December is Rotary Disease Prevention and Treatment Month 
Rotary's top priority is the eradication of polio, but our members take on far greater responsibilities to fight disease. Rotarians set up health camps and training facilities in undeveloped countries and in communities struggling with HIV/AIDS and malaria. They also design and build the infrastructure for doctors, nurses, governments, and partners to reach the one in six people in the world who can't afford to pay for health care.

                

Schoolyard children                    Improving water &
  eating porridge                            anitation facilities

Eradicate Polio Worldwide 
Every $1 Rotary commits to direct support for polio immunization will be matched 2-to-1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Therefore $1 = $3; $20 = $60, $100 = $300 etc.
Please provide Sandy Ronson with your PolioPlus donation information.

Lightning Basketball 50/50 Ticket Sales
Our club will be selling the 50/50 draw tickets at the February 16 London Lightning basketball game at The Bud. If you would like to help with the sales please contact Jan Delaney at jandelaney@rogers.com

17^th Annual Rotary-Western Rotaract Day of Giving – Saturday, January 19^th 
The Day of Giving is an annual one-day event where student volunteers and Rotarians assist the elderly and disabled citizens in the London community. It will be held on Saturday, January 19^th from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.​ Volunteers will meet at 10:00 AM in the King’s College cafeteria (266 Epworth Ave). Snacks and refreshments will be provided throughout the day. Rotarians are welcome to volunteer as drivers. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail dayofgiving@gmail.com

Rotary Club of Burton, MI “Thank You”
“We received your check today for the Rotary Avoidable Blindness Project in the amount of $500.00 US funds.  Please thank your club for their support on this project.  It is greatly appreciated.  
Sincerely,   Dr. Brad Habermehl, Avoidable Blindness Chairman”

The Burton Rotary Club is chairing for the 19th year the Avoidable Blindness Project in Empalme’, Sonora, Mexico.  They have a continued partnership with the Emplame Rotary Club where they travel with a group of volunteer Rotarians, family members, and friends along with optometry students to examine over 2,000 patients. 

At our October Board meeting it was agreed we would forward approximately 100 eyeglasses and US$500 for this project. The used glasses will be cleaned, disinfected, and categorized for patients they examine in Mexico.  Each patient will also receive sunglasses and reading glasses as well.

Start2Finish Running & Reading Club Volunteers
The Start2Finish Reading and Running Club Program is one of our Club's local service projects for this Rotary year. 

Start2Finish is looking for volunteers to help, on a consistent basis. It's an after-school program that runs at the following 5 TVDSB locations on the days indicated from 3:30pm to 5:30pm:
Wilton Grove (Adelaide and Southdale) - Tuesdays
Wilfrid Jury (Sarnia and Wonderland) - Tuesdays
Woodland Heights (Springbank and Wonderland) - Wednesdays
FD Roosevelt (First and Oxford) - Wednesdays
Trafalgar (Trafalgar and Hamilton) - Wednesdays

The first half of the club is devoted to physical activity and the second half is literacy.  All volunteers are not runners - there are ways to support the kids without actually running. The highest needs, for volunteers, are at Wilfrid Jury and Wilton Grove.  They have a high percentage of Western student volunteers, who are away most of December, reading week, and from spring exams on.  Those times they are extremely low on volunteers at that club.

Please forward any questions on to Kristan who is happy to answer anything!   kristan.verhaeghe@start2finishonline.org

​Local Lager - Rotary Beer Fundraiser
Here’s where you can stock up on your Rotary beer for all those upcoming summer BBQ’s!!!”