We were fortunate to have Past District Governor (2001-2002) help us kick off Rotary Foundation Month.  Not only does Larry know a lot about the Rotary Foundation, but he has made the foundation a major part of his life.  He completed his 20th trip to Guatemala with the Rotary Club of Marysville to build schools, install holding tanks and wood burning stoves in remote mountain Mayan villages last March.  He has been to Ethiopia to distribute polio vaccine and to Mexicali Mexico to deliver wheel chairs.

 

Larry is a retired banker.  He has shown his passion for the Foundation with his generous gifts, including pledging $250,000 to become a member of the Arch Klumph Society.  He is a charter member of the Bequest Society, a recognition of those who have provided for the Foundation in their will.  He has served in many positions involving the Foundation at the the club, district and zone levels.  He is currently the Assistant Rotary Foundation Coordinator for our Rotary zone.

 

As part of his presentation, Larry recognized Lee Harman for being one of only about a half dozen members in the district who belong to the Arch Klumph Society and for  the publicity he and Miss Vicky has generated for Rotary's polio eradication project.  There is only 1 strain of wild polio left to eradicate and the cases are in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

 

Larry explained that Rotary has six (6) areas of focus to guide us.  Anything that a club wants to do can almost always follow within these broad categories:

 

 

 

All of the gifts given to the Foundation's annual fund are used for the first 3 years following the gift to generate interest to cover the Foundation's administration expenses.  At the end of 3 years one half of the gift goes back to the district for funding District grants and the other half is used to give global grants.

 

Since our club was chartered in 1970, our members have contributed $400,000 to the annual fund.  We have had 49 Paul Harris Fellows.  Our club has taken advantage of both District grants and global grants.  We have used District grants to help with the splash pad park area, and the purchase of the defibrillators we distributed to the police department and in public buildings around town.  Our water project in Kenya involved a global grant.

 

Here is a list of District grants awarded this year:

Marysville's President Rick McCarthy has indicate he would love our club's help in building additional staff cabins at Fire Mountain with the materials purchased with their grant above.

 

Last year 31% of all Rotarians world wide, donated $126 million to the annual fund.  1400 global grants were give last year.  We are working on a possible water project in Haiti.  Here is a list of grants to clubs in District 5050.

 

 

There are ways to give to the Rotary Foundation in addition to just giving a check to our club's Foundation Director, Kathy McCone.  Click HERE to give on line.  It will take you to a place to indicate the fund of your choice, the amount of the gift, lump sum vs. re-occurring. Rotarians are asked to create a MyRotary account, or to sign into an existing account.  Gifts to Polio Plus ca also be given through Miss Vicky site:  finishpolio.com.

 

Remember, the club matching points are only available for gifts given during the month of November!