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 Welcome to

The Rotary Club of the Stroudsburgs

Rotary at work, January, 2012: Beating down polio

Rotarians think big.

Rotary has met a fundraising goal early, and it was a huge goal in support of a huge project: Eliminating polio worldwide.

One of the goals of The Rotary Club of the Stroudsburgs, and of every Rotary club in the world, is eradication of polio.  The club learned this week that Rotary International surpassed its $200 million fundraising goal ahead of schedule and won another $50 million from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Rotary raised $202.6 million as of January 17. The additional $50 million was not a challenge grant; it resulted from Rotary’s early achievement of the $200 million milestone. The campaign doesn’t officially end until June 30.

Funds from the Gates grant will be distributed to the most critical polio-affected countries, primarily through grants to the World Health Organization and UNICEF in direct support of polio

immunization activities. 

Rotary leaders John F. Germ and Robert S. Scott, chairmen of the Rotary Challenge Committee and the International Polio Plus Committee,  issued a statement on the fundraising and grant.

“ This achievement is just one more milestone in our journey to eradicate polio,” they said. “Most importantly, our ultimate goal is the certification of the eradication of polio. Rotarians are continuing to raise funds for the challenge, which officially concludes on 30 June 2012, and as Rotary leaders, we should encourage their continued involvement. We are confident that we will far exceed our $200 million goal, just as Rotarians have done in all previous campaigns.”

The Rotary Club of the Stroudsburgs, created in 1922, has in the past five years raised and distributed more than $145,000 in grants and scholarships to 30 different organizations in the Poconos. During the same period the club sent more than $100,000 for Rotary International projects overseas, for projects ranging from the eradication of polio worldwide to this year’s pyjrt goal, construction of a school in Haiti.  The club annually awards four college scholarships to Monroe County students at East Stroudsburg University, awards four other scholarships to high school seniors from Monroe County, and conducts an essay contest, with $875 in awards/ The amount distributed to Monroe County students each year is $5,875.

The goal this  year and every year is to help more organizations and more individuals with more money, whenever it will make a positive change.

The Rotary Club of the Stroudsburgs meets Thursdays at 11:55 a.m. at the Sycamore Grille in Delaware Water Gap and is eagerly recruiting anyone who wishes to embrace the community and share the good feeling that results when good times bring good things to good people.