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Dear Fellow Rotarians, Rotaractors, and friends,
Public health is on everyone’s mind due to the global pandemic
that still threatens the safety of ourselves and our loved ones.
In a sense, COVID-19 has made all of us much more aware of the roles
and responsibilities of medical professionals than we were before
we had to wear masks and maintain social distance. In addition,
while moving through this pandemic, we have also learned about the
role we can play in keeping others safe.
December is Disease Prevention and Treatment Month
in Rotary. The pandemic unfortunately has schooled most people on
the toll that disease takes on our communities. But fighting disease
is something that Rotarians around the world have been doing for
decades. In fact, it is one of Rotary’s seven areas of focus.
As Rotarians, we believe that good health and well-being
is a human right — even though 400 million people across the
globe do not have access to essential health services. The work
we do in establishing clinics, eye hospitals, and blood banks, as
well as in building infrastructure for medical facilities in underserved
communities, all returns to a central belief that access, prevention,
and education are the keys to stopping deadly outbreaks that harm
the most vulnerable.
My exposure to health work began with my Rotary club,
Calcutta-Mahanagar. There, among other things, I helped pioneer
a program called Saving Little Hearts that over the years has provided
more than 2,500 free heart surgeries for children from India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Nepal, and Africa. Before the program went international,
it started locally with the goal of performing just six surgeries
within our community. Today, our goal is to complete another 20,000
surgeries over the next five years.
The world relies on Rotary to tackle challenges like
these and to set an example for others. Over the past decade, medical
professionals and government workers have provided free health services
to 2.5 million people in 10 countries during Family Health Days,
which are organized by Rotarians around the world. Similar health
camps in India also provide thousands of surgeries to those in need.
Medical missions from India to Africa each year are an excellent
example of hands-on service in disease prevention and treatment.
Rotary members can also get involved at a local level; clubs in
the United States and Mexico, for example, fund a free health clinic
in Guerrero, a small town in Mexico.
And of course, our effort to eradicate polio is by
far the best story in civil-society health care.
This month, think about how your club can focus on
preventing and fighting disease. This is the time to take a bigger,
better, bolder approach through both club and district projects
that can impact more people. Re-evaluate where you are with your
goals. Create strategies that can sustain change over years, not
months.
Everyone deserves a long, healthy life. When you Serve
to Change Lives, your actions today can help extend the lives of
others.
Shekhar Mehta
President 2021-22
Trustee Chair's Message - December
2021
John F.
Germ
Trustee Chair 2021-22
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Trustee chair's
message
December marks a special time of year. It’s
a time of holiday gatherings and family reunions (COVID-19
permitting). It’s also the halfway point of
the Rotary year, when we look back on our goals, reflecting
on the what and the why of our work.
First, the what. This year, to stay
on course to reach our goal, we need to raise $50
million for PolioPlus, with a 2-to-1 match by the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation bringing the total
to $150 million. To keep our Rotary Foundation programs
running strong, we set a goal to raise $125 million
for the Annual Fund. We also aim to raise $95 million
for the Endowment Fund in outright gifts and new commitments,
and a further $40 million for other outright gifts.
So how do we reach our grand total of
$410 million? We must remember that in all great endeavors,
including Rotary, we are part of a TEAM: Together,
Everyone Achieves More.
You can’t have a great team without
great PEOPLE. P stands for pride in our organization,
our achievements, and our potential. E is our empathy
for others, which we transform into service. O has
two parts: the tremendous opportunities to make a
difference that Rotary has granted us, and an obligation
to pull others up and to increase our ranks. Our second
P is for perseverance, helping us stick to our goals,
like polio eradication, when the going gets tough.
L stands for leadership, and E for enthusiasm —
the fuel of Rotary.
While we are revisiting our goals, we
also need to remember the why. For me, this needs
little explanation. Why wouldn’t you help expectant
mothers and their children survive and thrive by supporting
a Rotary Foundation grant? And why wouldn’t
you initiate programs to help preserve the environment,
our cherished home? The pandemic has only renewed
my conviction that life is precious, and we must seize
every opportunity to enhance the lives of others.
You are one of the PEOPLE on our TEAM.
I encourage you this month to join other leaders who
participate in Rotary’s strong tradition of
philanthropy by making a gift to The Rotary Foundation.
It is the season of giving, and every gift counts.
Please contribute any amount that feels right by 31
December, and your gift will keep on giving in 2022
and for years to come. There are many ways to give,
as a club or an individual — why not set up
a giving plan?
The Rotary Foundation offers us countless
opportunities to help make a difference in the world.
Let us never squander those opportunities, nor take
our Foundation for granted.
Judy and I wish you the happiest of
holidays.
http://www.endpolio.org/donate.
John F. Germ
Trustee Chair 2021-22
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