Rotary District Governor Visits Jackson Hole Tomorrow
Mike Forney, Governor of Rotary District 5440, will speak at the regular meeting of the Rotary Club of Jackson Hole at 12 noon on Tuesday, August 14th at the Virginian Lodge. The international Rotary theme for the year is “Peace through Service.” Forney will also encourage Rotarians to be “Rotary Proud.” His district includes 53 Rotary clubs in Wyoming, Northwern Colorado, Eastern Idaho and Western Nebraska.
Forney is expected to focus on the accomplishments of local Rotarians and their counterparts in 200 countries around the world. “We have every right to feel extremely proud of the work we’ve been doing in our local community, the region, and internationally,” he said. For instance, Rotarians have raised nearly $1 billion and spent countless volunteer hours to assist in the eradication of polio throughout the world. With the exception of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria, the remainder of the world is now polio free. (India reported its last case of polio just 17 months ago.) The incidence of paralytic polio infection has plunged worldwide from 350,000 cases in 1988 to fewer than 1,000 in 2011.
The Rotary Foundation, second only to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, continues to provide peace scholarships for more than 60 post graduate students each year and allocates more than $100 million a year in aid and matching grants for domestic and international projects. The Rotary Foundation is funded entirely by individual Rotarians, Forney said.