Long time Rotarian and Moline economic development legend Gerald "Jerry" Butts passed away on October 23rd. Arrangements are pending at Esterdahls. Read his wonderful obituary here:
In support of the QC Student Hunger Drive and MHS Interact Club, Moline Rotarians are asked to bring food and cash donations to our meeting on October 28th. Let's support our Interact Club members and the River Bend Food Bank!
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Today's speakers are Greg Martin & Matt Fults. They will be talking about the new University of Iowa Health Care and Air Methods — AirCare — base coming to Davenport.
Moline High School senior Rowan Smith, Blackhawk District Representative for the Students Advisory Council with Edsystems spoke about the Career and Technical Education Programs Awareness, a project to study students' familiarity with CTE programs in our schools.
CTE stands for Career and Technical Education. These are classes students can take to advance career exploration in school that lead to outside opportunities.
Rowan has been a member for two years, and is a big reason for the success of the program. She presented many facts for the need of this program, and compelling evidence that it is working!
Keep up the good work, Rowan, and thank you for a very informative presentation!
Club President Sam Moyer inducted our newest member Joel Viyegbe into membership with Moline Rotary Club. Joel introduced himself as having been an immigrant from Africa, who then earned his degree in Civil Engineering here in USA, and is now serving as a Civil Engineer with the Illinois Department of Transportation. Welcome Joel Viyegbe!
Student Rotarians:
A new group of Student Rotarians from Moline High School introduced themselves. This group includes the Executive Board of the MHS Interact club, including Lucas Eaton, President, Mira Mohr, Vice President, Lidia Martinez, Treasurer, and Erin Bull, Secretary. The group also includes students Sam Harpole and Connor Wesemann. (photo to come soon)
Interact Club:
MHS Interact Club President Lucas Eaton presented an update on the Interact Club's Fall project, the 2024 Quad Cities Student Hunger Drive. 16 area high schools compete in collecting food and funds participate for the River Bend Food Bank. Interact activities have included soliciting food and cash donations at Moline High School and around the community, and the Empty Bowls fundraising event. Students made fired clay bowls in MHS art studios for sale, and then organized a soup and chili tasting event held on October 17th in the MHS cafeteria. The community was invited to choose a finished bowl and then sample any of numerous delicious home made soup & chili recipes for a donation of $10. The event drew a great turnout. The next Interact event is a "Happy Moliween" costume event for kids at MHS on Tuesday October 29th from 5-7pm featuring carnival games, trick or treating and goodies. Cost is $3 or 3 cans for kids, or $5 or 5 cans for families.
Rotary World Polio Day
Rotary World Polio Day, October 24th, celebrated Rotary International's commitment to eradicating polio from the world.
Moline Mayor Sangeetha Rayapatti read an official Mayor's Declaration designating October 24, 2024 at World Polio Day in Moline. Download a copy of the Mayor's Declaration HERE.
Twelve area Rotary Clubs joined to celebrate WPD at a gala event on Tuesday October 22nd at the Rock Island Botanical Center, featuring former District 6420 Governor Dr. Laura Kahn, a renowned national expert on childhood diseases. The evening event was well attended, including Moline Rotarians Past President Mark Carlson, Mike & Donna Steffenson, Jim Fisk and friend Jeanne, Roger Strandlund, and Gary Francque. Rotarians met for social hour at 6:00 and buffet dinner at 7:00pm. Dr. Kahn reviewed the history of Rotary International's involvement in fighting polio, our current efforts worldwide, and described her personal experience as a Rotarian on one of many Rotary International missions to vaccinate children in 3rd world countries. Finally, Rock Island Rotarian Dr. Richard "Bud" Phillis, a survivor of polio, gave a touching presentation described his family's terrible experience with he and his sister contracting polio in the 1950s, and his sister being confined to an "iron lung" machine and finally scumming to polio.
Facts About Rotary and Polio
In 1985 Rotary launched PolioPlus and in 1988 helped establish the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which today includes the World Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to immunize the children of the world against polio.
Polio cases have dropped by 99.9 percent since 1988 and the world stands on the threshold of eradicating the disease.
Rotary has contributed more than $2.2 billion and countless volunteer hours to protecting nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries.
Rotary is working to raise an additional $50 million per year, which would be leveraged for maximum impact by an additional $100 million annually from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
These efforts are providing much-needed operational support, medical staff, laboratory equipment, and educational materials for health workers and parents.
In addition, Rotary has played a major role in decisions by donor governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort.
There are over 1.2 million Rotary members in 36,000 clubs throughout the world that sponsor service projects to address such critical issues as poverty, disease, hunger, illiteracy, and the environment in their local communities and abroad.
You can't win if you don't play!!
Contact our esteemed Sergeant at Arms, Nicole Zook, for your entry tickets before each meeting!
The Four-Way Test: Of the things we think, say, or do: Is it the Truth? Is it Fair to all concerned? Will it build Good Will and Better Friendships? Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?
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