Arch Klumpf started the Rotary Foundation in 1917 with a donation of $26.50. One hundred years later, contributions to the fund total more than $4.1 billion. Ninety percent of the money donated to the foundation goes to fund projects like protecting maternal and child health, eradicating polio, and fostering peace.
According to the Rotary.org web site, “Rotary makes high-quality health care available to vulnerable mothers and children so they can live longer and grow stronger. We expand access to quality care, so mothers and children everywhere can have the same opportunities for a healthy future. An estimated 5.9 million children under the age of five die each year because of malnutrition, inadequate health care, and poor sanitation — all of which can be prevented. Rotary provides education, immunizations, birth kits, and mobile health clinics. Women are taught how to prevent mother-to-infant HIV transmission, how to breast-feed, and how to protect themselves and their children from disease.”
In cooperation with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary has brought us “this close” to eradicating polio. Every donation to the Polio Plus campaign is double-matched by the Gates Foundation. Now, only three countries remain to be conquered: Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. A country has to be polio-free for three years before the disease is considered to be eliminated.
On the 1998 anniversary of Paul Harris’ death, the Rotary Peace Studies program was created. The master’s degree-level course of study is available at 50 universities worldwide and is entirely supported by the Rotary Foundation. In ten years, more than 1,000 fellows have been trained at Peace Centers around the world. A shorter, professional certificate course is available at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. Tigard Rotary is currently in the process of sponsoring a candidate for the master’s degree program. We are one of 27 “peace-builder” clubs in District 5100.
Tigard Rotary Club’s goal is to raise $10,000 for the Rotary International Foundation before June 30, 2018. If every member contributes at least $100 we will be considered a “Sustaining Club.”
For more information about the Rotary foundation, visit www.rotary.org.