District 7780 - Speakers Bureau

THE MELINDA & BILL GATES FOUNDATION GIVES IT'S LARGEST MATCHING GRANT - EVER!

TO POLIOPLUS!

By now, many of you have heard the wonderful news – The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has partnered with RI in support of our top goal of a polio-free world with a challenge grant of $100 million which Rotary will match, dollar for dollar!!! This is the largest challenge grant ever given by the Gates Foundation and is the largest grant ever received by Rotary in its 102-year history.

This grant comes at a time when RI has been struggling to get the word out that we need to FINISH our goal of a polio-free world. Many of us thought the job was over in 2005. We were 99% there, but we desperately need to complete the mission. This last 1% to be conquered is, of course, the most difficult. Geographical isolation, poor public infrastructure, armed conflict, cultural barriers, and other factors all contribute to the difficulties of getting the job done. Polio is still a threat to all of us as long as the virus continues to attack our children. Our world is a different world that it was in 1985 when this program was initiated. The wild poliovirus is only a plane ride away.

Please, please, all of you reading this, bring the subject to the attention of your own club’s boards. Think also about what you can do as individuals to help us reach this awesome goal. The Foundation has to come up with our side of the bargain - $100 million – to make this happen. We need to designate a portion of our Foundation giving to PolioPlus Partners as we accept this historic challenge.

Joan Correll, PolioPlus Sub Committee chair

P.S. I would love to come to your Club and give a presentation on this exciting news and PolioPlus. You can reach me @ joanc@correllassociates.com.

Your Rotary Foundation – Will It Be Here Tomorrow?

Rotarians interested in “making a difference” in their community or in another community around the world often look to Our Rotary Foundation for help. Perhaps you have run into an exceptional local student interested in seeking graduate study in a foreign land as an Ambassadorial Scholar or who might be interested in Our Rotary Foundation’s Peace Scholar Program. Or maybe you have met a member of a Group Study Team (GSE) who is willing to work with your club on a matching grant bringing water to a third world community in another part of the world. Or perhaps your community wants to start a soccer league for kids with disabilities under a District Simplified Grant (DSG). All of these are things you can do with Our Rotary Foundation. Exciting stuff with great opportunities for “Service Above Self”.

But what would happen if you didn’t consider contributing each year to our “Annual Program Fund?” Thousands would not benefit from Group Study Exchange; millions would not benefit from Rotary’s Health, Hunger and Humanity Grants; thousands would face the day without drinkable water; and over 500,000 children would face life with polio. You do make a difference and all Rotarians need to contribute annually to Our Rotary Foundation!

Bob Laux, PDG of Bethel, our District’s Annual Giving Chair this year wants to challenge your Club in a special way. Hear about what Our Foundation can do for you, with your support. Schedule him for your Club meeting or event to speak on Our Rotary Foundation.

Bob can be reached at 207-824-4500 (w) 207-824-3777 (h) or 207-381-1000 (c) or bob@wildriverrealty.com

Guatemala Literacy Project

The Guatemala Literacy Project has made a huge difference in the lives of the children of rural Guatemala. Currently, the GLP provides textbooks for about ten percent of the secondary schools in the country. The results of the project show that school enrollment has increased by about 50% in the schools where there are textbooks. The real results, however, is reflected in the pride on the faces of the students and their parents.

If you would like to learn more about the Guatemala Literacy Project, I am more than eager to share my experiences and stories. This is truly an amazing project that is making a significant difference in the lives of so many people.

Carolyn Johnson

Rotary Club of Yarmouth

Cfj2@mac.com

Matthew "Matt" Mower serves as a District Executive for the Pine Tree Council, Boy Scouts of America. Matt serves Abnaki District, which supports the Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting and Venturing programs in an area including most of Androscoggin and Oxford Counties. Matt works with volunteers to ensure that as many local youth as possible have the

chance to join Scouting and that they receive a quality program. Matt also serves as the Camp Director for Camp William Hinds Resident Boy Scout Camp in Raymond, Maine.

Matt, who is a native of Greene, Maine, is a graduate of the University of Southern Maine with an undergraduate degree in Political Science. He and his wife Erin live in Lewiston.

Matthew Mower
Abnaki District Executive/
Director of Camp William Hinds
Pine Tree Council, BSA
131 Johnson Rd
Portland, ME 04102

Office: (207) 797-5252 ext 33
Home: (207) 782-5837
Fax: (207) 797-7183
Email: mmower@bsamail.org

I am available and interested in being a guest speaker at Rotary Clubs within an hour drive of my home in Dover, New Hampshire. I have spoken at local Rotary meetings a few times over the years. I am a professional magician and speaker and would talk briefly about the programs I present to:

People find my presentations humorous, entertaining, informative, and often useful. I can adapt the program to fit individual clubs' formats. I have several dates open this winter and in the fall. My contact information is below.

My name is Leon Tranchemontagne, a proud Rotarian of the Biddeford-Saco Rotary Club and a Paul Harris Fellow with twenty years of perfect attendance. I have addressed over thirty Clubs in District 7780 regarding organ donors. I am a recipient of a liver transplant and my goal is to address every Club in our District. I cite the dire need and waiting period of life sustaining organs. When I began my presentations two years ago there was a little over 84,000 Americans whose life was dependent on receiving a transplant. This month the figure has risen to over 97,000 individuals on the Organ Donor List. I expound on the psychological effects on being on that waiting list.

The presentation is geared for approximately 20 minutes with time included for a question and answer period. Being presently retired, I am available to stay after the meeting if there are more questions. April is organ donor month.

Safe Passage, the educational support program that is making it possible for 540 children who live in the surrounding area of the Guatemala City garbage dump to attend school and build a future for themselves and their families, has been the recipient of several Rotary Foundation grants and multiple volunteer opportunities for 7780 District Rotarians.

Any of us who have volunteered at Safe Passage would be happy to speak to your club about our experiences and how you and your club can get involved; the person with the most up-to-date and ongoing knowledge of the program is Rachel Meyn, Sponsor and Outreach Coordinator for the program.

Rachel has been part of the program on a day-to-day basis for over five years now. She divides her time between Safe Passage’s Maine headquarters and Guatemala itself. As she has been instrumental in “growing” the program, she has also witnessed how education is changing the lives of the children and their families who live on and make their living from the Guatemala City dump. Her story is a compelling one of the power of literacy and how Rotarian dollars are truly saving lives.

In May the Freeport Club had the pleasure of hearing Phil Bailey from Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) speak. This is a Maine-based organization. SHI is a non-profit NGO based in Surry, Maine that teaches people in third-world countries sustainable farming techniques and much more. They are currently working in Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panamá and have some incredible success stories to tell. There is quite a bit more information on their Web site at www.sustainableharvest.org.

It’s an impressive organization that I’m sure other clubs in our district would be delighted to hear about and have the opportunity to support.