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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

October 22, 2019


Meetings

October is Economic and Community Development Month

10/24 Regular Meeting - World Polio Awareness Day Program
10/31 Halloween - Special Guest
11/7 District Governor Jim Squire, Polio Zone Coordinator Bob Hagen, Robert Hall Foundation Kickoff
11/14 Mike Stephenson will update us on County News

Our Rotary Family
BIRTHDAYS

10/1 Pat Choice
10/2 Howard Stephens
10/3 Dicky Demott
10/3 Philip Leabo, Jr.
10/5 Morgan Bailey
10/11 Nic Rahming
10/12 David Flowers
10/13 Scott Sterling
10/17 Heather Lindquist
10/23 Walter Marria, Jr.
10/24 Wilson Carraway, Jr.
10/25 Wallace Goodman
10/29 John Glenn, Jr.

WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES

10/2 Warren Ballard (9)
10/10 Frances Parker (27)
10/10 Terry Rouse (27)
10/15 Susan O'Neal (25)
10/15 Nick Murray (14)
10/16 Carol Jones (55)
10/22 Dawna Bicknell Tanner (3)
10/24 Vann Middleton (21)

YEARS OF SERVICE

10/2 Terry Rouse (11)
10/3 Julie Carter (0)
10/4 Kurt Stringfellow (1)
5 years in Rotary
10/9 Lisa Billups (5)
10/9 Arlen Yokley (5)
10/9 Shelley Zorn (5)
14 years in Rotary
10/13 Teri White (8)
10/16 Tim Filston (5)
10/16 Tom Rinehart (5)
10/16 Francis Lilly (5)
8 years in Rotary
10/20 Coy Irvin (3)
7 years in Rotary
10/27 Michele Arwood (8)
10/27 Jim Carter (8)

Rotary Online

https://thomasvillerotary.org
https://rotary6900.org/
https://rotary.org/

ROTARY CLUB OF
Thomasville


Thursdays, 12:00 pm
The Plaza Restaurant
217 South Broad Street
Thomasville, GA 31792

LEADERSHIP

President Kim Walden
President-Elect John Brown
Immediate PP Andre Marria
Vice President Terry Rouse
Treasurer Rick Piper
Treasurer Teri White
Secretary Angela Williamson
Foundation John Glenn, Jr.
Membership Adam Carvin
Foundation John Glenn, Jr.
Bulletin Editor Susan Backofen
Program Director Jay Flowers
Sergeant-at-Arms Mary Beth Donalson
Sergeant-at-Arms Danny Braddy
Public Image Mike Bixler

Students of the Month

Congratulations! Pictured above are our October Students of the Month.From Left:

Brandon Hopper is our Academic Student from Thomas County Central High.Jonathan Strickland is our Technology Student from Thomas County Central High.Representing Brookwood School is Holland Walker.Our student from Thomasville High is Ja’Keyeria Mills.Max White is our student from the Thomasville Scholar’s Academy.Congratulations again to these award recipients.Please congratulate them if you see them out and about!

Pretoria Fields Collective

Thanks for a wonderful program!

This Week's Program

Dr. Belenchia received his medical degree from University of Mississippi School of Medicine and completed his residency at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis. He specializes in pulmonary medicine and critical care services. Dr. Belenchia has been in practice for more than 20 years and is affiliated with John D. Archbold Memorial Hospital.

Rotary and Polio

Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 30 years. Our goal of ridding the world of this disease is closer than ever. As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we've reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent since our first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979.

We've helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. So far, Rotary has contributed more than $1.8 billion toward eradicating the disease worldwide.

Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. But it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.

The Plus in PolioPlus

When we talk about PolioPlus, we know we are eradicating polio, but do we realize how many added benefits the program brings? The “plus” is something else that is provided as a part of the polio eradication campaign. It might be a hand-operated tricycle or access to water. It might be additional medical treatment, bed nets, or soap. A 2010 study estimates that vitamin A drops given to children at the same time as the polio vaccine have prevented 1.25 million deaths by decreasing susceptibility to infectious diseases.

Rotarians’ contributions to PolioPlus help fund planning by technical experts, large-scale communication efforts to make people aware of the benefits of vaccinations, and support for volunteers who go door to door.

Nigeria Update

It’s been three years since health officials last reported a case of polio caused by the wild poliovirus in Nigeria. The milestone, reached on 21 August, means that it’s possible for the entire World Health Organization (WHO) African region to be certified wild poliovirus-free next year.

“Rotary, its Global Polio Eradication Initiative partners, and the Nigerian government have strengthened immunization and disease detection systems,” says Michael K. McGovern, chair of Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee. He adds: “We are now reaching more children than ever in some of the hardest-to-reach places in Nigeria.”

McGovern says Rotary members in Nigeria play an important role in ridding the country of the disease. “Rotarians have been hard at work raising awareness for polio eradication, advocating with the government, and addressing other basic health needs to complement polio eradication efforts, like providing clean water to vulnerable communities.”

Nigeria is the last country in Africa where polio is endemic. Once Africa is certified as free of the wild poliovirus, five of the WHO’s six regions will be free of wild polio. Polio remains endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which means transmission of the virus has never been stopped.

BLOOD DRIVE this week

Don't miss next weeks program!