Hundreds of Marin’s Roots of Peace employees trapped in Afghanistan
This week we received this request from fellow Rotarian Heide Kuhn (founder of Roots of Peace). Please consider passing along this urgent message to your members.
"Please see the following LINK to a series of ABC7 News videos which aired August 15, 2021—the day that Kabul fell.
Kindly share widely with our San Rafael Rotarians, and ask them to pray for our Roots of Peace staff (360 Afghan employees)."
Marin IJ Article dated August 17, 2021: Hundreds of Marin’s Roots of Peace employees trapped in Afghanistan – Marin Independent Journal (marinij.com).
Rotary International President 2022-23
Jennifer E. Jones, a member of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Ontario, Canada, has been nominated to become Rotary International’s president for 2022-23, a groundbreaking selection that will make her the first woman to hold that office in the organization’s 115-year history. Jennifer E. Jones, a member of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Ontario, Canada, has been nominated to become Rotary International’s president for 2022-23, a groundbreaking selection that will make her the first woman to hold that office in the organization’s 115-year history. Jones will officially become president-nominee on 1 October if no other candidates challenge her.
Community Project - Happiness Packets
The Rotary Club of San Rafael's members are aware of the unfortunate situation where many seniors in our community are feeling isolated during this time of COVID. So our club participated in a project to let seniors know that they haven't been forgotten.
Our local senior services organization in San Rafael, Whistlestop, organized a project to bring “Happiness Packets” to seniors. Our club members sourced and then assembled 94 festive gift packages including a personal note, game books, puzzles, art supplies, and snacks. We delivered the packages to Whistlestop who then distributed them to the seniors it serves.
End Polio Now
Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years. Our goal of ridding the world of this disease is closer than ever. As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we've reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent since our first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979. Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease. Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort. Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.
Supporting Teachers & Students
This year (2020) our members donated approximately $9,534 to our San Rafael school teachers in the form of mini-grants (~$500 each). To date we have donated over $170,000.
