Last Saturday's Polar Plunge was a huge success!  Almost 200 Rotarians and friends plunged into the frosty waters at Long Beach in Gloucester-- raising more than $91,000 to End Polio Now! We are currently $99,000 away from raising ONE MILLION Dollars since the first Polar Plunge 10 years ago.
 
Thank you to everyone involved with the Plunge, including our plungers, donors, sponsors, and the many people and organizations who donated their time and resources to make the Plunge a success!

Although India is certified Polio free since year 2011, still there is a fear of its coming back. Hence, every year as a precautionary measure India organizes a National Immunization Day (NID) to deliver Oral Poliovirus Vaccine drops to every child under 5 years of age. This year the NID was on January 19th. 2020 in India. Invitations were sent to many Rotary Clubs in the world to come to India and have Rotarians from allover the world volunteer and participate in immunizing children by dropping those two precious drops of polio vaccines. It is a tremendously rewarding feeling to realize that you administered those two drops of vaccine and saved a child from being a victim of polio! The joy of that experience can only be felt as there is no proper words to describe that heartfelt feeling!

It was my longtime dream to participate in NID and personally deliver the polio vaccine drops and save at least a child suffering lifelong from polio. The opportunity landed this year. Past Rotary International Director, Brad Howard of California lead a program that invited Rotarians from USA to join together and participate in India’s NID on January 19th and 20th. I was so excited to get this message and immediately applied for my dream come true program. There were 49 fellow Rotarians from different Clubs of USA, Canada and Barbados joined together and went to India to experience this unique opportunity. Majority of Rotarians in our group was from USA. 

The Chelsea Black Community celebrates Black History Month with a month long series of events promoting black history in Chelsea.  As part of the celebration the CBC recognizes several local residents and business persons as Chelsea Trailblazers.  In recognizing this year’s Trailblazers the CBC took into consideration ethical behavior grounded on compassion, nurture and social bonds.  Ideals and convictions that pertain to human beings’ behavior toward each other and to the preferred organizations of their communities such as – historical experience, empathy and the need for integrity and harmony.  This year’s honorees include Chelsea Rotarian PP Susan Gallant.  Susan was recognized for commitments to the Chelsea Rotary Club and the Chelsea Chamber of Commerce.  Susan organizes and coordinates the Chelsea Rotary’s project of sending 20 Chelsea children to Camp Rotary every year.  She also runs the Chelsea Chamber’s annual Pot-O-Gold and Brighter Holidays Breakfast with Santa.  The Chelsea City Council honored the 2019 CBC Trailblazers with resolutions at their February 10, 2020 meeting.