Bulletin for the meeting held at the Ocean Grove Hotel on Tuesday December 14, 2004
Welcome, President Timothy Kemp
Induction: Judith Mills. President Tim introduced Judy to the club and she was warmly welcomed by all members with a round of applause and presentation of her badge. Judy’s mentor is Judy Greer.
Reports
David Tyrrell, Youth Services – David encourages all members to get to know Jack Madin, Youth Exchange Student; say hello, send a letter or email while Jack is away in Sweden, or have a talk to him before he goes.
John Dodgshun – Update on Graham Bath’s condition. As it turned out, Graham stayed in Hospital for the duration of his treatment so drivers were not required. He is now at home where Wilma can care for him and although the cancer is present, the recent infection has cleared up.
Geoff Ford, Car Raffle - The Car Raffle raised $200,000 and was won by the President of the Huntingdale Rotary Club! 134 groups participated in selling raffle tickets and our club was among the TOP SELLERS with 300 books. The members sold 84 books while the committee sold 216. This is a great effort and members are encouraged to participate with similar enthusiasm next year.
Martin Geerings, Ocean Grove Cup Carnival – Unfortunately the Ocean Grove Cup has to be postponed until 2006 due to time constraints involving sponsorship and logistics. However, sponsorship has now reached a sufficient level and everything is in line for good preparation for 2006.
John Wynn, Community Service – Well done to all members on the Senior Citizens Christmas Dinner where 89 meals were served. The highlight was the entertainment so thanks must go to Jack Madin and his family and friends. Thanks also to the organisers and drivers.
The Christmas Tree project – thanks to members for your assistance. 2,500 people attended including local talent. Funds were raised through the sale of Glow Sticks.
Planning continues for the Waking Track from The Bluff to 13th Beach.
Ron Pickford spoke in great detail about the Rotary Polio Eradication Project. In 1988 there were 350,000 cases of polio in 125 countries. There are now 1047 cases in the world. Rotary has spent $546 million to date on the project and there is hope in sight for full eradication of this debilitating disease.
Members in Attendance:
Total: 26
Apologies: 17
Percentage: 50%
Visiting Rotarians: Judy Pickford
Makeups: Calnin, Hudson, Joyce
Guests: Jack Madin, Judy Mills, Signe Uhlenfeldt
Duties
December 21: Bob Osbourne Bill Penna Lucian Roncon
December 28: No meeting
January 4: No Meeting
January 11: Helen Trigg James Turnbull David Tyrrell
Note: Please advise the Editor by email or written note of changes or special exemptions to these duties.
Coming up:
December 21 – Partners Night (Christmas party including Santa) The Christmas Dinner will be held at The Clifton Springs Golf Club on Tuesday December 21st, 6.30 for 7.00pm – Partners night. $24 per head includes bon bons and table decorations, hors d’ourvres, medley of ham, roast turkey and pork, plum pudding with brandy custard or pavlova, tea, coffee, mints and mince pies!
Please book early as we need to guarantee a number of at least 80 to have the restaurant to ourselves.
Ocean Grove Rotary Club web page: www.rotaryoceangrove.blogspot.com
Eighty million children were targeted during the second round of joint National Immunization Days in 23 West and Central African countries in late November.
More than 40 million of the children immunized were in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country. Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar launched the event in Abuja, the national administrative capital, on 19 November.
According to National PolioPlus Committee Chair Ade Adefeso, Nigeria is now back on track in its efforts to eradicate polio by the end of 2005. He credits the turnaround to a firm commitment from the Nigerian government and support from traditional, religious, and opinion leaders, including those from the state of Kano who led a yearlong boycott of immunization activities. The boycott sparked a polio outbreak that swept through Nigeria and across its borders into 12 previously polio-free African countries.
"The level of commitment on the part of the federal government is constantly demonstrated in words and in deeds by President Olusegun Obasanjo, the dedication of the National Program on Immunization, and support from states governors and other government functionaries," said Adefeso, who attended the launch in Abuja. "The participation of the Nigerian Rotarians in the November 2004 NIDs (National Immunization Days), most especially in the southern part of Nigeria, was unprecedented. In [RI] District 9110, over 1,000 Rotarians took part."
Other participating countries organized separate launch ceremonies. More than 100 European and North American Rotarians joined over one million African health workers and volunteers, including thousands of local Rotarians, to deliver and administer the polio vaccine from house to house. Twenty of the visiting Rotarians, including RI Director Kenneth Morgan, the RI president's representative at the NIDs, traveled to various parts of Nigeria and the rest to other West African destinations.
Besides Nigeria and Guinea, countries that participated in the synchronized NIDs included Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Togo.
"Everything went very well," said Moussa K. Diakité, National PolioPlus Committee chair in Guinea. "The Rotarians were so enthusiastic."
In an interview held on the eve of the joint NIDs, Dr. David Heymann, WHO executive director for communicable diseases, was full of praise for Rotary International's pioneering leadership in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
"[Rotary] took the world into this polio eradication initiative because of their humanitarian desires to see that children everywhere had access to polio vaccines as did children in industrialized countries," he told Washington File, a daily news update distributed to media worldwide by the U.S. State Department's information agency. "Every time there was a gap — such as a lack of vehicles or a lack of social mobilization material — Rotary [representatives] put their hand[s] up, and said, 'We'll fill that gap.' They're incredible at all levels. They've been extremely important partners in polio eradication and continue to be."
