This weekend I was able to attend District 6290 Conference at the Amway Grand. It was nice for my husband Bryan, and I to spend time with Christy and Dan Nowak at the Friday night cocktail hour, dinner and presentation. We met up with some new and some old friends throughout the weekend. The Comstock Park Club received two awards, one for the 2021-2022 Year for Every Rotarian Every Year and one for the 2021-2022 100% Foundation Giving Club.
One of the things I did while I was there was to make a simple donation to Purple Pinky, this is set up at many if not all Rotary Events and donations are used towards the eradication of polio. I feel like I have always known about Polio since I was a small child. My mom’s sister, Patricia, died at the age of 8 from Polio. Patricia was the oldest of 4 girls, each one 2 years younger than the one before. My mom was the baby and only 2 years old when her sister passed in 1936. I still remember the black and white picture my grandmother carried of her daughter, Patricia, in the hospital with braces on her legs standing with other sick children. I never got to know my Aunt Patricia as she has been gone for 87 years. She is gone but the disease still exists! Rotary has been working to end Polio for the last 35 years! At the end of 2022, endemic wild poliovirus type 1 remains in two countries: Pakistan and Afghanistan. The difficulty of immunizing the children there due to political instability and prolonged conflict have contributed to the humanitarian crisis. There is also misinformation making many parents adamant against vaccinating their children. We are so close to ending POLIO, with only one case reported so far this year. The Rotary Foundation has contributed more than $2.6 billion in the fight, including matching funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Find out what you can do to make a difference at Rotary.org.
I wish you could have all come to hear from the wonderful speakers, met the new District Governor, Jeff Coil, and met other like-minded people in our area. Sometimes sitting in our meetings at Mill Creek Tavern, it is hard to imagine Rotary as an international club and see what Rotary does in the world. The weekend speakers were there to talk about our next World Project, HANWASH, which to put it simply is the need for clean water in Haiti. I have made arrangements to team up with our Ada/Cascade and Kenwood Clubs to meet at Watermark (off East Paris) this summer when two of the Speakers for HANWASH will present to us. This is a great opportunity for all of us to meet with other local Rotarians and to possibly work together on a project now or in the future. I will get the actual date of the meeting out to you as soon as possible.
I would like to thank everyone who supported me during my year 1 as President. It's hard to believe that a year has gone by so quickly! We have done several memorable things in the past year that deserve recognition to include adding a coat drive for our schools in the fall; continuing traditions of Salvation Army bell ringing, Santa Claus Girls, and volunteered our time on at least 3 occasions at Feeding America (WM). We donated a total of $5,000 ($2,500 from a district grant) to Mary Free Bed’s Pediatric Feeding Unit and were able to meet with them to hear how our donation was being used. We hosted our District Governor at our new venue after learning of the changes at our old venue, Swan Inn and made the switch to making Mill Creek Tavern our new home. We had a winter Membership Night that was very well received bringing in at least 3 new members to date! We were able to tour the Kent County Sheriff Headquarters and see the 911 and fire reporting units, swat team vehicles, K9 training in progress, and hear from a detective working some local cases. We also learned about the new human trafficking division. Thank you to all who made each and everyone of those things happen, those who volunteered, those who did the work behind the scenes and those who showed up to do whatever they could. You should all be proud of these accomplishments. I look forward to the 2023-2024 year and meeting with all of the committee chairs and members so we can put plans in place to make a difference in the Comstock Park Community and the world.
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