November was Rotary Foundation month for all Rotary Clubs worldwide. The Rotary Foundation is the endowment arm of Rotary International. It was created in 1917 for the express purpose of “doing good in the world.” It does an amazingly good job of it.
Rotary asks all members to support the Foundation in November with a contribution of $100 or more. These funds are invested when received so that they can grow and be leveraged in future years for the many worthwhile projects that Rotary districts and clubs undertake around the world.
Perhaps the best known of the Rotary Foundation projects is Polio Plus, Rotary’s commitment to help rid the world of polio. Although some setbacks have occurred, we are on track to meet that goal with a current intense effort to end poliovirus transmission in India by the end of this year. Morgan Hill Rotary has done more than its share to support Polio Plus since the effort started in 1985. Worldwide, Rotary has invested more than $600 million in this effort.
Our Morgan Hill club uses the leverage of foundation funding to accomplish many projects throughout the world, frequently in partnership with our Interact Clubs or with other local or geographically distributed Rotary Clubs.
Several years ago, our club invested $250 to buy desks for a school that is attached to an orphanage in Hardiwar, India. The club contribution was matched at two levels with Foundation funds, giving the project a total budget of $1000.
Two years ago Morgan Hill Rotary teamed with the Rotary Clubs of Gilroy, Hollister and San Juan Bautista, as well as our two (Live Oak and Central) Interact Clubs to buy $23,000 worth of medical equipment to stock an empty medical clinic next to the orphanage in Hardiwar. The Rotary Foundation supplied $12,000, over half the funding for this project.
Last year, with $600 of Morgan Hill Rotary funds, we got money from a partner club in Patagonia and from the Rotary Foundation to provide a $2,500 budget used for basic school supplies that are not provided. Supplies were provided for 231 underprivileged kids in four elementary schools in the town of Caleta Olivia in southern Argentina.
This year, with $1,500 of budgeted club funds, we will be writing a grant application for Rotary Foundation funds of $3,750 for a total budget of $5,250 for educational materials for San Martin de Hidalgo, Morgan Hill’s sister city in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico.
These World Community Service projects come under our club’s International Avenue of Service, which is chaired by Peter Anderson. This year’s Foundation chairs for our club are Bob Moulthrop and Chris Nolan.
Morgan Hill Rotary regularly gets involved in World Community Service projects that simply could not be accomplished without the majority funding provided through the Rotary Foundation. It is a great tool for “doing good in the world.” You can learn more about the Rotary Foundation at: http:// rotary.org/foundation/index.html, and you can e-mail Peter at pa********@*ol.com or me at stevetate@charter .net
Steve Tate is immediate past president of Morgan Hill Rotary.
