The news this week, in an online report by Arnold R. Grahl, highlights the continued effort of TRF to lighten the burden of victims of devastating disasters.
A year after the most powerful earthquake in nearly a century devastated parts of Turkey and Syria, Rotary members have helped people rebuild with container homes for hundreds of families, hospital equipment, and other essential support. A special Disaster Relief Fund created by The Rotary Foundation, now closed to contributions, raised more than US$2 million from donors around the world and funded about 60 grants that have allowed Rotary members to provide shelter, medical care, and other necessities. The earthquake on 6 February 2023 killed more than 55,000 people and affected 15 million others across southern Turkey and northern Syria. Many clubs and districts have organized humanitarian initiatives guided by Rotarians in the affected areas. The three districts in Turkey worked together to implement projects totaling US$10 million. Immediately after the earthquake, Rotarians in Turkey set up three tent cities to provide temporary shelter for 2,000 families. The districts have since used US$50,000 Disaster Response Grants coupled with other funds to establish two container cities while providing support for a third container city built by the local government in Ankara. Refik Kutluer, president of the Rotary Club of Ankara International, says his club arranged for six children whose limbs were amputated from injuries suffered in the earthquake to receive prosthetic limbs at hospitals in the United States. The treatments were provided at no cost to the families. “All these children have returned home and are again able to walk,” Kutluer says. “They continue to express their gratitude to Rotary saying that after the earthquake, they felt hopeless, but now they have been restored to life.” The Ankara International club also provided a mobile science laboratory and classroom for Ata College, almost completely destroyed by the earthquake. The school lost 26 students, two teachers, and two staff members in the quake. Classes are being held in prefabricated buildings. Rotary and Rotaract members have also purchased essential equipment for a hospital in Antakya. Using two US$50,000 grants, District 2430, Turkey, provided an ultrasound machine that hospital administrators requested as well as equipment to perform colonoscopies and endoscopies.
Written by Christopher W Knapp, District 6000 Foundation Chair
#trfrotary #Rotary #rotaryinternational #ServiceAboveSelf
We are excited for our upcoming Rotary guest presentations!
2/27/24 Scott Ingram, Owner of Ingram’s candy store hosted by Paul Burnett
3/5/24 Cory Bushee and Shannon Jesme – North Star Neighbors hosted by Mark Thune
3/12/24 Student Essay and scholarship winners hosted by Paul Burnett
3/19/24 Tessah Vikre – Director of Lifecare Pregnancy Center hosted by Terri Averill
3/26/24 TBD hosted by Paul Adams
4/2/24 Digi-Key Update by Shane Zutz
All at noon at the Legion. We look forward to seeing our Rotary members and guests at our upcoming meetings and hope you have a great day!
#trfrotary #TRF #Rotary
The Rotary Club of East Nassau (The Bahamas) jubilantly crossed the finish line at its Million Dollar Dinner on Saturday night, achieving an ambitious goal of raising $1 million to help fund Rotary Foundation projects that improve the lives of countless individuals. The Million Dollar Meal concept was started in 1959 by a club in Stoughton District (Wisconsin). It is now an established part of Rotary International fundraising for The Rotary Foundation. Speaking at an interview with The Nassau Guardian, president of Rotary Club of East Nassau, Christian Knowles describes the feat as “surreal,…to do something that no other club has done before is so empowering and inspiring and at the same time, I know it’s gratifying because I know that those other clubs are going to do the same thing and I want them to do the same thing and I can’t wait for them to do it.” The fundraiser was attended by donors who made pledges of $10,000 or more to The Rotary Foundation and by Rotarians, among them Barry Rassin, past Rotary International president and chairman of The Rotary Foundation Board of Trustees.
Past Rotary International President Jennifer Jones who was the keynote speaker, recently traveled to Abaco and Grand Bahama to see firsthand the difference Rotary made on the ground in the days, weeks and months after the ferocious Hurricane Dorian uprooted the lives of tens of thousands of people. Speaking with The Nassau Guardian, Jennifer said, “What has been really wonderful is to be able to see some of the work that’s been done hands on by the clubs, and in particular East Nassau, and then to culminate it tonight with this huge $1 million fundraising dinner and to cross the finish line in real time while we were here was nothing short of remarkable, and what this means is that it allows us as an organization to do so much good for people in the community here and in other communities around the world.” – Christopher W Knapp, District 6000 Foundation Chair
#Rotary #TRF #trfrotary #ServiceAboveSelf
Thank you Dr. Chris Mills for your updates on our school district today and willingness to answer our questions!
Congratulations to Beth Nelson for receiving your Paul Harris award pin at today’s meeting as well! Your generosity doesn’t go unnoticed and we appreciate you being a Rotarian!
What is the Paul Harris Award? Great Question: “Continuing the legacy of our founder, the Paul Harris Fellow program recognizes individuals who contribute, or who have contributions made in their name, of $1,000 to The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International.” – https://www.rotary.org/en/about-rotary/history/paul-harris-society#:~:text=Continuing%20the%20legacy%20of%20our,Rotary%20Foundation%20of%20Rotary%20International.
If making a positive impact in other people’s lives in important to you. Than Rotary is the place to be! You can come check us out for free one, two, or even three times before deciding if becoming a rotarian is right for you. So, what are you waiting for?
Oh, and did you hear? We have scholarships available for our first year members to save you up to 60%. Don’t wait, come check out a TRF Rotary meeting soon. We would love to have you!
https://fb.me/e/6ygOsUZ2B
#ServiceAboveSelf #Rotary #trfrotary
We look forward to hearing from our fellow Rotarian, Dr. Chris Mills, about the school district budget adjustments at today’s meeting.
If you aren’t a Rotarian already, today would be a great day to come check us out as a guest for free.
Please reach out with questions and happy President’s day!
Thank you to Paul Kamrud for being our guest speaker today and telling us about your and Priscilla Von Ende story opening The Piggy BBQ of Thief River Falls! We enjoyed hearing your story and look forward to enjoying more of your delicious food in the future!
Coming up next week we will have our TRF School Superintendent, Dr. Chris Mills, speaking about the ISD Budget Adjustments.
Last but not least, one of our Rotarians, Jim Dagg, is working with a friend to deliver used baseball gloves to children in Cuba. Therefore, if you have one or more laying around that isn’t being used. Please connect with Jim before this Friday to give him your old gloves so he can make sure the kids who need them in Cuba can get them.
Thank you all and we hope you have a great day!
Friendly reminder that our meeting this week is at our normal time and place= Tuesday at noon at the Legion.
We look forward to seeing our Rotarians and their guests there tomorrow for delicious meal and great conversation. https://fb.me/e/wjDjZYX03
Wild poliovirus once paralyzed 7,000 children a week. In 2023, that number was only 12 children (all in a remote area between Pakistan and Afghanistan) and it’s been 11 weeks since the last case of wild polio was reported. This progress is possible because of brilliant innovators who discovered breakthroughs and frontline heroes who made sure that solutions reached children, even in the most remote parts of the world. And so much of that was possible because of philanthropy: Rotary International, the Gates foundation, and other organizations dedicated to a future where polio is a thing of the past. (adapted from the Gates Foundation).
With polio, a 99.999% reduction is great BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH… The scourge of polio is not officially over until the world has three years of ZERO reported cases. Then, it is truly a Polio Free world.
REMINDER we will NOT be meeting at noon at the Legion on 2/6/24. Instead, we will be having a social get together at the Thief River Falls Curling Club on Friday, 2/9/24 at 5:30pm CT!
If you aren’t a Rotary member yet, that’s okay. We would love to have you as a guest for one or more of our meetings to learn more about our group and what we do within our community.
#trfrotary #TRF #Rotary #Curling #fun #Social
We appreciate your history as a Rotarian and look forward to the community and economic development you bring to TRF.
Our next meeting is at noon at the Legion on January 2nd. Our guest speaker will be Mike Reishus from North Risk Partners discussing, “Affordable Care Act… Where are we now?” We look forward to seeing our members and some new guests again in a couple of weeks.
You do not have to be a Rotary member to attend a Rotary meeting as a guest. So, come on out to a lunch meeting to learn more about us and what we do.
Until then, Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and happy New Year!
What is Rotary? https://www.rotary.org/en/about-rotary
#trf #rotary #community #EconomicDevelopment #communitydevelopment