How wonderful it is that month after month we have something to celebrate! This month it may seem oddly self-serving, but I certainly am pleased to do so for this. My home club, the Rotary Club of Roswell, has exceeded the $2 million mark for total giving all time. Roswell is the second club in the district to attain that level. The first to do so, very appropriately, was the Rotary Club of Atlanta, as they are the oldest club in Georgia.

One of the areas I am most pleased with in that $2 million dollar figure is how nicely it is split between dollars to the Annual Fund versus the dollars to Polio Plus. Of the $2 million dollar figure just north of $480,000 has landed in Polio Plus. As most of you know, the Polio Plus program in general, and Polio eradication specifically, is a true passion of mine. So, to have such a nice portion working in that arena is particularly comforting to me. As the District Foundation Chair, my role is to help raise and track the funding coming into the district. Both sides have such significant effects on the world. The Polio dollars receive a $2 to every $1 raised match by the Gates Foundation to continue the fight to eradicate Polio from the world, whereas half of every dollar that comes into the Annual Fund ends up coming back to the district three years later in the form of Global Grant dollars. Therefore, both sides of the equation are vital to the role Rotary plays, both worldwide and locally.

As our Rotary year winds down, it is good to keep in mind the wonderful ways our Foundation reaches different areas of the world and why it is so important to finish the year strong. Here are a few facts for you to keep at the forefront of your thoughts when considering a donation. Did you know that it only takes $3 as an average cost to fully protect a child against polio? $50 maintains water filters that help fight waterborne illnesses and $200 to develop work opportunities by replacing livestock for people impacted by disasters.

Let’s look at what the dollars were in 2024/25 to see where we should be headed in 2025/26 as this year ends off in a few months. In 2024/25 we had 468 district grants amounting to $29 million dollars in program awards. There were 74 disaster recovery grants amounting to 1.9 million dollars and 1,423 global grants awarded amounting to $88.2 million dollars. In addition, there was one program of scale grant for $2 million dollars. All those figures come from our Rotary International website. The RI website is a place I encourage all Rotarians to look at from time to time to see the impact of your dollars.

There are always great articles to peruse that are not only uplifting but invigorating and should be pointed out to any potential prospect thinking of joining Rotary. It will give them a very good feeling about the organization they are thinking of joining. For instance, there is a wonderful article about the relief aid brought by Rotary after a devastating earthquake in Turkey. The article takes the reader through the continuing efforts made by Rotary that the people of Turkey see as the only path out of the devastation. You’ll find another article on how Rotary is affecting the education system in Panama classrooms and how Rotarian efforts have raised the technology level of the classroom learning in the country. Examples go on and on.

In the end, it is hard not to carry a bit of pride in oneself, but more importantly in the organization we are all a part of - an organization called Rotary. All of you reading this article now are a part of that legacy. Keep pushing to close this year off strong, strong for all the people we serve in our local communities and around the world!

If I can personally assist you in any way, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me via cell or email. I’m here to help and together we will….Unite for good!