Lots of happy Rotarians this week!

Cheryl Ewing is really happy about the weather we are having.  As a girl from the "north" she likes the fresh white snow that crunches when you walk on it, not the black slush we often have and also likes the clear, crisp air at -20!  Cheryl was also happy to report that our trip to Nogales this year was most successful and the connection with the new club there is working very well.  Cheryl will give a full report on March 4.  Cheryl did note that her love of the white stuff allowed her to appreciate the Record snowfall of 20 cm. in Nogales.

 

Darren Sweeney was happy to have just spent 5 weeks in Florida doing a lot of golfing and some remote working.  He has been visiting a club down there doing make ups for six years and this year was able to present them with one of our new club trading banners and brought one of theirs back to present to President Richard.  Darren and Rose finished off their time down south with a cruise to a few of the Caribbean Islands and were able to watch the Maple Leafs beat Tampa Bay.

 

Howard Pell and Paul Rostrup  were pleased to have participated in the first Dine-A-Round social event this past weekend and thanked their hosts.

 

Gary Parker was pleased to have been one of the Dine-A-Round hosts and grateful that the weather didn't get bad enough to curtail the event.  Gary was also most delighted to report that his 9 year old grandson, who plays for the Waterloo Wolves, rep team won an invitational tournament in the US this past weekend and brought home the "National" cup.  Gary mentioned that Ken Seiling's son, Scott, is the coach of the team.
 

President Richard made up for the lack of previous wine draws by offering up 6 bottles today.  The lucky winners were:Tom Mennill, Martin Jones, Neil Swayze, Jim Brown, Dave Smith and Bill Proctor.

President-Elect Paul Rostrup reiterated the critical information in the email sent out this past week by President Richard in regard to next weeks meeting.  As a result of the work being done to renew our strategic plan it has come to the attention of the steering committee that the club needs to deal with some critical issue.  All members are asked to attend next weeks meeting if at all possible to hear the background information in preparation for a series of 4 Club Assemblies occurring over the next several months.

Our pot was at $497 today and will definitely be over $500 next week as none of Tom Mennill, Martin Jones, nor Cheryl Ewing found the Jack.  However, Cheryl did turn over a Joker and got to put $10 back in her purse.

Our speaker to day was our own PDG Bill Proctor who gave an update on the RI Polio Plus campaign.  Bill provided some interesting information on the nature of Polio, its history and the history of Rotary's effort along with its strategic partners to eradicate it.  One important factor about Polio is that it exists in the human population and a much greeter rate than the number of cases that actually develop.  In areas where the virus did , and still does, exists, only 2% of individuals carrying the virus develop the symptoms.

 

There are only three countries left where the virus is endemic - Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.  The number of cases over the last few years were:

 

 

2015        00              54                  20

 

2016        04              20                  13

 

2017        00              08                  14

 

2018        00              08                  21

 

Bill then spoke about the challenges to the eradication work in Pakistan and Afghanistan but also the tremendous efforts that are being done in both countries by thousands of dedicated volunteers, most of whom are female.

 

Bill also explained about the "PLUS" in Polio Plus.  Through the work that has been done with the Polio campaign many of the third world countries now have the infrastructure and protocols to deal monitor diseases, deal with out brakes and administer other vaccines.  The work has also done much to educate people about the importance of vaccinations.

Closing Remarks & Reminders