The Gloucester Rotary will hold its annual Polar Plunge on Saturday, April 2, 2022, at 11am at the Cape Ann Motor Inn on Long Beach, located at 33 Rockport Road in Gloucester. Anyone wishing to support the #EndPolioNow campaign may make a donation online at www.Rotary.org/donate. Please indicate that your donation should support the “Polio Fund.”

 

Each of the D7930 clubs are encouraged to attend the Gloucester event or hold their own event—all with the goal of raising $100,000 this year for #EndPolioNow.  Clubs can register their participation by clicking here.

 

The eradication of Polio has been Rotary International’s signature cause since 1988.  When Rotary International took on the battle against this disease, more than 350,000 people spanning 125 countries were impacted by Polio each year.  Today there are two countries left where Polio has not been eradicated:  Pakistan and Afghanistan.  In 2021, there were only five reported cases of wild Polio virus, down from 140 in 2020.  Rotary International has committed to raising fifty million dollars in 2022, and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged to match each dollar raised with an additional $2 donation--tripling the District’s anticipated $100,000 goal to $300,000!

The deadline to submit a District Managed Grant for either local or international projects is January 31, 2022. Your club must be grant qualified to apply for a grant. District Designated Funds (DDF) can provide 50% of funding up to $3000.00 for local grants and $5000.00 for international grants. For example, if your club contributes $6000 for a local project, then DDF match would be $3000.00. DDF monies are available to distribute once grant applications are closed, our spending plan is approved by RI and monies received. Once the district receives the funding and after your project is completed, you will receive the grant distribution. Please note: due to reduced giving to the Annual Fund Share in year 2018-2020, (Annual Fund Share giving provides our grant monies 3 years later), only one grant is able to be approved per club. 

If you need support contact Martha Holden at marthahealeyholden@gmail.com or Joan Arsenault at joan@massteximaging.com.

This year our district is hosting six Global Scholars who are here to further their studies in their chosen fields: Deborah Kang (Korea) in Public Policy and Urban Planning, Makiko Mitsunami (Japan) in Maternal and Child Health, Paul Schmidt (Germany) in Bioelectronics, Yumeka Kawahara (Japan) in Refugee Integration, Yusuke Yoshikawa (Japan) in Public Health and Francisco Barrera (Mexico) in Epidemiology.

 

These scholars all have extensive backgrounds in their specialties and would be delighted to share their knowledge and cultures with you. Please reach out and arrange for them to speak to your clubs. You can access links to their biographies and email addresses on our district website (rotary7930.org), under Our District/Rotary Foundation/Global Scholars. 

Belle Isle Rotary Club has submitted a District Managed Grant to support campers from East Boston to Camp Rotary.

 

For those Clubs without Interact Clubs (or even for Clubs with Interacts), please consider supporting the District Managed Grant from Belle Isle Rotary Club.  It will support 10 students from the Salesian Boys & Girls Club in East Boston to go to Camp Rotary for a week this summer. This experience will make a lasting impact on these children, who otherwise will never experience summer camp.  It will also support Camp Rotary as it enters its 100th year. 

 

Donations to support this can be sent to Belle Isle Rotary c/o Tom Hankard, 14 Edgehill Road, Winthrop, MA 02152. Please add Camp Rotary to the memo line.