First Woman to Preside over RI (Aired on November 22, 2020)

RadioRotary is especially delighted to be able to interview Jennifer Jones, who for the Rotary Year 2022-23 will be president of Rotary International (RI), the first woman in the 115-year history of Rotary to achieve that high office. Until a little more than 30 years ago, there were no women officially in Rotary—a club in California that accepted women in 1977 was dropped from RI for this violation of rules. But ten years later the US Supreme Court ruled that Rotary could not reject members on the basis of gender, and US clubs began to admit women. The Canadian courts also recognized that Rotary clubs should be gender neutral and, in 1989, RI agreed, allowing clubs around the world to admit women members. President-nominee Jones, from the Windsor-Roseland Rotary Club (which spans Canada and the US), joined Rotary in 1997 and has been active at club and district levels ever since, becoming a director and a vice-president of RI. In her RadioRotary interview she tells her story and discusses how the Rotary Polio-Plus experience has provided thousands of workers who have been dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. She reveals that RI has officially added protection of the environment to the six areas of focus and speaks of her interest in making the young-persons Rotary, Rotaract, a gateway to the full Rotary experience.

Learn more:
President-Nominee Jennifer E. Jones: https://www.rotary.org/en/jennifer-e-jones-makes-history-becomes-first-woman-named-rotary-president-nominee
Rotary International: https://www.rotary.org/en
History of Women in Rotary: https://www.rotary.org/en/history-women-rotary
Windsor-Roseland Rotary Club: https://www.roselandrotary.com/

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November 27, 2020 · Posted in Environment, Health, PolioPlus, Rotary International, Women  

Rotary’s Work in Eradicating Polio (Aired on October 25, 2020)

RadioRotary is visited, via Zoom, by 33-year Rotarian and 7210 Past District Governor (2006-07) Carole Tjoa, a member of the North Rockland Rotary Club and currently the District Polio Plus Chair. Mrs. Tjoa tells the story of how Rotary, when polio was completely eliminated from the U.S. in 1979, took the vaccines that stopped the disease to the Philippines and on September 29 began its long association with polio eradication. Rotary spent about $760,000 to immunize 6million children in the Philippines; polio was then often called “juvenile paralysis” because its primary victims were often less than 5 years old. The success of the Philippine project led Rotary to launch Polio Plus in 1985 with the goal of worldwide elimination. Soon joined by the CDC, WHO, and UNICEF and later by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the immunization program since then has spent $10 billion to immunize more than 2.5 billion children, eliminating wild polio virus from everywhere but Pakistan and Afghanistan, which continue to have fewer than 200 cases annually between them. IN 1988 when Global Polio Eradication started, there had been 350,000 cases. Listen and learn more, both about polio and the remarkable life of Rotarian Carole Tjoa.

Learn more:
Global Polio Eradication Initiative: https://polioeradication.org/
PolioPlus: https://www.endpolio.org/
The Plus in PolioPlus: https://www.rotary.org/en/plus-polioplus
The Rotary Foundation: https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=4553
Rotary District 7210: https://rotarydistrict7210.org/
North Rockland Rotary Club: https://northrocklandrotary.org/

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October 29, 2020 · Posted in Global Polio Initiative, Health, International Programs, PolioPlus  

RI President 2020-21 Holger Knaack (Aired on August 1 and 2, 2020)

RadioRotary welcomes Rotary International (RI) President Holger Knaack (via Zoom), a member since 1992 of the Rotary Club of Herzogtum Lauenburg-Mölln, Germany. He is proud to be the first RI president from Germany. President Knaack has held many posts in Rotary from Club President and District Governor to Director and Treasurer of Rotary International. His special interests have been the youth-exchange program and Rotaract, the Rotary adjunct for young adults between the age of 18 and 30. He and his wife have not just supported youth- exchange; they have hosted some 40 students themselves. He says “Rotary is the greatest organization in the world” because of its work in fighting disease, promoting peace, encouraging literacy, and aiding disaster recovery with ShelterBox. Because of the COVID-19 situation, he is the first RI president who cannot travel to Rotary Clubs all over the world, but he visits thousands of Rotarians via Zoom every day.

Learn more:
RI Theme 2020-21: https://www.rotary.org/en/holger-knaack-sees-opportunities-rotary-change-thrive
Rotary International: https://www.rotary.org/en
Rotary Youth Exchange: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_Youth_Exchange
Rotaract on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rotaractor/
ShelterBox: https://www.shelterboxusa.org/

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August 9, 2020 · Posted in Disaster Relief, Peace, PolioPlus, Rotary International, Youth  

Hamburg Rotary International Convention, Part 3 (Aired October 26 and 27, 2019)

The 2019 Rotary International Convention in Hamburg, Germany, was covered by
RadioRotary interviewers; this is the third report on some of what they found. A Rotarian
from the Netherlands told RadioRotary about efforts of her organization to reduce
human trafficking with education and empowerment of youth. Another NGO (non-
governmental organization) called Medair works to provide quick relief and shelter in
cases of disasters or civil conflict. A Rotarian physician from Johns Hopkins in Maryland
is part of the Rotary Action Group (RAG) on Mental Health Initiatives, working primarily
to reduce high suicide rates in Lithuania and India. A Rotarian from Zambia describes
efforts to provide new professions for commercial sex workers; he was promoting the
Rotarian shirts made by former sex workers who now operate sewing machines. And,
closer to home, Rotarians from Media, Pennsylvania (Jeffrey Cadorette), and Millbrook,
New York (Cindie Kish), tell about the polio eradication program known as “Drop to
Zero” and the possible drop to ground level from the skies for six Rotarians, including
Cindie and Jeffrey, if goals are met.

Learn more:
Just Ask (human trafficking prevention): http://justaskprevention.org/
Medair: https://us.medair.org/
Rotary Action Group on Mental Health Initiatives: https://ragonmentalhealth.org/
Rotary Shirts, Hats, and Aprons made by former sex workers: https://clubrunner.blob.core.windows.net/00000006774/en-ca/files/homepage/the-kwenuha-women-s-association-rotary-shirt/Rotary-Livingstone-Catalogue.pdf

Polio Drop to Zero: https://www.endpolio.org/drop-to-zero-a-major-global-polio-event-to-be-held-at-the-rotary-convention
Rotary Zones 24-32: https://portal.clubrunner.ca/50077

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November 4, 2019 · Posted in Business Assistance, Disaster Relief, Global Polio Initiative, Human Trafficking, International Programs, Mental Health, PolioPlus  

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