This week’s entry was writ by the practiced pen of Scribe Emeritus Philip Shore. Sorry, but he didn’t draw any pretty pictures….
When Joy Menius dusted the piano your humble scribe thought she was going to launch into ”Kitten On the Keys”. Instead she provided our chatter with a background of sunny songs including “I Got Rythym” and who could ask for anything more?
President H.R. called the meeting to order with a stoutly rung gong. Prior to the Pledge of Allegiance he announced three serious occurrences: that we hold in sympathy the family of Elizabeth Cox in the death of her mother; that Sandy Grey had sustained a fall that required surgical treatment of his arm; and the news that Father Jay Hobbs formerly of the Church of the Good Shepherd and a former Asheboro Rotarian had died just this morning.
Rebecca Redding introduced our guests. Christie Smith, guest of Carol Matney, has been circulated and will not be a guest much longer. Carol made her pay for her meal. Now that is serious. Cindy Wilkins, guest of James Gouty, made an announcement about the Randolph Historical Association Valentine’s fundraiser. Gale Thomas brought Lee Lennon and Henry Trollinger brought Pan Vuncannon. President H.R. had to behave today because Vickie Gallimore was the lone Randolph Rotarian present.
The Sergeant-at-Arms team asked the scribe to note the receipt of a lovely thank you note from H.R.’s family expressing appreciation for the concern and sympathy expressed at the death of his mother last week.
Henry Trollinger introduced two Asheboro High School student guests. Hal Davis wants to be an English teacher. He is co-editor-in-chief of The Ash Hi Chat and technical editor of Ash Hi Life. He plans to attend UNC-G to study English education and then to return to Asheboro to teach.
Lauran Breedlove is the Spanish Club treasurer; she is a Girl Scout and a member of the Key Club. Her sport is golf. Lauran plans to attend UNC-Chapel Hill to pursue a degree in physical therapy.
Absentee Linda Cranford sent word for us not to miss next week’s Valentine’s program—she has arranged for Leslie Cooper, a real, live, and local choclatier. Bring your sweetie!
Rob Reese introduced our newest Rotarian: Shawn Mabe. Shawn is the city officer at RBC-Centura. President H.R. welcomed her into the club with her pin and other Rotary regalia. Welcome, Shawn!
Our program had a Rotary Foundation Theme. Bill Batten let pictures do the talking. He chose three stories of the great changes brought about by the Polio Plus campaign. The stories were included in a recent issue of The Rotarian Video Magazine. All three focused on India. After asking for a show of hands of those who participated in the first Polio Plus fundraising, Bill said that what we were going to watch should be considered to be a big THANK YOU.
The first story was called The Last Hurdle. It concerned the ongoing effort to eliminate polio in the state of Uttar Pradesh. This presentation showed international cooperation of Indian nationals and visiting Rotarians from Georgia, USA, in a week long push to administer doses of polio vaccine to the children of the state. After one day 17 million children had been treated but that was only half of the target population. After a week 136 million doses had been given nationally. It was stated that in some areas 3 doses were needed to prevent the return of polio whereas in other places as many as 17 or 18 were required—this latter was true of the Uttar Pradesh region.
The second story was called From Crawling To Walking. It was a case study of a boy named Asif who had had polio. He was able to walk if he held his left leg with his hand. Asif was a candidate for a surgical cure. The surgery was one of 550 such cases sponsored by a Rotary Foundation Matching Grant. The story showed the problem, the treatment, and the resultant beginning of a new life, much improved, thanks to Rotary.
The final piece was called Success Stories. One aspect of Polio Plus that we don’t think of immediately is the care and support needed by those who missed the preventative care and suffered the disease. Rotary serves these people also with the opportunity for rehabilitation and, then, job training. This article showed several young adults in physical therapy followed by classroom training in useful, gainful occupations.
Altogether the three short films gave an impressive overview of the gigantic successes of Polio Plus with a realistic survey of what is left to be done (with the encouragement to get out there and finish it!).
Bill asked what the original local goal of Polio Plus was—the answer $20,000. And how much was raised? $80,000. Eloquent testimony of organization, effort and generosity of spirit, don’t you think?
