President Marv Edelstein invited Kea Gordon to lead us in “Why We are Rotarians.”

 

 

Sergeant-at-Arms Al Menard kicked off by asking for roasts and boasts.

 

Brad Weiss boasted his dental clients, who donated their gold crowns and fillings, which Brad has melted down and raised $1,193 for PolioPlus.

 

Al boasted Kea Gordon for Service Above Self, referencing her hospital stay after she completed the 106-mile fundraising bike ride for PolioPlus.

 

Elaine Clemens added Kristin Brown, who also completed the ride, to the boast.

 

Carol Pandak boasted Jim McGuire, who installed a faucet and came back for a further repair.

 

Kea thanked everyone for their support, especially Kristin, for getting her to the hospital in Arizona and Miguel Hernandez for taking care of her dog.

 

Al then explained that going forward, instead of trivia we will be taking turns telling a little about ourselves – briefly! Topics to cover could include how we became Rotarians, how we’ve used the 4-Way Test, the best part of the meetings for us, something club members don’t know about us.

 

Al led off telling about himself with a question, and we learned that there are more pet cats than pet dogs, but many more breeds of dogs than of cats. Then he told us how he got into Rotary. As a 14-year-old Boy Scout he was on his way to the Jamboree when he attended his grandfather’s Rotary Club meeting in Brooklyn. His visit was written up in the newsletter, but it took until he was 50 to join a club himself. He, his brother, and his grandfather are all past presidents of their clubs.

 

What we probably didn’t know about Al: he played competitive club volleyball for the University of Florida as a graduate student.

 

 

Don Gwinn – subbing for Susan Prout – please pay your dues!!

 

Bruce Baumberger – 1. this is the peak week for “Gift of Giving” sales. The weather will be superb Saturday for working at Anton’s and making deliveries of our fantastic products. Check your order homepage and make any corrections before Saturday. Be sure phone numbers are entered, and call to remind your customers that you are delivering.

 

2. Bruce also reminded members about the ad hoc fellowship evening on Friday, Dec. 1.  Dinner at Prairie Moon at 6 p.m. and then attend the Lakeside Singers Holiday Concert at the Music Institute of Chicago at 7:30 p.m.  Concert tickets are $25. 

 

Steve Goranson – has plenty of trail mix. See him for pickup.

 

Marisa Naujokas – we are donating hams to A Just Harvest – please fill out the form on the table; the donation will be credited to your sales.

 

Elaine Clemens – Books and Breakfast will run short of volunteers when Northwestern breaks for the holidays. Look for an email about it soon. Brad added that they will train us on the spot.

 

Marv Edelstein suggested we check out the website, which is looking great. evlrc.org/. He added that millennials are a good target group for membership – the oldest are around 37, and they are going to be as powerful a force as baby boomers in our society.

 

Kristin Brown reiterated that we have received a call for nominations survey which describes the board positions and invites our input. Please let the nominating committee know if you are interested in a role (or roles) and if there is anyone you recommend for particular roles. The survey will remain open until Saturday, Dec. 2.

 

 

 

John Osterlund introduced our speaker, “elusive” club member Carol Pandak. He mentioned that her talk is especially apropos today, as November is World Wide Rotary Foundation Month and today is Giving Tuesday. Carol has been the staff director of  PolioPlus at RI for 17 years.

 

John said he has traveled more outside the U.S. with Carol than with his wife (can he say that??!!). Rotary partners with the US Centers for Disease Control, UNICEF, WHO, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for polio eradication.

 

Carol presented an informative overview of polio, laced with photos and personal anecdotes. Polio is ancient, having been traced to early Egypt, mostly attacks children under 5, and has no cure. The vaccine is preventative only.

 

The goal of the PolioPlus campaign is the eradication of polio, through interruption of the transmission of wild polio in people and the environment (such as sewage systems). More than 2.5 billion children have been immunized, and 16.5 million cases of polio have been averted. A child can be protected against polio, which requires being reached multiple times, for about $3.00 each.

 

Because the polio virus can live briefly outside the human body, in particular in sewage systems and contaminated water, clean water systems help with eradication. The PolioPlus initiative also helps build boreholes and other methods for sanitary water. Carol drank water straight from a borehole in a refugee camp, to help demonstrate that it was pure and safe.

 

The goal for Rotary’s End Polio fundraising is to have every club donate at least $1,500, and Carol pointed out that Brad’s patients helped donate nearly that amount with their old crowns, bridges, and fillings.

 

Carol read from Evanston Mayor Steve Hagerty’s proclamation declaring October 24 World Polio Day in Evanston, and mentioned that there was much more acknowledgement of the day in the media compared to past years.

 

So far in 2017 there have only been 15 new cases of polio documented.

 

There was a lively Q&A session following the talk, where we learned:

 

1. Polio only lives in people, and outside the body for a short period of time. It is passed person to person, generally through feces and poor sanitation.

 

2. The boreholes are protected systems and built far from areas which have latrines, etc.

 

3. There are rare pockets of resistance from tribal leaders that still exist, but that is not the biggest challenge any longer. Now the main challenges are highly mobile populations, such as along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border; and conflict areas, such as NE Nigeria where Boko Haram operates.

 

4. Syria has had an outbreak of a vaccine-derived virus, which is rare and only occurs in areas of low immunization. Those cases are counted differently because they are a different strain. The vaccine-derived strain is not as serious as wild polio virus, but can mutate and cause paralysis. A thorough immunization campaign in that area combats the spread of the vaccine-derived virus just as it does the wild polio virus.

 

5. Rotary doesn’t have an official relationship with the Peace Corps, but in some areas, such as Niger, Peace Corps volunteers are very involved in the work to eradicate polio.

 

6. Rotary Clubs doing well/borehole projects are asked to mention polio eradication, but most boreholes that are part of polio eradication are paid for through PolioPlus rather than grants that would need a host country partner and take much longer.

 

7. There is a robust tracking system to discover where the virus originated when a new case is discovered. One method is healthy child sampling, because only 1 child in 200 with the virus will exhibit symptoms.

 

8. There is transition planning underway to capture lessons learned in polio eradication so that the knowledge can be used in the future for other projects. Among other initiatives, Rotary has a contract with Johns Hopkins School of Public Health to develop a curriculum based on lessons learned from PolioPlus to apply to other public health initiatives. Rotary is also developing lessons-learned documentation.

 

9. The resistance to vaccines in some segments of U.S. society is of concern, in particular because anti-vaxxer arguments online in the U.S. are picked up in Afghanistan and other places and used to resist vaccines where polio still exists. A San Diego club has done some work locally to combat misinformation.

 

10. The goal is total eradication, so Rotary won’t quit until the goal is reached.

 

Brad found $2 under his seat, to contribute to the PolioPlus campaign. Marv hopes that will encourage and remind all members to put aside $2.00/week so that we can have 100% participation – Every Rotarian Every Year.

 

 

 

C Patida Phanikullawat - our Rotary Exchange student from Thailand

Luiz Neder – Rotaractor from Brazil

 

 

Linda Gerber, November 27

Dale Bradley, November 28

 

 

Chris Joyce – 1 year