Southington Rotary Community Room...

The Rotary Club of Southington donated monies to the new Southington Community Services building for renovations and upgrades on their multi purpose community room. The room will be named Southington Rotary Community Room. Below, Southington Rotary members present the room plaque to Janet Mellon, Director of Community Services.


Pictured from left to right: Victoria Triano (President, Rotary Club of Southington), Janet Mellon (Director, Southington Community Services), Ginny Roy (Public Relations, Southington Rotary Club).

Rotary, Gates give funds to fight polio...

By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical

LONDON - The global campaign to wipe out polio is getting a $200 million donation from Rotary International and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, at a time when some worry the effort will fail in the final stages. Monday's announcement by both organizations came after nearly two decades of work against polio, an infectious disease that can paralyze and sometimes kill. "This investment is precisely the catalyst we need as we intensify the push to finish polio," Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, said in a statement.

Though polio incidence has been slashed by more than 99 percent worldwide since the eradication effort began in 1988, the virus remains entrenched in Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan. Two deadlines to eliminate polio have been missed: 2000 and 2005. More than $5 billion has been poured into the effort, and some experts worry that unless the job is finished soon, the world community's money and patience may run out.

"They're on a heroic task, but money is not the only problem," said Dr. Donald A. Henderson, who headed WHO's smallpox successful eradication campaign. "We've got to soldier on. We need more money. Look at all we've accomplished. But how do we get to the endpoint?" Henderson and other experts worry that major obstacles to vaccinating children will be harder to overcome than filling a funding gap.

In countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Congo, where there are armed conflicts and weak health services, it has been extremely difficult to reach the high vaccination levels needed to wipe out polio. And in India, the vaccine is less effective, due to poor sanitation and the fact that children are often infected with intestinal viruses.

Experts are also concerned about the use of the oral vaccine, which contains live polio virus. In rare instances, the virus can mutate into a dangerous form capable of causing the disease. The donation from Rotary International and the Gates Foundation, to be paid over three years, will largely go to immunization campaigns, surveillance and public education. "This amount of money can make quite a big difference," said Nicholas Grassly, of Imperial College, London, who advises WHO on polio issues. "We can build on the gains that have been made this year."

WHO reports significant progress against polio in India and Nigeria, where 85 percent of the world's polio cases occur. Last year at this time, Nigeria had 958 polio cases. This year, only 226 were reported. Still, the $200 million falls short of the $650 million that WHO says will be needed by 2009. Eradicating polio will ultimately cost $1 billion more, said Dr. David Heymann, WHO's top polio official.

Joint Rotary letter

Message from our president regarding food drive...

Hello members,

We had an awesome open forum today and as promised I am sending a reminder to all of you. If you recall Vicky informed us of the needs of Janet Mellon at Social Services. The club decided that in lieu of selling duck race tickets we will make a $250 donation. We also decided to do a food drive to stock the shelves so please bring in a non-perishable food item or 2 or 3 next week (Oct 3) and Vicky will deliver.

Thanks for your support and I look forward to seeing you all next week.

Carol Grant

Social Services Christmas Party

The Southington Social Services party was held on 12/16/05 with the Rotary & Interact clubs providing/serving the food. Children who attended were able to "shop" for presents for their parents.

Rotarians Audrey Brown, Dolores Fanelli and Dave Zoni help prepare the food and are, therefore, WAY too busy to look up for this photo op.

Southington High School Interact Club

Southington High School Interact Club

Rotary clubs get together on centennial parade float

Float pictures and thank you letter from Ginny Roy, committee chair -

Pictures posted by Bristol Rotary

Article by Ken DiMauro, The Southington Citizen

In celebration of Rotary International's 100th anniversary, three area Rotary clubs have joined to sponsor and build a float that will be featured in this Sunday's Mum Festival Parade in downtown Bristol and the Apple Harvest Festival Parade on Oct. 2 in Southington. Dolly Chamberlin, former president of the Plainville Rotary Club and member of the club's parade float committee, said Rotarians in Plainville, Southington and Bristol have been working on the float, which is being stored at Trumbull Restoration Co. in Plainville.

Ginny Roy, chairwoman of the Southington Rotary Club's Centennial Committee, said it was her group's idea to build the float and the members invited Plainville and Bristol to participate. She said the anniversary float was a good way to publicize Rotary and its 100th birthday.

Chamberlin said the three groups have been planning the float since April. Use of a trailer was donated. The float will feature a large mockup of a four-tiered cake. Rotary International is marking its 100th anniversary and Plainville's Rotary is celebrating its 50th birthday, she said.

In addition to the cake and a large banner with the organization's motto, "Service Above Self," the float will have items of note from the three towns, including chrysanthemums and apples. The mums will be placed on the float before the Mum Parade and baskets of apples will be on the float for the Apple Harvest Festival. Covered bales of hay will be at the base of the float. Chamberlin said the float has room for three or four Rotarians, too. - complete article

Interact Club car wash- Saturday, May 14

The Interact kids will be doing a car wash this Saturday from 11 to 3 at Burger King on Queen Street and MacDonald's on Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike. I know the weather is supposed to be marginal with possible rain, but if you get a chance, please drop by one of those sites and support this fundraiser. Thanks.

jryan

Centennial Community Project

Based on suggested ideas from the Rotary International 100 Ways to Celebrate, the Centennial Committee selected the Memory Garden at Mulberry Gardens as its choice for a Centennial Community Project. The project is to complete Phase II of a garden designed specifically to meet the needs of Alzheimer’s and memory care population. More....