Rotary Club of Jasper Monthly Newsletter March 2004 SPEAKERS March 2 Joe Acker

Rotary Club of Jasper
Monthly Newsletter
March 2004

SPEAKERS

March 2 Joe Acker, Birmingham Regional Emergency Medical Services System, introduced by Phillip Windham and John Wills.

March 9 Sybil Myers - PolioPlus Campaign speaker, introduced by Tony Sparks.

March 16 Dr. Tom Camp will speak about projects underway and in the planning stage in the village of Plan De Flores, State of Colon, Honduras.

March 23 Speaker introduced by Cheryl Allison.

March 30 Business Meeting

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

Fellow Rotarians:

March is Community Service Month. It is appropriate that we would hold our First Annual BBQ Fundraiser to benefit the programs of the Jasper Area Family Service Center on March 6th. We hope to raise in excess of $2,000 for this very important project.

Our mission this year, as you will recall, was to help people help themselves. So far, we have worked toward that goal by supporting local programs that seek to teach citizens ways to improve their situations, increase their chances of being self-sufficient, and enhance the quality of life in our world community. I think we have made great progress toward this goal.

Also this month is the deadline to submit this year’s pledge to the PolioPlus Eradication Fund. Our Club made a commitment to give $10,000 over three years to the Fund and we are in our second year. Members are asked to give $35 each for this important program. Checks should be made payable to Jasper Rotary as we will send a lump sum check representing what we have collected to Rotary International on March 26th. Here are the recent figures for the PolioPlus Campaign. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Thanks for all you do.
Yours in Service
Pam Fikes

ROTARY SPOTLIGHT

PolioPlus - the final drive to a polio-free world
The PolioPlus program provides funding for vaccine and transportation for mass immunization campaigns as well as support for social mobilization, surveillance, and laboratories to help carry out the final stages of global polio eradication. Goal: To eradicate polio world-wide by 2005, Rotary’s centennial. Major partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative: Rotary International, World Health Organization, UNICEF, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Achievements:
✧ Rotarians raised US $247 million between 1985 and 1988 for polio eradication. As of 1 January 2002, Rotary has committed more than $462 million to global polio eradication, and that figure should exceed $500 million by 2005.
✧ Polio cases have declined more than 99 percent, from 350,000 cases in 1985 to 600 in 2001.
✧ Polio has been eradicated in the Western Hemisphere (1994), the Western Pacific region (2000), and Europe (2002).
✧ More than two billion children have been immunized against polio since 1985.
✧ Hundreds of thousands of Rotarians have mobilized to help immunize children, deliver vaccine, promote National Immunization Days, and conduct surveillance for the disease - despite poor infrastructure, extreme poverty, and conflict in many countries.
✧ Benefits of eradication: Humanity would be spared immeasurable suffering by polio victims, and an estimated $1.5 billion per year would be saved.
✧ Main obstacle: $275 million is needed to fund remaining polio-eradication needs.
Strategy: A one-year campaign - Fulfilling Our Promise: Eradicate Polio - was launched on 1 July 2002 with the goal of raising US $80 million, with funds being matched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the United Nations Foundation, and the World Bank. To date we have raised $115, 818,467.

BIRTHDAYS                   ANNIVERSARIES

Gwaltney McCollum 1st     Max and Mary Perdue 11th
Dub Brown 12th                Hubert and Corky Hagen 23rd
Jerald Sherer 14th
Don Kilgore 21st
Brian Kennedy 21st
Linley Yerby 25th

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Monthly Board Meeting will be Monday, March 8th at noon.

Members responsible for speakers in April are: Pam Fikes - 6th, Pat Maddox - 13th, Linley Yerby - 20th, Libba Elliott, 27th.

Donations in February: ARC of Walker County - $1,000; Beacon House - $1,000;
Day Break - $1,000.

Resignations - Eva Ovitt

Upcoming Events:

The First Annual Rotary BBQ, featuring Cliff’s Famous Bbq Chicken will be held on Saturday March 6th. All proceeds will go to fund the community and family enhancement projects provided through the Jasper Area Family Service Center. Rotarians and Service Center staff will need to sell 500 plates in advance. All money from the sale of the tickets should be turned in by March 2nd. The event will be held at the Bevill State Community College Cafeteria. Tickets are $6 and the plate includes ½ bbq chicken, baked beans, slaw and bread. Besides ticket sales, we will need volunteers to help the day of the bbq: food preparation, assembly and delivery. If you haven’t signed up to help, please do so.

PETS/District Assembly March 12 - 13. President Elect Training (PETS) will be March 12th, District Assembly is March 13th in Birmingham at the Harbert Center.

PolioPlus contribution deadline March 31. All members will need to make their required $35 contribution by mid March.

Annual Rotary Egg Hunt - Saturday April 10th. All Rotarians are required to sell 10 tickets at $10 each. Tickets will be distributed to members in early March.

District Conference April 22 - 24, Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain Georgia.

GSE Team Visit - May 8th. We will combine our annual banquet with our GSE Team visit this year. Location is being determined. This year, however, we will be planning a reception-type format instead of the traditional banquet. The Team is from Taiwan and will be with us for only one day.