Raising
funds for the Rotary International Polio Eradication Fundraising
Campaign (PEFC) can never be a solitary effort of a
single club or a single district. In 2002-2003, our
club has been more actively involved in the campaign
in District 3450 through the participation of Rtn Anthony Chan as Chair of the PolioPlus
Subcommittee for the District, and helped raised over
US$1 million for PEFC. We also read with interest the
efforts of fellow Rotarians in RI reports and
publications, such as the featured story "March
on Polio" published in The Rotarian in March, 2003.
To our
pleasant surprise, one of the Rotarian clubs
mentioned in the story made contact with us on the
Internet in June 2003. Allison Field, PP (2001-2002) of the Exeter Rotary Club in Exeter, New Hampshire,
USA, District 7780, wrote a email to our
Secretary Rtn K P Lei requesting info of our club and asked
about the effects of SARS for her club's toastmaster
program. K P responded enthusiastically with a quick synopsis of our club's history and
activities
over the years. It also came to the attention of Rtn Perry Yu, the International Service Director,
who quickly recalled reading about Exeter in The
Rotarian earlier. Our two club's common efforts
in PolioPlus must have been the secret link bringing
our two clubs together.
Our
club's efforts in PolioPlus fundraising got a real
boost by receiving support and solidarity from a
"virtual sister club" from afar. And not so
far, after all, to quote Allison:
It is a wonderful example of how
small this large world becomes when we are united
in a common effort. Rotary gives us
constant opportunities to come together as a
people not separated by boundaries of nationality,
culture, race or religion. Your web site made it
very easy for me to reach members of your club
and the response has been wonderful.
We are
more than happy to highlight Allison and her Exeter
Rotary Club's experience in fundraising for PolioPlus
and share it with fellow Rotarians.
Extracted
from The Rotarian, March 2003, Vol 181, No. 9:
Banking
on Rotary
When
Allison Field, past president of the Rotary Club
of Exeter, N.H., USA, recognized that 17 of her
coworkers at Ocean National Bank were Rotarians,
she saw the opportunity for a joint effort. She
spoke with the bank president, Russell Cole, a
member of the Rotary Club of Kennebunk, Maine,
and he agreed to donate $100 to the PEFC for each
Rotarian employee. In September, he also put up a
polio display in 23 branches of the bank in Maine
and New Hampshire, inviting customers to donate.
"I
knew that this year was going to be very
important for making Rotary's goal of polio
eradication become a reality," says Field.
"I decided to lever-age corporations as they
are a different resource for Rotarians to
tap."
As
news spread about Ocean National's donation,
other local banks within District 7780 began
duplicating the effort. Past District Governor
Marie Williams, a member of the Rotary Club of
Kittery, Maine, asked the president of Kennebunk
Savings Bank, where she's a manager, for a
similar donation. He agreed to contribute $500
toward the PEFC for each club with a Kennebunk
Savings employee as a member, for a total of
$4,500.
Peter
Hamblett, a member of the Rotary Club of Dover,
N.H., and president of five branches of Federal
Savings Bank, also hung posters and donated
$1,000 to PEFC for his five Rotarian employees.
The
district has committed to raising more than
$325,000 and as of the end of December, had sent
in $75,000. "This project has not just
raised money, though," Field says. "It
has raised aware-ness. People come into the bank,
look at the poster [of a child disabled by polio]
and say, 'I didn't know polio was still out
there. I thought it was gone."
(This extract copyright (c) 2003 Rotary
International)
1999-2005 Rotary Club of City Northwest
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