WOODSTOCK, New Brunswick — The Rotary Club of Woodstock is hosting a special evening on Thursday Dec. 1, at the Best Western Hotel to celebrate the centennial of the Rotary Foundation.
“The birthday party starts 6:30 p.m. [5:30 p.m. U.S. time],” said the club’s Foundation Chair, Terry Thomas.
The Foundation was established in 1917 with an initial donation of $26.50. From these modest beginnings, the Foundation has grown to become one of the world’s top charities. Over its first 100 years, it has spent more than $3 billion to do good in communities here at home and around the world in areas such as: community economic development; basic education and literacy; maternal and child health; clean water and sanitation; and peace and conflict resolution.
“We are very fortunate to have as the keynote speaker for the evening, Mike McGovern from Cape Elizabeth, Maine,” said Thomas. “He has been one of the top leaders of our Foundation for several years and is currently chair of the Foundation’s International Polio Plus Committee”.
Freeing the world from polio is the Foundation’s top priority and it has spent over $1.5 billion to vaccinate over 2.5 billion children against this horrible, crippling disease. Thanks to Rotary’s efforts, the world is now 99.9 percent polio free. Cases have dropped from 350,000 annually in 1985 to under 20 this year in just three countries, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“We remain hopeful that this may be the year the world sees its last case of polio, which is another great reason to celebrate the Foundation’s 100th birthday,” Thomas said.
As part of the celebrations, the club will be honoring four individuals who have been exceptionally dedicated to helping their community: Fern Bell, Scott Dunlop, Andrew Garnett and Archie McLean.
They will each be named Paul Harris Fellows. The Paul Harris Fellowship, named after the founder of Rotary, is the Foundation’s way of recognizing community minded persons who exemplify Rotary’s commitment to “Service Above Self”.
The Woodstock Rotary Club is the primary community service organization in the greater Woodstock area achieving great success with programs like the Something for Everyone — Our Time to Grow campaign which Thomas says “is another a good example of Rotarians doing good things for Woodstock and area.” This campaign raised $2.25 million towards the cost of expansions and renovations to the Ayr Motor centre, the L.P. Fisher Library and the community theatre at Woodstock High School. “This investment completely transformed the town”, said Thomas.
Tickets to the event are $50 per person and are available from any club member or by calling 506-328-6665.
