Boy Scout Troop 111 from Waymart PA
The April 19th Great Honesdale River Cleanup was a major success thanks to volunteers led by the Himalayan Institute, Honesdale Rotary, and Boy Scout Troop No. 111. The hardworking group picked up trash on both sides of the Lackawaxen River, from the Main Street Bridge to the Wayne County Prison, as part of a larger Pennsylvania, the Great PA Cleanup. Alliance Landfill and Waste Management provided the container and supplies and Beans Roasting House provided refreshments.
Among the many bags of trash pulled from the river, notables pulled from the banks of the river were two tricycles, bowling pin, a hairdryer, a shopping cart, a street sign, and a toilet seat.
“It was eye-opening to see what people throw into the river,” said one younger volunteer. “Even though I didn’t mind spending my day outside, it could have been better spent. I hope that everyone thinks twice before dumping trash out in the open.”
For more information about the Great PA Cleanup visit http://www.greatpacleanup.org/
(Honesdale, April 8, 2008)… A child crippled by polio is not just a Life Magazine photo from the last century; the disease still afflicts families throughout the world. “Every day, 30,000 children under the age of five die, most of them from preventable causes like measles, malaria, pneumonia and polio,” incoming Rotary International President Dong Kurn Lee told Rotarians at the recent training conference for incoming presidents in Parsippany, New York.
“When I first saw this number 30,000,” said Mr. Lee, “I thought it must be per month or year. I was shocked to learn that it was by day.”
Honesdale and Hawley Rotary Club members returned from the meeting inspired not only by Lee but by Rotary International (RI). The group spearheads the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, along with national governments, World Health Organization, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and UNICEF. Since 1988, the incidence of polio has been reduced by more than 99 percent. At the time, more than 350,000 children were paralyzed every year in more than 125 endemic countries. Today, only four countries remain which have never stopped endemic transmission of polio: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan. In 2007, 1,308 cases were reported worldwide.
Honesdale Rotary’s President-elect Brian Fulp said local business and community leaders could help by donating time and money and just spreading the word. “The need for clean water and basic healthcare services around the world is great, but even a little bit of effort from everyone of us can make a difference. Look at what Rotary’s done already and it’s committed to finishing the job.”
Many Rotarians have taken periods of time off from their busy schedules to help vaccinate children in faraway countries—and it’s made a difference.
Kim and Mitschele of the Hawley Club are pictured with Mr. Lee and Brian (right) at the seminar.
Released Nov 26 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. (Nov. 26, 2007) Rotary International today announced a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that will inject a much-needed US$200 million into the global campaign to eradicate polio
a crippling and sometimes fatal disease that still paralyzes children in parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East and threatens children everywhere. The Rotary Foundation has received a $100-million Gates Foundation grant, which Rotary will raise funds to match, dollar-for-dollar, over three years.
The Evanston-based volunteer service organization will spend the initial $100 million within one year in direct support of immunization activities carried out by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a partnership spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF. The polio eradication grant is one of the largest challenge grants ever given by the Gates Foundation and the largest grant received by Rotary in its 102-year history. Since 1985 Rotary has contributed $633 million to the eradication effort.
