2010- No Report Available

MP Rotary Committee Reports 2009

Vocational Committee- Director Krystal Campbell reported that the job-shadowing program is underway.  It still has room to grow.  Also, the vocational excellence award was given to Ms. Andres from the vocation kitchen.  Hopefully the Rotary vocational committee will host a job fair next year.

Club Service Committee- Director Bob Rulong started with thanking Riverwood staff members Melanie, Sarah, and Chef Jason for the excellent service they provide every Monday.  He also thanked the Rotarians who hosted various get-togethers and holiday parties.  Bob jokingly described the rigorous training system in place for the sergeant at arms committee, and thanked them for their service.  Thanks to the greeters, and all who make our club inviting and fun. A special thanks went to Kathy Beebe for bringing a unique dynamic to the club with her newsletters.   (KB smiles…bows…)

Community Service: Pres. Steve Pickens reported for Dir. Sandy Lucksted on all the places our money went locally. Total Giving to the community was $17,063 as follows:

Chippewa Watershed Conservancy-5K; Isabella Co. Dive Team-2K; United Way for Women’s Aid-$1500; Red Cross-1K; Christmas Outreach-1K; Soup Kitchen-$500; Blind Children’s fund-$250; Chip River Distr. Lib. Vets Program-$118; Breast Cancer 3 day Walk Program-$100; Environmental project-trees-$1138; Local Youth & Scholarships- Sam Babb Fund (collected from club)  $242; Citizen of Month Award-$632; Student Citizen of the Year– 1K; Student volunteers for beef dinner-$2612.

International Service- Tom Miles reported for Dir. Paul Siers:  The most powerful force in the promotion of international understanding and peace is exposure to different cultures.  The world becomes a smaller, friendlier place when we learn that all people, regardless of nationality, desire the same basic things:  a safe, comfortable environment that allows for a rich and satisfying life for our children and ourselves. 

Youth Exchange provides thousands of young people with the opportunity to meet people from other lands, and to experience their cultures.  This plants the seeds for a lifetime of international understanding. 

Polio Plus:  Premiere Program:  Despite tremendous progress in reducing the incidence of polio, it still exists.  Polio will continue to threaten children everywhere as long as it exists somewhere.  In this age of global travel, a new outbreak of polio might only be a plane ride away. Did you know that…

• Polio is a highly infectious disease that primarily affects children under the age of three and can cause paralysis within hours.
• Before eradication efforts began in 1988, polio paralyzed more than 1,000 children a day, which totaled about 350,000 children annually. The incidence of polio has since declined by more than 99%.
• Vaccinations easily can stave off polio.  Vaccinations have prevented an estimated 550,000 children per year from contracting polio.  A child can be protected against polio for as little as 60 cents (US) worth of vaccine.
• Only four countries are still polio endemic, an all-time low: Nigeria, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

Rotary International is the spearheading member of the Global Polio Eradication imitative and is the largest private sector donor.  It has contributed more than (US) 600 million to the polio eradication activities in 122 countries.  In addition, tens of thousand of Rotarians have partnered with their national ministries of health, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for disease Control and Prevention, and with health providers at the grass roots level in thousands of communities.

Ambassadorial Scholarships:  Since 1947 nearly 37,000 men and women form 100 nations have studied abroad under its auspices.  Today it is the world’s largest privately funded international scholarship program.  Nearly 800 scholarships were awarded for study in 2005-06.  Through grants totaling approximately (US) $500 million, recipients from some 70 countries studied in more than 70 nations.

The purpose of the Ambassadorial scholarships program is to further international understanding and friendly relations among people of different countries.  The program sponsors several types of scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students as well as for qualified professionals pursing vocational studies.  While abroad, scholars serve as ambassadors for goodwill to the people of the host country and give presentations about their homelands to Rotary clubs and other groups.  Upon returning home, scholars share with Rotarians and together the experiences that led to greater understanding of their host countries.

Locally, we have both in-bound and outbound scholars. Every other year we have an in-bound scholar. Last year we had a young lady from France who attended Mt Pleasant High School. Prior to that we had a high school student from Japan.  Currently we have an outbound student, Dave Cupary in Ecuador.  Next year we’ll have an inbound student from Afghanistan, attending CMU to earn a masters degree in English as a secondary language.  This past year, two other inbound scholars attended Saginaw Valley.  

Group Study Exchange (GSE):  The GSE program of the Rotary Foundation is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for young business and professional men and women between the ages of 24-40 and in the early year of their professional lives.  The program provides travel grants for teams to exchange visits between paired areas in different countries.  For four to six weeks, team members experience the host country’s institutions and ways of life, observe their own vocations as practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas. Last year GSE visitors were from India.

The Rotary Center for International Studies program support the mission of the Rotary Foundation of improving health, supporting education, and alleviating poverty in the following ways:

• Advancing research, teaching, publication, and knowledge of issues related to peace, goodwill, causes of conflict, and world understanding.
• Providing advanced international education opportunities for Rotary World Peace Fellows chosen form different countries and cultures on the basis of their potential as leaders in government, business, education, media, and other professions.
• Providing a means for the Rotary Foundation and the member clubs to increase their effectiveness in promoting greater tolerance and cooperation among peoples, leading to world understanding and peace.

Other international service projects include a water-project in Guatemala.  We are contemplating working with a Rotary Club in Rockford.  Also, we are working on a University Faculty Teaching Program, to get books to countries that need them. Kenya is a target country to receive the books.