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At our most recent meeting, Carol welcomed members of the Taunton High Interact Club for an evening dinner meeting. Thanks for joining us: Taylor Hill, Sarah Mendonca, Samantha Parrett, Kayla Parrett, Upoma Khan, Ariba Khan, Rachel Joseph, and Isabel Cellucel Ed Fowler shared insights into What is Rotary? It is the world's largest philanthropic, non-religious organization with over 1.2 million members representing all walks of life in business, civic and local communities. The men and women who comprise over 34,000 local clubs in over 200 countries volunteer their time, talents, and treasure to make the world a better place. The first club was established in Chicago in 1905. Out Taunton club was chartered on March 1st, 1921. I had the pleasure of becoming our club's president back in 2001 and 2002. At the time out internal motto was "Mankind is our Business". A bold statement to make. In 1979, Rotary International undertook a large daunting task, which was to immunize 6 million children in the Philippines with the polio vaccine. Once done, Rotary took on the world's children. There are only three countries left: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Africa, with Africa being on the brink of polio eradication. To date, Roary has contributed more than 1.3 billion dollars to fight polio. I remember reading years ago that during this initiative, Roaty International was able to arrange a cease-fire between two warring countries to allow the medical teams to come in, immunize the children, then exit before the bullets started to fly again. Just a few years ago, Rotary International undertook another large medical initiative which was to provide every woman in Mexico cervical cancer screening kit due to the serious need in that country. One of our Roary Partners, Shelter Box, committed aid for over 4,000 families in the form of emergency shelter units during the typhoon-ravaged Phillippines only a few years ago. Most recently, our local Rotary clubs and Shelter Boxes were helping the earthquake victims in Ecuador and Japan. Every time there is a global catastrophe, we are there, Worldwide, we have improved water and sanitation facilities, drilled wells, led major medical and dental missions, created literacy programs, participated in reforestation plantings, and the list goes on. In my early years with the Taunton Rotary Club, we partnered with a Rhode Island Rotary Club to collect used hospital equipment from hospitals in Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Our objective was to transition a first aid station in the country of Belize, South Africa, to a full-fledged hospital. We changed that small part of the world forever! Locally, since 1921, we have provided financial support and manpower to just about every organization in the Greater Taunton Area such as YMCA, Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro South, Morton Hospital, and Pride to name a few. It's impossible to explain in a few minutes, the depth of this multi-billion dollar global volunteer organization. It is only our hope that now you are familiar with the general scope of Rotary both at the local level as well as global. As you can see "Mankind is our Business". Ann Fourier of the American Legion shared that each year, American Legion service officers help thousands of veterans receive VA benefits they earned through service to their country. The Legion conducts, promotes and supports hundreds of career fairs for veterans and transferring service members, bringing employers face-to-face with job hunters. Legion staff lobbies Congress for a better quality of life for U.S. military personnel. Ann's journey started years ago when both of her brothers were enlisted and became veterans. One brother's tragic experience lead to her joining the legion to make a difference in the lives of other veterans and people MIA. Every day she takes the train to Boston and makes 200 -225 poppies to sell to support their mission. The national poppy day is the Friday before Memorial Day. Taylor Hill of the Interact club shared that this year they are raising money for Cambodia for water filters, creating blankets for the homeless, participating in the tunnel of towers walk, and hosting a paint night to support fundraising efforts. |
