Chapter Two

 
You might remember in Chapter One of our story, our esteemed PDG Rick Mendoza was given the microphone at 1:22 for his talk on the Rotary Foundation (not to be confused with our Club Foundation). Despite Rick’s ability to provide meaningful dialogue in short timeframes, he was unable to finish his thirty minute presentation in seven. Therefore, he was given the opportunity to finish in Chapter Two.
 
A brief review of Chapter One revealed that the Rotary International Foundation was founded in 1917 with an initial donation of 26.50 by founder Arch C Klumph, the then president, and was used for a comfort station and a buggy for a doctor to do house calls.
 In Chapter Two Rick revealed that there are 6 areas of focus for the Foundation
  • Basic Education and Literacy
  • Peace and conflict prevention/resolution
  • Maternal & Child health
  • Disease prevention and treatment
  • Economic and community development
  • Water and sanitation
 
The most recognizable push has been in the eradication of polio in the world and we have made great strides.  When the initiative started in 1986 there were 356,000 cases of polio per year around the world.  In 2018 there have been 15 cases within only 3 countries in the world, incredible strides we can all be proud of. 
 
The newest initiative is clean water.  Many children in villages do not go to school even at a young age as their daily activity is composed of going to clean water sources and bringing it back to the village, day after day.  These water projects have and will continue to change the lives of children around the world.  
 
Our club has always been a significant contributor to the RI Foundation being in the top 3 clubs in our district annually in giving and gave $504 per member in 2017.  Sidenote, Rick shared that the Rotary Foundation received $414 million in 2017. And on a positive note, only $4 of every $100 raised goes to administration.
 
As a Club, we are very fortunate to have Rick represent us on the District Foundation Committee….