Grant Management Seminar (GMS)

• Saturday, April 4, 10am, Live Webinar

• Find ideas and resources for holding virtual meetings, engaging through social media, and serving from afar in District 6690’s guide to Maintaining Member Engagement During the COVID-19 Pandemic. 
• Read how the Zone 34 Rotary coordinators are maintaining membership engagement (hint: ingenuity and adaptability) and download their COVID-19 response guide. 
• See how Big West Rotaract, a multidistrict information organization in the western region of North America, is connecting Rotarians and Rotaractors who are experiencing difficulties with others who can help. Look at its Rotary and Rotaract COVID-19 Mutual Aid form. 
• Read advice from Charlotte Ahlberg, past chair of the Rotary International E-Club Committee, on taking your club online. 
• Visit Rotary’s website to get more tips and guidance for holding online club meetings.

1. KEY MESSAGES 

· As the organization that first envisioned a polio-free world, Rotary has been at the center of the fight to eradicate polio for more than three decades. 

· Rotarians everywhere should be proud of the work we’ve accomplished and Rotary remains fully committed to the pursuit of a polio-free world. 

· Rotarians have contributed more than $2.1 billion dollars and countless volunteer hours to the fight to end polio. Together with our partners we immunize over 400 million children every year. 

· When Rotary formed its PolioPlus program in 1985, a thousand children were being paralyzed by polio every single day in 125 polio-endemic countries. Today, just two countries continue to report cases of wild poliovirus: Afghanistan and Pakistan. 

· Because of the efforts of Rotary and our partners, nearly 19 million people who would otherwise have been paralyzed are walking, and more than 1.5 million people are alive who would otherwise have died. 

· We’ve made incredible progress and we’re optimistic that we will succeed in this effort, but eradicating a disease is hard work, and getting to zero cases requires sufficient funding, innovative strategies, perseverance and the commitment of every single Rotary member. 

· We have an opportunity to make history by ending polio, which will be only the second human disease to ever be eradicated. But the window of opportunity to achieve a polio-free world will not remain open forever. The time for urgent action is now. 

· Through the extension of our funding partnership, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will match 2-to-1 every dollar that Rotary commits to polio eradication, up to $50 million per year. This will amount to $450 million for polio eradication efforts over a three-year period. 

· It is vital that we continue raising $50 million a year for polio and continue to raise awareness by keeping polio eradication in the spotlight with our clubs, in our communities, and with our government officials. 

· Like any big initiative, we know the final phase of polio eradication will be the most difficult, but we also know that eradication is achievable and we have the collective strength to finish the job. 

· During this challenging final phase of polio eradication, we are calling on our 1.2 million members to redouble their commitment and continue to persevere until the day that we fulfill our promise of a polio-free world. 

ADDENDUM ON CIRCULATING VACCINE-DERIVED POLIOVIRUS (cVDPV2) 

The polio case numbers used by Rotary, refer exclusively to cases of polio caused by wild poliovirus in Pakistan and Afghanistan, unless otherwise specified. For example, when we say that there were 174 cases of polio in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2019, this means “174 cases of polio caused by the wild poliovirus.”

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: VACCINE-DERIVED POLIO

How do VDPVs circulate? 

· Circulating VDPVs occur when polio immunization activities are poorly conducted, or children are inaccessible and not enough children are reached with vaccine to ensure full immunity. As a result, a population is left under-immunized. 

· cVDPVs can occur if the weakened strain of the virus originally contained in OPV is allowed to circulate among an under-immunized population for a long time, allowing the virus to regain strength and genetically revert into a form that can cause paralysis. 

· If a population is fully immunized, they will be protected against both vaccine-derived and wild polioviruses. 

Forty-two volunteers representing the Rotary Club of Scottsdale Arizona and members of Scottsdale Preparatory High School's Rotary Interact Club joined forces to complete a community service project with Arizona Helping Hands.  The mission of Arizona Helping Hands is to provide essential needs for children in foster care (over 14,000 kids in Arizona) through programs promoting safety, permanency and health.   

The Rotary Club of Scottsdale's Foundation provided $3,000 in support of this project and the volunteers provided much needed smiles for kids by making Birthday Bags for 40 children in foster care.  Each volunteer was given a foster child's wish list.   Arizona Helping Hands' warehouse in Northeast Phoenix has beds, cribs, clothing, backpacks and school supplies, toiletries, and toys from ongoing toy drives.