PolioPlus Global Update
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Carol Pandak, Director of Rotary International's PolioPlus program, provided an update on global polio eradication efforts, highlighting that only three countries remain endemic with fewer than five cases reported in 2023. She emphasized that immunizing 450 million children annually across 60 countries remains critical until polio is completely eradicated worldwide, and detailed how Rotary's partnership with the Gates Foundation and other organizations continues funding vaccination operations and disease surveillance.
Key takeaways
- Polio cases have declined from 350,000 annually in 1988 to only three confirmed cases in Afghanistan as of the presentation, demonstrating significant progress toward eradication.
- The world must maintain immunization of 450 million children annually in up to 60 countries because polio poses a risk anywhere it circulates, requiring continued vigilance including environmental sewage testing.
- Rotary clubs are asked to contribute at least $1,500 to PolioPlus under the End Polio Now Countdown to History campaign, with every dollar matched 2-to-one by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
- Funds raised primarily support operational costs including vaccinator transportation, cold chains, social mobilization, and technical assistance rather than vaccine procurement.
- The polio eradication infrastructure created over 30 years has proven valuable for other health emergencies, such as Nigeria's rapid response to Ebola using established disease surveillance systems.
About Carol PandakCarol Pandak has been the Director of Rotary International's PolioPlus program since 2000 and brings 25 years of experience working for national and international nonprofit organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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Meeting for the week of April 16 - 22, 2018
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: PolioPlus Global Update
Speaker: Carol Pandak
Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our weekly online meeting! To complete our meeting, please continue reading from here to the bottom of this page.Each Monday our week’s meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 60 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time.Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you; read it while on public transit, waiting in line for coffee, or even at the park! Please also make sure to complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!
Welcome to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley!
Here’s a message from President-Elect Andrew:
Greetings Rotarians and Guests,During a hike, I got to chatting with a couple Singaporean tourists and one of them asked if I've ever been to Singapore. I replied that I haven't but I'd love to visit. Jokingly, I also asked if I could stay on one of their couches. We had a nice chuckle, a pleasant conversation, and parted ways.They were very friendly guys and, had the occasion arose, I would have loved to grab a beer with them. But I've come to realize that such a conversation often goes very differently among Rotarians. I'm often welcomed into Rotarians' homes before I can blink. There's something special about a Rotarian that isn't always apparent just from meeting one or two. As I've met more and more, I constantly experience this powerful hospitality and generosity.So whether you're a member of our club, a member of another club, or a guest, dash off a message to someone down at the Disqus or an e-mail to one of our members. Or me! pe@siliconvalleyrotary.org
Sincerely,
Andrew Taw,
President-ElectRotary eClub of Silicon Valley
Weekly Funny with the Lady of Laughter (LOL)
We believe laughter is an important part of life, and we should all make time to laugh a little. This segment of our meeting is meant to tickle you just enough. These funnies are curated by member Yvonne Kwan, our “Lady of Laughter!”
These jokes are always corny, but this week is special because they are unicorny!
What is the difference between a unicorn and a carrot?One is a funny beast and the other is a bunny feast.
What do unicorns call their father?"Pop" corn.
What do you call a smart unicorn?The A-corn.
Weekly inspiration
Every week we start our meetings with a short video highlighting innovation, inspiration, entrepreneurship, or social change.
These amazing windmills are among the oldest in the world. Located in the Iranian town of Nashtifan, initially named Nish Toofan, or "storm's sting," the windmills have withstood winds of up to 74 miles an hour. With the design thought to have been created in eastern Persia between 500-900 A.D., they have been in use for several centuries.
World of Rotary
The best time to plant a tree was when Paul Harris was alive. The second-best time is now.Last summer, Ian H.S. Riseley challenged every Rotarian to plant a tree by Earth Day 2018. We can trace Rotary’s love of trees from its founder, Paul Harris, to the trees Rotarians are planting today.Read more about the similarities between Rotarians and trees, President Riseley’s thoughts on the primal power of trees, and the ways we honor – and fail to honor – trees. Earth Day is 22 April. Time to get your grove on!https://www.rotary.org/en/rotary-clubs-plant-trees-after-riseley-challenge
For members only
Tell us about service you've done recently in your community. Click here to fill out The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey
Past Announcements
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Member name badges will be shipped out soon.
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Claim your @siliconvalleyrotary.com email address! Email Webmaster Mitty at mittyc@siliconvalleyrotary.com to get set-up with your own @siliconvalleyrotary.com email address.
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Join our members-only Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/rotarysiliconvalley/
Our events & projects
We hold our meetings online, but we do regular service projects and social events in the Silicon Valley! This section is updated every week with our upcoming events. We welcome guests to all of the events and service projects listed here.
Also be sure to join our Meetup Group for automatic calendar updates and to RSVP for our events! These are open to all guests as well!
https://www.meetup.com/siliconvalleyrotary/
Upcoming events
All times are Pacific Time! (San Francisco time)
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June 1-3, 2018 – San Jose, CA – Rotary District Conference for our home district, District 5170 – conference activities begin Friday night at 6 PM, includes an all-day Saturday conference, and Sunday morning service projects in San Jose
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June 22, 2018 – Toronto, Canada – Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley’s RI Convention Friday Happy Hour in Toronto from 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM
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June 22-27, 2018 – Toronto, Canada – 2018 Rotary International Convention
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August 2018 – Our eClub’s second annual charity fundraiser is coming up! More details coming soon!
More events coming soon! All events are open to guests, unless otherwise mentioned. Feel free to join us! If you ever have questions, please email inquiries@siliconvalleyrotary.com
What would you like to do?
Hey Members! What would you like to do? We’re working on putting together some exciting socials and impactful service projects for our upcoming quarter’s event calendar. Let us know what you want to do by posting in our members only Facebook Group (if you don’t have access, please request it with Webmaster Mitty). Remember, you’re only taking advantage of the full impact of Rotary when you’re stepping up to get involved.
Happy Dollars: do good by sharing something good
Each week we ask our members to share stories with the club and toss in a few dollars to support our efforts. The primary goal of this section is to provide a fun way of getting to know each fellow members and guests, while giving back to a good cause.
Happy dollars is an opportunity to share something positive that has happened in your life whether it is personal or business. Think of it as your opportunity to brag a little, but also put a little bit into a karma jar. The money donated through happy dollars is put to charitable use, and the message that you leave for happy dollars will be posted in our online meeting the following week for the entire week for folks to see! (Pending that it’s appropriate!)Here are the happy dollars contributions from last week!
Member Rory Olsen made a $15 donation. Here's what he had to say:Please apply my gift to Polio Plus. Construction is proceeding slowly. Had a nice online visit last weekend with Tzviatko as part of the coffee with a Rotarian program. I encourage everyone to sign up for it.
Member Monique Ziesenhenne made a $20 donation. Here is what she had to say:I'm happy that we had great weather after the rain! Please donate to Annual Fund.
Member Brian Liddicoat made a $15 donation. Here is what he had to say:Just finished my first jury trial, representing a Chinese immigrant businesswoman in an unlawful detainer (eviction) suit brought by her landlord. Big accomplishment for a solo attorney.
So what are you happy about? Share with us below to help with doing good around the world.
Selected comments
Every week at the bottom of our meetings, there is a comments section for members and guests to tell us what they enjoyed about the meeting or to ask questions to the speaker. We select a few comments every week from last week’s meeting to be featured during this week’s meeting.
Here are the comments selected from last week’s meeting.
Club member Raquel D. Juncal said,Scotty and Mitchell, awesome work! The inclusion of IT in the teaching and learning processes has an increasing scope in the daily life of the students. The use of videogames in classrooms is a tool that has been added to the portfolio of teachers in recent years. Do you consider that Digital Game-Based Learning can promote students' motivation in their learning process and improve their academic performance compared to traditional education?
Guest Tanya Martin said,I love to see young people think outside of the box. They are an excellent example of how it is not always about inventing a new product. Sometimes it is just about enhancing a product or bringing variety to it.
Club member Dr. Carlos Gabuardi, Ph.D. said,Congratulations Scotty and Mitchell!!! Congratulations to your parents too, they have very many reasons to feel so proud about you! If you permit me, I have to say that I also feel proud about you. You are more that fresh air to this world, I think you are already doing a lot to make this a better world but you have still much more to offer. I celebrate your lives and all the fantastic work you are doing. You are teaching by example. On other matters, the first video made me remeber a section in Selecciones (the Spanish version of the Readers Digest), that section was call Héroes entre nosotros (Heroes among us). Indeed, I think that we have to keep our eyes wide open to find those great heros among us making a diference in this world. By the way, I think that Scotty and Mitchel are two of that kind of heroes among us. Thank you Rushton for identifying these heroes for us!
Be sure to leave a comment at the end of this week’s meeting after you watch the program below, and perhaps you’ll see your comment featured next week!
Program: PolioPlus Global Update
Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, education, technology, and humanitarian service.
This week's presentation will provide an overview of the current status of global polio eradication efforts and highlight the role that every Rotarian plays in this historic effort. I will touch briefly on the disease itself and its devastating effects, the progress that has been made, and what still needs to be done to achieve a polio-free world.Members and guests, please welcome this week's speaker: Carol Pandak.
Additional resources:
Share with us your thoughts in the comments at the bottom of this meeting page!If you have questions for our speaker(s), feel free to ask in the comments!
Upcoming program recording schedule
All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online over Zoom video conference. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 minutes long and are subject to change without notice.
Our online video conference room link for these recordings is always https://zoom.us/j/5104080000. You are welcome to join us! Please note the timezone for all recordings are listed for San Francisco, California, USA time (Pacific Time).
