New Member Interviews
Linda Oprica interviews our two newest members!
Roberta Evans
Roberta was born in Kingston, Ont. and lived most of her childhood in Ajax, Ont. Roberta graduated from York University and worked for a time at the Toronto Star in the marketing department. From there she moved to Calgary and received her education degree . Roberta moved to Cumberland in 2007 onto Camp Road. Roberta became a teacher in 1993 and taught in Calgary for 11 years before moving to British Columbia. Roberta has been a teacher for 20 years and is currently teaching at NIDES. Roberta’s interests include gardening, mountain biking, karata (holds 2 black belts), running with her dog Banjo. To watch Roberta on Youtube! Way to go Roberta!
Caroline Bradford
Caroline owns her own Marriage and Family Therapy practice in Courtenay. Doula, mother of 3 and partner to Tom, Caroline moved to Cumberland in 2000 and lives on Camp Road.
Tom and Caroline will be getting married in Tofino on the beach, next month.
Caroline grew up in Ontario as the youngest of 4 children and has been associated with Rotary since she was 5 years old, through her dad. Caroline’s interests include mountain biking, running and travelling.
Thanks to Linda for helping us get to know Roberta and Caroline a little better.
$40.3 Million in new funding from Rotary for polio eradication!!!!
The continued fight to stamp out polio will receive an additional $40.3 million boost from Rotary in support of immunization activities and research to be carried out by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. The funds will be used by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF for polio immunization, surveillance and research activities in ten countries, as well as to provide technical assistance to additional countries in Africa.
The funding commitment comes at a critical time as Nigeria – the last polio-endemic country in Africa – approaches one-year since its last case of polio, which occurred in Kano State on 24 July, 2014. If the current progress continues, WHO may remove Nigeria from the list of polioendemic countries as early as September.
In addition to the notable progress in Nigeria, no new cases of polio have been reported anywhere in Africa since August 2014. Experts do, however, strongly caution that it is too soon to fully celebrate. Nigeria needs to go an additional two years without polio to be certified polio-free. Funding and support for high-quality immunization campaigns and surveillance activities will be key to sustaining current gains.
The only two other polio-endemic countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan, continue to experience hurdles in polio eradication campaigns including inaccessibility to children and security. Last year, Pakistan saw an outbreak which resulted in more than 300 cases, the highest number in the country in more than a decade. As a result, Pakistan accounted for almost 90% of the world’s cases. However, there has been improvement in 2015. Cases are down nearly 70% over this same time in 2014. Progress against polio, while significant, remains fragile. Rotary’s funds will support immunization efforts in: $9.9 million in Nigeria; $12.2 million in Pakistan and $2.3 million in Afghanistan.
Additional funds will support efforts to keep other at-risk countries polio-free. The grants include $1 million, Cameroon: $900,000, Chad; $2 million, Democratic Republic of Congo; $1.1 million, Ethiopia; $1 million, Niger; $1.5 million, Somalia; and $1.5, South Sudan. In addition, grants totaling $5.8 million will provide surveillance in African and Eastern Mediterranean regions. Grants to Africa alone total $19 million.
In total, Rotary has donated $688.5 million to support polio eradication efforts in Africa over the past thirty years.
Source: www.rotary.