Dawn is bringing us Troy Gladwell, who most recently developed a block off Broadway in Englewood. Founder of Medici Communities, he specializes in affordable housing. Dawn met Troy back in her housing authority days. She says he's "delightful," so we have something to look forward to!
BOARD MEETING!
We have several important matters to discuss at a board meeting after our regular meeting. As always, all members are welcome to attend.
School supplies needed for kiddos
The Early Childhood Education program at Maddox School needs our help. Frank is forging a relationship with this preschool for future projects, but in the meantime they need your notebook paper, magazines with photos, notecards, crayons, and other supplies.
Please bring them to tomorrow's meeting.
RYLA registration is open
We have reserved two slots for RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) and Young RYLA this summer. If you have friends or relatives who have kids in the current 7th grade or who are sophomores of juniors in high school, direct them to the online registration: rmryla.org. Be sure they identify the Rotary Club of Englewood as their potential sponsor.
And here's your Rotary education for today:
Rotary gives $53.5 million to help eradicate polio
EVANSTON, Ill. — With 22 confirmed cases in 2017 to date, and just one case in 2018, the world is on the brink of eradicating polio, a vaccine-preventable disease that once paralyzed hundreds of thousands of children each year.
More than half of the funds will support efforts to end polio in two of the three countries where polio remains endemic:
Afghanistan: $12.03 million
Pakistan: $19.31 million
Further funding will support efforts to keep 10 vulnerable countries polio-free:
Cameroon: $1.61 million
Central African Republic: $428,000
Chad: $2.33 million
The Democratic Republic of Congo: $6.48 million
Ethiopia: $1.82 million
Iraq: $2 million
Niger: $1.71 million
Somalia: $3.29 million
South Sudan: $835,300
Syria: $428,000
Rotary has committed to raising $150 million over the next three years, which will be matched 2-to-1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, yielding $450 million for polio eradication activities, including immunization and surveillance.
Rotary started its polio eradication program PolioPlus in 1985, and in 1988 became a partner in the GPEI, along with WHO, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation later became a partner. Since the initiative launched, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 percent, from about 350,000 cases in 1988 to just 22 confirmed cases in 2017 (as of 25 January). Rotary has contributed a total of more than $1.7 billion — including matching funds from the Gates Foundation — and countless volunteer hours to protect more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries from polio.