Today is the final day to get a “centennial discount” registration for next summer’s Rotary International Convention in Atlanta.
While it isn’t the centennial of the convention, it will be the centennial of the creation of the Rotary Foundation. Thus, convention organizers and Foundation staff are beating the drums early to get Rotarians to sign up for the June 10-14, 2017, event.
The earlybird price is $265. By comparison, registration for the recent convention in Seoul, Korea, ranged from $310 to $440, depending on when the registration was made.
Registration details for 2017 are available, along with lots of other information, on the event website.
SEOUL, KOREA — A report released at this year’s World Water Summit, held here to coincide with the annual Rotary International Convention, highlighted the progress being made:
Over the past 25 years, more than 2.5 billion people gained access to improved drinking water, and 2 billion who did not have adequate sanitation now do.
Child deaths from water-related diseases dropped from 1.5 million to just over 600,000.
The United Nations Millennium Development Goals’ target for clean drinking water was met five years ahead of schedule.
But, for the 1.8 billion people whose drinking water remains contaminated and the 2.4 billion without access to proper sanitation, progress still is too slow, said Vanessa Tobin, director of water and sanitation for Catholic Relief Services and one of the event’s main speakers.
The water summit, the eighth convened by the Water and Sanitation Rotarian Action Group, seeks to match industry expertise with Rotary service projects.
“We need a movement,” Tobin declared, saying it should follow Rotary’s polio eradication model. “Polio was universal and everyone had one aim: eliminate every case in the world. We need to set a goal that by 2030 every child has safe water and sanitation for life. Water and sanitation must be at the top of each country’s development agenda.”
Gary White, chief executive and co-founder of Water.org, agreed and told attendees thatRead More »
UN secretary-general addresses RI convention in Seoul.
• From the UN News Centre
SEOUL, KOREA — United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised the “invaluable partnership” between Rotary International and the UN, telling delegates gathered here for RI’s annual international conference that Rotarians had been instrumental in working with the UN to defeat polio.
“Our common activities are saving lives. And they are based on a spirit of trust,” he said. “My main message is simple. Just four words: ‘Thank you very much.’ You help the United Nations reach our goals. And, you help the world understand the United Nations.”
Noting that Rotarians had even helped with the founding of the UN, participating in the San Francisco Conference from which it emerged, Ban said that throughout the history of both organizations, Rotarians have been “using their time, funds and energy to help our world,” and he specifically noted their “monumental contributions” to eradicating polio.
“The United Nations is proud to be your partner in ending this debilitating disease. When Rotary International launched its campaign in 1985, more than 350,000 children were paralyzed by polio every year,” Ban said, underscoring that individual Rotarians have generously contributed an astounding $1.2 billion to the campaign. Moreover, they have engaged donor governments to secure an additional $6 billion in funds.
“And, Rotarians are on the frontlines of this fight. They travel to communities. They speak to parents. They spread hope. And, they contribute to a safer world for everyone. I congratulate Rotary International for helping reduce polio by 99%” said the UN chief, emphasizing that from hundreds of thousands of cases each year, now there are fewer than two dozen.
Africa is polio free, he continued, and noted that while Afghanistan and Pakistan still are affected, the organizations are working hard to help them stamp out polio.
“Rotary’s PolioPlus program has helped to avert massive suffering. Some 16 million people who would have been paralyzed by polio can walk. Around a million and a half children are alive today thanks to PolioPlus,” he explained, hailing the program’s “immeasurable” results, in both human and financial terms.
“We are all anxiously waiting for ‘Case Zero,’ [but] until that day comes, we have to redouble our efforts. Our partnership is stronger than polio, but we must keep up the fight. Please continue to raise your voices, hold your governments accountable and campaign hard until we end this disease.”
Ban stressed that the campaign is difficult and even, in some instances, dangerous, as any frontline workers risk their lives to vaccinate children. Others have been killed in the effort, he said, paying tribute to “these anti-polio champions” by leaving a polio-free world to future generations
Organizers are urging Rotarians to take advantage of a special early registration rate of $265 for the Rotary International Convention. No, not the one coming up in Seoul, South Korea. The one coming up in 2017 in Atlanta!
That’s where RI will be celebrating the centennial of The Rotary Foundation. It was at the 1917 Rotary Convention — also in Atlanta — that then RI President Arch Klumph announced his dream of creating a Rotary endowment fund. Next year, we will celebrate the good work Rotarians have done over the past 100 years because one man dared to dream.
Says the Foundation announcement, “We’re offering the special rate in honor of Foundation visionary Arch Klumph and his birthday of June 6, as well as the $26.50 first contribution to the endowment fund that grew into The Rotary Foundation.
“Join us in Atlanta. Mark your calendar to take advantage of the special registration rate of $265, available only from this Saturday, May 28, through June 6 by clicking here.”
The 2017 convention, RI’s 108th, is scheduled for June 10-14 in the Georgia city. Click here for full details on the event.
That’s where RI will be celebrating the centennial of The Rotary Foundation. It was at the 1917 Rotary Convention — also in Atlanta — that then RI President Arch Klumph announced his dream of creating a Rotary endowment fund. Next year, we will celebrate the good work Rotarians have done over the past 100 years because one man dared to dream.
Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club 