So, in the 70s, some UN types at the World Health Organization looked at polio with an eye to eradicating it. And decided, nope. Cant get there from here. Meanwhile, some Rotarians in a Rotary club in the Philippines said to themselves, Lets start a vaccination program! And got cranked on it. They told other Rotarians, and in 1984, Carlos Canseco of Mexico, RI President, said Si! Si puede! We raised about 700 million bucks, went to the WHO (the bureaucrats, not the band) and said, Lets get rid of polio, eh? They said, Well, its your money, and your time, and youre going to do the scut work.... okay! 30 years and 2.5 billion vaccinated kids later... were *this* close to eradicating the human scourge of polio. So, whats the really amazing part of that? There are 1.2 million Rotarians, world-wide. With jobs, families, etc. Were volunteers, all. Were kicking polios ass, unpaid, with a lot of our own money, and *in our spare time*. Thats our superpower. And once we proved it was doable, were getting lots of help, to be sure, and WHO has been with us all along. It frankly wasnt doable, otherwise. How could you not want to tap into that? Dad, thanks for showing me Rotary. Dr. Bob, thanks for sponsoring me. Leavenworth Rotary Club, thanks for letting me be President, and nominating me for District Governor. And 5710 - thank you for allowing me the chance to lead you unpaid polio-killers. And Paul Harris, Silvester Schiele, Hiram Shorey, and Gus Loehr - thank you for creating Rotary from nothing, and inventing the modern service club.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 00:03:58 +0000
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