The 2019 Log Cabin Days Parade is history, with great weather. This was our final parade for 2019, with plans to walk the same three parades in 2020 to help The Help Hand. 90 food items were collected during this final effort of the year.
A challenge for next year is to bring more awareness to this effort because many comments were made during the parade that people were unaware of the collection effort. Any ideas you have to bring awareness to the community should be passed along to Mckinley, Seth or Michael so plans to bring community awareness to the effort can be implemented early next year.
Rotary Club of Indianola started a project this summer of reaching to the community and asking for food donations that would be used to help those in our community who do not have the resources to purchase food and pay rent.
The goal of the Club's project is to help out during the summer months when donations are typically lower and to bring greater awareness to the need for local support.
Thanks to everyone who helped with the Log Cabin Day Parade.
Mark Daniel Maloney
President 2019-20
October 2019
Rotary's long-term, sustained battle against polio has defined our organization for decades. We have a right to be proud of all that we have accomplished through the years.
Our progress is real and noteworthy. In 1988, polio was endemic in 125 countries, with more than 350,000 new cases a year worldwide. Since then, Rotary and our Global Polio Eradication Initiative partners have reduced the incidence of polio by more than 99.9 percent, vaccinated more than 2.5 billion children against the virus, and prevented 18 million cases of paralysis. Over the years, Rotary has helped country after country move into the polio-free column. This includes India, which some considered impossible not long ago. Of the three types of poliovirus, type 2 has been eradicated and type 3 could soon be certified as eradicated. Nigeria has not reported a case of wild poliovirus in nearly three years. If this trend holds, we will be down to just one type of wild poliovirus in only one section of the world, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
There are major challenges in that region. But it is crucial that we remain optimistic. Look at all that we have accomplished so far. This is no time to get discouraged or to think that the task is impossible. We will end polio forever, but only if we remain steadfast and vigilant. World Polio Day is a time for Rotarians from all over the globe to come together, recognize the progress we have made in our fight against polio, and plan the action we must take to end polio forever. The key word is action, because we still have important work to do.
This year, we want to see as many Rotary clubs as possible holding World Polio Day events around the world. Need some ideas? How about organizing a viewing party for friends and club members to watch Rotary's Online Global Update? You could also dedicate a club meeting to World Polio Day or create a fundraising event. Remember, every dollar raised is matched 2-to-1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Once you have created an event, register it at endpolio.org/register-your-event. Then promote it using the World Polio Day toolkit, available at endpolio.org/world-polio-day.
Mark your calendar to tune in to Rotary's World Polio Day Online Global Update on 24 October. This year we will stream our program on Facebook in multiple time zones around the world. Visit the Rotary International Facebook page to RSVP to your region's program. And do not forget to follow the event on social media and share it with your network.
When we reach our goal, polio will become only the second human disease eradicated on the planet, and Rotary will receive international acclaim. But what matters most is the children who will never again have to face this terrible, disabling virus. Rotary must continue to connect the world in the effort toward polio eradication. It is up to us. Let us finish the job.
All-Inclusive Playground
Over three years ago an idea to create a playground in our community for all children sprouted. A contest that would have earned $25,000 towards the cost of equipment for such a playground was unsuccessful the first year an missed by only a few votes of getting us in the Top 10 to qualify the second year.
Click to see pictures.
Dear Polio Eradication Warriors,
Four new Wild Polio cases reported this week.
October 24 - World Polio Day: One Day. One Focus: ENDING POLIO NOW! Please plan your fundraising/public image event now.
Can You Name Five ways Our Work Against Polio Fights Other Diseases? The third is - Surveillance - The Polio surveillance system helps detect new cases of Polio and determines where and how these cases originated. In Borno State of Nigeria, the surveillance system is now being used to find people with symptoms of Yellow Fever. Surveillance was one of the many tactics used during a 2018 Yellow Fever outbreak that prompted vaccinations of more than eight million people.
