shaw Elementary, Jaime Gonzalez, who was present at our meeting, was also impressed by what this could bring to his school, and accepted our offer to implement this in his school starting in January! We will now be working on all the logistics aspects. A huge thanks goes to Bridget Markwood for making all this happen!
Next week will be our last meeting for this year. I hope you can all join us!
Introduction of Visiting Rotarians & Guests: Scott Sutherland
Visiting Rotarians included:
George Tanner, Corpus Christi, TX
Gene Seaman, Ingleside, TX
Guests of Rotarians include:
Former Rep. Raul Torres, Candidate for Texas State Comptroller
Four Way Test: Erasmo Nava
50/50 Raffle:
Winning ticket holder : President Suzanne Guggenheim
Card drawn was not a winner. The pot of $108 rolls over to next week. There are 45 cards left in the deck.
Bragging Bucks:
Matt Beavers bragged about his son who won a trip to New York: Congratulations and we are glad the two of you had a great trip together!
Marshall Johnston bragged about his 24th wedding anniversary: Congratulations to you and your wife!
President Suzanne Guggenheim bragged about Anita Spreen and all the Rotarians who attended the Christmas Party: Thank you for a great time of fellowship together!
Rose Shaw Elementary Toy Drive: Thank you for our Members' generous support! A $300 check was presented to Principal J. Gonzalez and School Counselor Janie Gonzalez, so that every child of the school may receive a present for Christmas. We are proud to be part of such a wonderful program.
PDG Don Ratcliff announced that we still need 8 people to help ring bells for the Salvation Army. A sign-up sheet was passed around at today's meeting.
Louis Boldt presented Rotarians with more information about Early Act First Knight (EAFK), and Rotary International program for elementary and middle school students. Mr. Boldt shared success stories of the EAFK program in the Victoria schools, which was implemented 3 years ago and is sponsored by Victoria's three Rotary Clubs. The purpose of EAFK is to teach students service about self, educate them about the virtues, and recite the 4-Way Test each day. Schools that spend 10 mintues a day using the EAFK program as part of their character building curriculum have seen a significant drop in disciplinary problems, an increased involvement of students in service projects, and enthusiastic support from family members. For more information about Early Act First Knight, please contact Bridget Markwood, our EAFK Chair, and visit: www.eafk.org.
Join us for next week's meeting about Ann Smedinghoff's memorial trip to Chicago. She is from District 5930.
Dyke Henderson had a call for help: Please consider joining us for the building of a wheelchair ramp on Saturday, November 9th at 8am.
It's going to be a big ramp. If Friday, November 8th is available for you, some preliminary work will be done then as well. The recipient and location is:
Adelina Ybarra
1618 Birch Dr.
Corpus Christi, TX 78416 (exit onto Greenwood Ave from SPID and turn right onto Greenwood Ave. Birch Dr. is to your right).
On the same day, we'll start bright and early at 7:00 am, setting out the flags for Veterans' Day. This is always a fun project to do in conjunction with the Boy Scouts. Mark your calendars!
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Vishal Bhaget Memorial Golf Tournament-November 1st, 2nd & 3rd
All Rotary members who wish to play in this tournament will receive a complimentary hotel room and breakfast for the tournament. Please mark on your entry form that you are a Rotary member. Group play is sold out. Individual players can still play at a cost of $151. The tournament is at Northshore Country Club in Portland, Texas. The money raised supports diabetes research in South Texas. If you have questions-call Mahavir Bhakta at (361) 779-6666. He is a member of Kingsville Sunrise Rotary Club.
Dyke Henderson had a call for help: Please consider joining us for the building of a wheelchair ramp on Saturday, November 9th at 8am.