Roland Gagne, Rotarian from the Biddeford-Saco Club, was Rotary’s guest speaker last week.

Roland has been a frequent guest of the club, when he has proposed international projects that our club has gotten involved with, including a grant to help Syrian refugee children attend school in Jordan, and a project to bring Christmas to the children of Lac Megantic after the train disaster there in 2013.

This time, Roland was here to catch us up to date on Polio Plus, Rotary’s signature project to eliminate polio from the world.

Last summer, the Rotary district organized a raffle to send one lucky donor Rotarian to Seattle for the World Polio Day event in October. Roland won the raffle, and so he and his wife Paula were soon on their way to the great Northwest, a new destination for them.

First stop was the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Visitor Center. Roland said that in addition to polio eradication, many of the projects that the Gates Foundation is involved with mirror Rotary’s own. He mentioned in particular a bucket of water that visitors to the Center can lift and carry about, emulating the work of millions of girls and women around the world each day, and demonstrating just how precious a commodity clean water can be.

As for the World Polio Day event itself, Roland and Paula were far from the only Rotarians from our District to be in Seattle – both Mike McGovern (from South Portland-Cape Elizabeth), the chair of Rotary’s polio eradication effort, and Ann Lee Hussey (from Portland Sunrise), who has led 29 polio eradication mission trips and is a polio survivor herself – were on the program. Roland and Paula were invited to a Major Donor dinner that night, hosted by past RI president John Germ.

While all this was going on in Seattle, more than 4000 Rotary clubs around the world organized polio awareness and fundraising events on the same day. These included a “Pints of Polio” beer event in Auburn, and a “Strike Out Polio” bowling event in Ellsworth. Roland said the point was to bring together resources to work to eradicate a worldwide scourge.

And the effort is succeeding! When Rotary got involved in the mid-80s, there were 350,000 cases of polio around the world each year. By 2015, thanks to the worldwide effort led by Rotary, that number was down to 74. So far in 2018, the number of cases reported is eight.

In the Q&A that followed, Jonathan expressed concern that either Rotary or the Gates Foundation would lose interest in polio eradication, or that donor fatigue could set in. In response, it should be remembered that the Trustees of both The Rotary Foundation and the Gates Foundation have recently restated their commitment to polio eradication as their highest organizational priority, and that funding efforts remain strong.

In fact, for every dollar that Rotarians contribute to the polio eradication campaign, the Gates Foundation matches 2:1 (meaning that each dollar donated turns into three dollars on the ground). Roland ended his presentation by recommending Rotary Direct, the direct deposit program that makes it possible to give money automatically to The Rotary Foundation on a monthly or quarterly basis. “It’s really easy, it’s not much, but it adds up to a lot,” Roland summed up.

In other club news, President Jonathan inducted both Bill Prince and Jeff Long into the club, and made the point that neither waited until they had joined to get to work; both contributed to the Soup Bowl Supper the previous week.

Ann Demeranville is taking over as executive director of Wrap-a-Smile, the Rotary program that has provided close to 24,000 quilts to children in need around the world who are the recipients of Rotary service projects. Ann takes over from Terry Hodskins, Rotarian from Wells, who conceived the program almost 17 years ago.

And in calendar news, the Vidalia onion sale is on, full swing. Doug Harley asked that all orders be in to him by April 27; the onions will be delivered by May. President Jonathan recommended that we try to beat Bob Pike’s selling record …

Rebuilding Together’s work day is May 5, we will have a special Rotary project that morning. Sign up with Tony Carulla if you can help out. And after a morning of sweat equity, prepare to party:

The Kentucky Derby event will also take place on May 5, once again in conjunction with the Community Center. We will have a silent auction; we will cheer on our favorite horse, and Deb asked for Rotarians to volunteer to bring appetizers. Price will be $15; be sure to invite your friends!

During announcements, Foster Stroup asked for volunteers for People Power, especially beginning in May. Let her know when you can help out.

And this week, April 19, will be our annual Lifetime Service Award. Brenda Blackman and Kevin Burnham will MC the event, which promises to be as fun as always.