President Barack Obama signed an omnibus appropriations bill in January that provides $205 million to support polio eradication in 2014, through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U. S. Agency for International Development.
The largest government donor to polio eradication, the U.S. has contributed more than $2.3 billion since the mid-1980s, when 125 countries were polio endemic and the disease afflicted 350,000 people annually. Today, only Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria are endemic, and in 2013, the combined incidence of polio in those countries fell to a record-low...
Sir Emeka Offor likes to describe himself simply: He is the son of a policeman, born in the small town of Kafanchan, Nigeria. It is a way of reminding himself of his humble origins. Offor – who worked his way up to become executive vice chair of the Chrome Group, a multibillion-dollar oil and gas conglomerate, and who founded the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation, whose mission is to create economic opportunities in Nigeria’s poor communities – prefers to let his work and philanthropy speak for him. And with his most recent gift of $1 million to PolioPlus, Offor adds another achievement to his story...
Consider this situation: You are caring for a hungry girl whom you can’t afford to feed. What do you do? Do you steal food, or do you let her starve in the name of law and order?
For many people, thorny ethical questions can be difficult to swallow. For one nonprofit in Michigan, USA, and the Rotarians who support it, moral ambiguity is a dish best served with a cold beer.
In February, A2Ethics.org hosted the third annual Big Ethical Question Slam at Conor O’Neill’s Irish Pub in Ann Arbor, drawing a diverse crowd of students, retirees, professionals, and academics to weigh life’s dilemmas...
Our webinar series Lifecycle of a Service Project continues with part 3 on acquiring resources. In this session you'll learn about finding partners for your project, securing funding and volunteers, and more. The series highlights strategies, best practices, and Rotary resources available to help clubs and districts undertake successful, sustainable service initiatives, using real-life examples from Rotarians.
The webinar is offered in two sessions on 28 January. Register today!
Rotary member Terry Caster and his wife, Barbara, announced a $1.1 million gift to Rotary to help eradicate polio. What’s more, their gift will be matched two-for-one by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, resulting in $3.3 million in new funding for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
The Casters' gift is one of the largest-ever individual contributions to Rotary for polio eradication. In addition to supporting our No. 1 goal of a polio-free world, the couple gave $750,000 to the Rotary Peace Centers to fund a peace fellow’s studies every other year. Both gifts were made to The...
Martha (Marty) Walters - Japan Disaster Coordinator
Our speaker on February 3 was our newest member Martha (Marty) Walters, who though not the scheduled speaker gave an excellent presentation on her experiences as a General Electric employee working in Japan at the time of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and subsequent nuclear accident, the level 7+meltdowns at three reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power reactor explosion where G.E. had equipment and personnel. Marty was living outside Tokyo with her teenaged children who were in school when the event happened. Transportation was almost at a standstill. Marty had worked out communication with her children in the event of an emergency so she knew they were safe.
Unexpectedly, Marty became the disaster coordinator for all the employees and facilities in Japan. Many of the procedures she, in consultation with people from the U. S. and elsewhere, had to develop as circumstances arose during the aftermath, such as finding a way to transport employees and family members from the threatened areas. The government was not forthcoming with much information, she said, so relying on social media became one of the important sources of information. Many of the stateside employees were trying to get out of Japan as soon as possible but travel out of Tokyo was not available. They had to go to southern Japan to get flights.
There was also the fear of unsafe levels of radioactivity from the nuclear accident. One of Marty’s efforts was to work with people stateside to figure out what was a safe level and relay the information to the employees. She spoke of working 20 hour days with their offices in the States and a number of consultants just to manage of the many issues involved and answer the employee’s questions which were coming at an overwhelming rate. They were able to set up a single site where information would be available.
In a way, it was the earthquake and resulting eventsthat brought Marty to Quincy and our club. Her current business as a consultant came via her work as disaster recovery coordinator when one of the firms consulting with GE offered her a new position. It was an exciting and well-presented program.
Our latest Blue Badge Member, Darryl Swarm
Craig, Jim and Siegfried distributing dictionaries to 3rd graders at Quincy Elementary.
Randy updated us on how quickly his office is able to issue use permits due to the low number. He explained that the High Sierra Rural Alliance out of Sierra County has litigated the EIR on the new General Plan. He is also concerned about the drought and how it could impact the county.
Meeting Activities:
Our newest member, Marty Walters (Michael Henry sponsor) was inducted. She has a very interesting background having worked in the biohazard field and lived in Japan during the devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear melt down. She has three children and is interested in youth and international services.
Joe was fined $10 for his daughter's recent wedding. Johnny was fined $10 for promoting Ground Hog Day, February 1. There will be over 20 booths with lots of festivities and fun things to do. Walt reminded those that owe money for shirts and hats to square up with T'S 2 Go.
Bob remarked about The Rotary Foundation (TRF) and how 50% of your money comes back to the District to be distributed to clubs while the other 50% goes to international grants like the Uganda Nursing School. All administrative costs are paid by the interest on the money that is held for 3 years before it is distributed.
Suzan updated the Junior/High School on all of Rotary's youth service programs. She prepared an information board and talked up youth exchange, speech and music contests, 8th grade and RYLA leadership camps and the four scholarships we award every year. Craig is looking for 2 volunteers to help distribute dictionaries to 3rd graders at Quincy Elementary on Thursday, January 30, at noon. Thank you letters from the 3rd graders at the Christian School were passed around expressing how thankful they are for their new dictionaries.
Special thanks to John Sheehan, Rick Leonhardt, Dwight Pierson and Julie Hochrein for volunteering to be judges at the Quincy Elementary Spelling Bee held last Friday. Honorable Mention goes to Julie Hochrein for all her effort in preparing for the competition. Four students from each third through six grade classrooms earned the right to participate in the Spelling Bee. The winner, Emma Leff will be traveling to Redding to participate in the Regional Competition. Mike Flanigan got the golf bug and missed participating as a judge ($10 fine). Volunteer readers are needed for reading to the Quincy/Pioneer Elementary School at 11:00 a,m., Thursday, February 6, 2014. Those wanting to volunteer should call (283-3429) or e-mail Dwight Pierson at dwightpierson@gmail.com
Lori Simpson gave us a "State of Plumas County" overview on January 13, 2014.
Oakley Sims also told us of his grand stay in Quincy as an exchange student from Ballarat Australia. He is pictured here with Suzan Leonhardt, Youth Services Director.
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