August 18, 2016 Comments are off Findlay Rotary
Share:

Hall of Fame singer Donovan becomes a Rotary polio ambassador

Legendary singer and polio survivor Donovan Leitch, better known simply as Donovan, has joined Rotary in its fight to eradicate the paralyzing disease that afflicted him during much of his childhood.
Donovan contracted polio at age three in Glasgow, Scotland. The disease weakened his right leg and left it thinner and shorter than the other. Confined to his bed for much of his childhood, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer said his father would read him poetry.
In a recent interview with the Daily Express, Donovan said that listening to poetry piqued his interest in creative writing. “If I…

August 18, 2016 Comments are off Findlay Rotary
Share:

World Polio Day toolkit available — start planning now

Rotary’s fourth World Polio Day celebration, on 24 October, will highlight extraordinary progress in the eradication campaign and emphasize the work that remains before we wipe out the virus for good. With the number of new cases worldwide nearly halved from this time last year, we have the opportunity to rally our resources and see the last case of polio this year.
Health officials and Rotary’s celebrity polio ambassadors will head to Atlanta, Georgia, USA, for the event, the first to be held at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It will be streamed live and then will…

August 15, 2016 Comments are off Findlay Rotary
Share:

Young member uses leadership positions to promote diversity, inclusion

The way Rotary member Todd Jenkins puts it, he’s the first generation in his family “to do everything”: first to go to college, first to fly on a plane, first to visit another country, and the first to live across state lines.
Jenkins, 28, grew up in a low-income neighborhood in Columbia, South Carolina, USA. His family worked hard just to make ends meet. So travel and college seemed out of reach.
The eldest of ten children, Jenkins says his goal was to break out of the family status quo and set a positive example for his siblings. He credits his mother with helping him avoid falling into the…

August 11, 2016 Comments are off Findlay Rotary
Share:

Rotary recommits to ending polio in Nigeria

The World Health Organization has confirmed two cases of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in Nigeria, the first cases in the country since July 2014. After passing a year without a case of the wild poliovirus, Nigeria was removed from the list of polio-endemic countries in September 2015. These cases – from two local government areas of Borno state – occurred in July 2016.
The Government of Nigeria – in partnership with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative – will take immediate steps to respond quickly to the outbreak to prevent further spread of the disease. This response will include…

August 1, 2016 Comments are off Findlay Rotary
Share:

The Rotarian Conversation with Nobel laureate Stefan Hell

From the August 2016 issue of The Rotarian
Four hundred years ago, the invention of the microscope gave us a glimpse into an aspect of the world too tiny to be seen by the human eye. The microscope works by capturing light shone on or through an object observed through lenses, which magnify the resulting image so we can see it. But a microscope has its limits. In 1873, German physicist Ernst Abbe discovered that the ability of a microscope to see past a certain size was limited not by the quality of its lens, but by the wavelength of light shining into it. And since the wavelength of visible…

August 1, 2016 Comments are off Findlay Rotary
Share:

Member spotlight: Rod Buffington's patchwork of good deeds

From the August 2016 issue of The Rotarian
Quilts may be utilitarian objects, but Rod Buffington’s “quilt paintings” – watercolors on paper that are then covered with small bits of fabric – are geometrics where mathematics and whimsy intersect. Buffington, a member of the Rotary Club of Springfield, Ill., didn’t come up with this unusual method overnight. His voilà moment came as he beheld the mesmerizing quilts made by his grandmother, who lived to 104 and continued her craft until she was 98. To create his works, Buffington lays cotton fabric over paintings he has created, then hand-…

August 1, 2016 Comments are off Findlay Rotary
Share:

Member interview: Steven Goldsmith on mediation

From the August 2016 issue of The Rotarian
Steven Goldsmith is a mediation and training leader with Mediators Beyond Borders International, an organization that develops local skills for peace building and conflict resolution around the world. Goldsmith was among 150 experts and leaders who gathered at a Rotary presidential conference in Ontario, Calif., to discuss issues related to resolving conflicts and reducing violence. More than 1,500 people attended the conference, the first of five hosted this year by 2015-16 Rotary President K.R. Ravindran and Foundation Trustee Chair Ray…

July 29, 2016 Comments are off Findlay Rotary
Share:

Rotary seeks Chief Development Officer

The General Manager of The Rotary Foundation/Chief Development Officer is responsible for the effective management and operations of The Rotary Foundation. Working closely with the executive management team and Rotary leadership, this position will oversee the fund development, polio eradication and partnership/sponsorship activities within the organization.
The position reports to the General Secretary and will ensure that strategies are aligned to achieve the goals of The Rotary Foundation, which include annual fund development goals in excess of US$300 million dollars. The leader will…

July 28, 2016 Comments are off Findlay Rotary
Share:

The visionaries: Young women in Peru learn to see a future for themselves

From the August 2016 issue of The Rotarian
It’s 3 a.m. on a Sunday, and Katheryne Rosa Barazorda Cuellar is up, preparing to work in her mother’s soup stall in the small Peruvian town of Anta, near the Inca capital of Cusco. Smart and seemingly indefatigable, she has a quick smile and infectious laugh.
Rosa is studying to be a chemical engineer, and she has unmistakable talent and drive. She needs them. Poverty, gender bias, and violence darken the lives of many young Peruvian women, including her.
Rosa is lucky, though. Her family supports her. And for the past four years, so has Visionaria…

July 25, 2016 Comments are off Findlay Rotary
Share:

Grant survey shows solid support for new model

More than 6,000 Rotary members in 154 countries reported on their experiences with the new grant model as part of an evaluation during the 2015-16 Rotary year. The results will help us improve the grant process and learn what impact the Foundation’s global grants have on our areas of focus.
Among the key findings:
90 percent of respondents support the grant model; 86 percent see it as an improvement over the former model.
Grant activity and the average grant award continue to increase each year.
Rotary members want more resources to help them apply for grants and design sustainable projects…