Our speaker for Friday, March 7th was Bob Howe, Chairman of the Lake Stevens Rotary Charitable Foundation. Bob commented that his second meeting as a Rotarian was in Kenya. Prior to being the President of his former Club, Bob attended PETS and his commitment to Rotary emerged after these two events in his Rotary career.
Bob mentioned the Five Areas of Service: Promoting Peace, Fighting Disease, Provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene, Save Mothers and Children and Support Education that Rotary International is engaged in with over 35,000 Clubs and over 1.2 million members. The Rotary Foundation has partnered with the Gates Foundation to eradicate polio throughout the world. District 5050 extends from Everett, Washington, USA to Hope, British Columbia, Canada with 50+ clubs in Canada and Washington.
Bob illustrated the importance of Every Rotarian Ever Year by participating in the Club and Rotary International Foundation. His goal as Chairman is to ask every Club member to participate through giving to the Foundation. The Rotary Foundation transforms your gifts into service projects that change lives both close to home and around the world. The funds can be matched with our District 5050 to double the funding going to local projects in Lake Stevens.
Since it was founded more that 100 years ago, the Foundation has spent more than $4 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects. The Rotary Foundation receives the highest rating from the Charity Navigator for 14 consecutive years.