Thank you to Phil Fairweather - District 9640 Rotary Foundation Chair, for zooming in with us on Monday 19th October.
With World Polio Day on Saturday 24th October, it was a good opportunity for us all to refresh our knowledge about what the Rotary Foundation does and how we can all get involved and be part of all the wonderful work Rotary Foundation does throughout the world, not just Disease Prevention such as Polio, but in 7 areas of Service. The 7th focus "supporting the environment" being added in 2020.
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Did you know that we have a Peace Centre here in Qld established in 1999 at University of Queensland.
Rotary began in 1905 with founder Paul Harris and a few friends in Chicago beginning community service.
In 1917, the Rotary International President, Arch Klumph, began promoting the idea of donating money for causes and in 1936 the concept began to take traction, but it wasn't until Paul Harris's death in 1947 that the concept of the giving to the Fellowship took hold and encouraged people to put money in for global and community projects. The idea if you gave $1000 you would receive a Paul Harris Fellowship. Clubs now provide "Centurian Towers" to members to encourage annual donations of $100 under the initiative "Every Rotarian Every Year". It is easy then to put a $2 coin in the tower each week at at the end of the year $100 can be handed over to the treasurer for forwarding to the Foundation.
Some members choose to make annual contributions directly to the foundation, not through the Club. Either way, it all helps the causes Rotary focusses on. For every $1 Rotary gives towards the Prevention and Treatment of Polio, Bill Gates foundation adds $2, so when you give $1, $3 goes to Polio.
Did you know that at our Stanthorpe Museum, there is an "iron lung". It used to belong to the Stanthorpe Hospital.
For more information please visit https://my.rotary.org/en/rotary-foundation