Cecil “Pancho” Padilla’s emotions hover so close to the surface that at times they engulf him. As he recalls his involvement in setting up a dental clinic in Mulege, Mexico, his voice wavers: “There was a polio-stricken girl we’d helped on an earlier visit, and on this visit we were able to find her a golf cart so she wouldn’t have to crawl through the dirt any longer.”
After a lengthy pause, he continues in a halting voice, barely audible. He talks about spotting the girl’s father standing alone, apart from a group gathered to celebrate the arrival of his daughter’s golf cart.
“I went over...
Read about the work Rotary First Harvest is doing to feed hungry families in The New York Times’ annual “Giving” section. Rotary First Harvest, a charity based in Seattle, Washington, USA, collects surplus produce from local growers to distribute to area food banks. The feature story follows Rotary volunteers to the fields to glean (collect) fresh vegetables missed during the regular harvest.
The article not only recognizes Rotary First Harvest, a longtime project of District 5030, but it also draws attention to Rotary’s humanitarian mission and the good work Rotary clubs carry out worldwide...
Lab results have confirmed several cases of polio in Syria, a country that has been free of the crippling and potentially fatal disease since 1999. Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative are working with local health authorities to activate an outbreak response, including urgent, large-scale, multicountry immunization campaigns to ensure that every child receives the polio vaccine as quickly as possible.
Read a statement from Bob Scott, chair of Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee.
My father moved us from Vietnam when I was a child to provide us with more than what we’d had under the communist regime. We ended up in a ghetto in Oakland, California, USA. I went to Fremont High School, one of the worst schools in a neighborhood plagued by violence, poverty, and high dropout rates.
Our house was on a busy street, and every night we heard gunshots.
The spring of my junior year, a group of Rotarians visited my class. They told us about the Rotary Club of Oakland’s Enterprise Institute, a three-day camp that allows students to develop and test their business skills. Spending...
A team of health professionals is touring Donka hospital in Conakry, Guinea, in March when they spot more than a dozen large, greenish masses covering the ground. To the U.S. team members, they look like an art installation; in fact, they are hospital gowns and surgical drapes, laundered and spread out to dry. They are a vivid example of the group’s objective: to lower deadly infection rates caused by unsterile procedures.
This Rotary Foundation vocational training team is the first to serve under Rotary’s partnership with the nonprofit Mercy Ships. Rotary District 7690 in North Carolina, USA...
Thank you to everyone who watched "The Neighbors" on Friday, September 20. Please email me at scherro@charter.net to let me know that you watched the first show of the season so I can pay up on the "Aliens for Rotary" fundraiser.
So far, I know that Michael Price, Dan Fose, and Mary Feldt watched. Mick Falhauber watched for THREE minutes and thinks he ought to qualify because his wife watched the whole show! I'm going to call on Dick Meister for a ruling on that!
A reminder for all members that we have Kwik Trip and PDQ gift cards for sale
Our Rotary club makes money from the sale of every card sold! Cards can be used for gasoline and in-store purchases. We all need to purchase gasoline, and in-store convenience items such as bananas, bread, coffee, milk, etc. are competitively priced.
Gasoline gift cards make great holiday gifts!
The holidays will be here soon, so stock up now for gifts for family, friends, and charitable donations. They also make great "Thank You" gifts for someone who has done something nice for you. Cards can be purchased at club meetings in denominations of $25, $50, and $100. Don't forget to ask your friends if they would like to buy cards from you.
