Rotary Activities

Thursday, April 24, 2025

Camino walk raises funds and camaraderie for Florida club

By Arnold R. Grahl

The Rotarians and their companions pose at the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral.

Courtesy of Ed Hallock

Chuck Oldanie was hiking the Camino de Santiago, the storied pilgrimage route through the olive groves and ancient towns of northern Spain, when his knee gave out on a steep incline. “The pain was horrific,” recalls the 83-year-old.A fellow Rotarian and one of his hiking companions, Ed Hallock, steadied him and helped Oldanie sidestep slowly down the steep path and continue onward. “I don’t know what I would have done if Ed hadn’t been there,” he says. “Things like that will bond you big time.” (Read more about Oldanie’s experience.)

Bonding was a key facet of the journey. The two men were part of a group — five members of the Rotary Club of Seminole Lake, Florida, one spouse, and two friends — walking most of a 70-mile section of the Camino de Santiago. The Camino is a network of routes used by pilgrims since the Middle Ages to reach the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in northwest Spain. Today, it’s popular with modern day pilgrims and backpackers alike.

The Rotarians’ journey, over a week in April, raised about $7,000 in pledges from the club and other Rotary members for an organization helping Ukrainian refugee mothers and children in the Tampa Bay area. It also brought the entire club closer together.

“They were all behind us, watching our progress closely through social media,” David Buzza says of the club members back home. “Every single day we would post updates. All the club members would be rooting for us and raising funds. We had a tremendous groundswell of support.”

The power of international service

Uniting in friendship and camaraderie around service projects and fundraisers is a signature feature of the 50-member club. In addition to international service efforts, members support 26 local charities and organizations.

“It’s the culture we’ve built,” says Buzza, adding that prospective members are informed from the start that the club is hands-on and doesn’t stop at just check writing. “We won’t jump into a relationship with another organization unless there is a volunteer opportunity we can be a part of. That’s our mantra.”

Sandra Lilo, a military dentist and U.S. Air Force veteran, is a believer in that mantra. In the late 1990s, Lilo launched a medical mission to repair cleft lips in Peru. She has led teams of dentists many times since, all through club funds.

Karen Sherrets and Chuck Oldanie.

Courtesy of Ed Hallock

“Once you have been involved internationally, you are not just doing a service project — you become an ambassador and a friend through Rotary. To the Rotary Club of Chiclayo, we are like family,” says Lilo, referring to the Rotary club in one of the mission destinations. “These are the relationships you develop through Rotary, and that’s one of the great things we as a club have learned.”

Glenn Stamm, a member of the Seminole Lake club since 1990, has been a driving force behind yearly trips to Puerto Rico to rebuild or repair homes damaged by Hurricane Maria.

The club also sends a 14-member team to Belize every year to build playgrounds for government-run schools. Through the years, the project has expanded to include nutrition and wellness education. A couple of nurses from the club go along to conduct medical screenings.

“This year was special. The principal of the school was retiring,” says Hallock. “She always dreamed of having a playground for her students. She had her students make a personal card for each one of us. When a kid handed me one, I lost it, I just broke down.”

The club is just as active in its own community. Among the 26 organizations it supports is the Florida Dream Center, which operates a food pantry, where members pack food for up to 400 families each month.

Members also help Horses for Handicapped Foundation of Pinellas County, which promotes and teaches recreational horseback riding and care to people with disabilities. Club volunteers pull weeds, mend fences, repair stables, and hold an annual picnic for staff and patrons.

Serve together, stay together

Participating in service and having fun with fellow members are the primary reasons people join and stay involved in Rotary. It’s a formula that members of the Rotary Club of Seminole Lake, Florida, have followed to create a culture of camaraderie.

Follow their lead with this tip sheet:

Hold regular get-togethers, in addition to club meetings, for socializing and networking.
Encourage members to bring friends and family to meetings, events, and service projects.
Consult community members to determine needs before choosing a project.
Visit My Rotary discussion groups, attend project fairs, or consult The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisers to research ideas and potential partners before starting a project.
Establish direct communication with partner organizations, friends, and Rotary alumni.
Encourage all club members to share their thoughts on service and social activities.
Choose service projects that match with Rotary’s areas of focus.
Invite members of the Rotary family (such as Interactors, Rotary Youth Exchange students, and Rotary Peace Fellows) to participate in meetings and events.

Promoting peace and helping refugees

Even before the walk in Spain, club members helped Ukrainian refugees in the Tampa Bay area. Through a nonprofit, Crisis Connect, launched by Terry Collier, a member of another Rotary club in Seminole, they have supported emergency housing, transportation, food, jobs, clothing, and school assistance for about two dozen refugee women and their children.

The idea for the Camino de Santiago trip came to Oldanie one morning last fall as he paddled his yellow kayak off the coast of Tampa Bay. He thought back to a previous peace effort he was involved in that brought together young people from different backgrounds to build homes for Habitat for Humanity in India.

Now, he was looking for a new initiative that would promote peace, and Buzza, who had walked the Camino previously in a trip that turned into a fundraiser for a food pantry, had just been talking up the experience. “Knowing the history of the Camino, I felt we could put something together that would help Ukrainian refugees and promote peace,” Oldanie says.

He is hoping the April walk is not the club’s last. He is talking with district and regional Rotary leaders to organize an even bigger Camino walk that would include other partners like Seeds of Peace, a nonprofit that develops new generations of leaders inspired by peace.

Hallock was equally inspired by the camaraderie and spirit of peace on the Camino. “Everybody encourages everybody else,” he says. “If someone has a problem, people stop to help. It’s like the spirit of Rotary.”

This story originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of Rotary magazine.

Rotary clubs operate around the globe and online, in a variety of formats. Which one is right for you?

Explore clubs

Calgary awaits!

Eager Rotarians encourage other Canadian members to prepare to experience the magic of the 2025 convention

By Paul Engleman

Though no longer Calgary’s tallest structure, the Calgary Tower remains the city’s defining landmark.

Image credit: Monika Lozinska

The biggest event on the Rotary calendar is more than eight months away. But to hear Louisa Horne talk, you’d think she already had her bags packed. “We don’t often have the event in Canada,” she says, “so this is an incredible opportunity to see the global nature of Rotary, right at home!”

But it’s the chance to see people representing nearly the whole world gathered in one place that has a special appeal for Horne. “The convention makes the global local,” she explains. “The flags and the people from around the world create an amazing experience. We talk about Rotary being global and having opportunities for friendship around the world, but until you are in the midst of more than 10,000 people with seven or eight languages being spoken in sessions, you just can’t fully get it.”

Rotary Canada talked with members of Rotary across the country, and from Quebec to British Columbia, the enthusiasm expressed by Horne was shared by them all. With one voice they encouraged Canadian Rotarians and Rotaractors to make their way to the convention in Calgary 21-25 June. “I urge my fellow Canadians to make attending the convention a top priority,” says Christina Hassan, a member of the Rotary Club of Calgary Fish Creek and the 2024-25 governor for District 5360, which encompasses southern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan. “We have a unique opportunity to showcase our renowned Canadian Western hospitality and the ‘Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth’ — the Calgary Stampede. Let’s come together in Calgary to deepen our global connections, share our warmth, and learn from inspiring speakers and workshops. Join us in helping others experience the Team Canada magic of Rotary!”

“There is magic in Rotary, and the Calgary convention is an amazing opportunity for Canadian Rotary club members to share that magic,” adds Penny Offer, who, like her husband, Chris Offer, is a member of the Rotary Club of Ladner in British Columbia. “The convention offers limitless ways to make your club stronger and bolder. You’ll find new ideas, learn best practices, see old ideas reimagined, and share project achievements. I organized a new member mentor project for my Rotary club because I attended a breakout session at an international convention. I served on a humanitarian project in China helping children with cleft lips and palates because I stopped to learn about a project at a booth in the House of Friendship.”

“One of my top reasons for attending the Calgary convention will be to reconnect with the many Rotary friends I have made over the years,” says Chris Offer. “There is Rotary magic in walking into the House of Friendship and meeting a friend from the other end of the country or the other side of the globe. As hosts of the 2025 convention, members of every Canadian Rotary club should attend. We can show the Rotary world our unique Canadian hospitality.”

Like Chris and Penny Offer, Shirley-Pat Gale is a past governor of British Columbia’s District 5040. She’s also an adopted member of the Tl'esqox — Toosey First Nation. “Next year’s international convention is an opportunity to connect and share lived experience so our Rotary family continues to grow their understanding, commitments, and partnerships with the First Peoples of Canada,” says Gale. “It is an opportunity to showcase Indigenous culture and achievements and highlight the good work done, being done, and all that is potentially possible with the help, support, and action of our Rotary family.”

“Calgary is going to be a great opportunity to showcase multiculturalism in Canada,” adds Ontario’s Suzanne Grouette, a proud Métis member of the Rotary Club of Windsor-WIDE (We’re Inclusive, Diverse, and Equitable) and a newly anointed board member of HIP, which stands for Honouring Indigenous Peoples, a group Rotarians helped found. “Calgary is the home of Blackfoot, Métis, Nakoda, and Dene nations, giving the city a rich heritage to draw upon and elders who can provide teachings that can add to Rotary’s view of the world.”

The event, if you have to ask, is the 2025 Rotary International Convention, which in June returns to Canada for the first time in seven years. The setting is Calgary, and Horne, a member of the Rotary Club of Halifax Harbour, is eager to make the trek from Nova Scotia to Alberta. “You see old friends and you make new ones — on the bus and subway, standing in line, all over the city,” she says. “You see the Rotary wheel, and of course you strike up conversations with total strangers. Because they aren’t strangers; they are friends you haven’t met before. You learn so much from some amazing speakers. And it’s fun!”

A 90-minute drive from Calgary, the charming town of Banff is a great jumping off point from which to explore the Rocky Mountains.

Image credit: Monika Lozinska

A member of the Rotary Club of Winnipeg who is active in District 5550’s World Peace Partners, David Newman sees the convention as an important opportunity to convey and embrace an urgent message. “Canadian Rotarians can inspire and motivate the global democracy of Rotary members to unite and commit to take peace action in Canada,” says Newman. “By our example, we can inspire Rotarians in other countries to become Positive Peace Activators and expand Rotary into a critical mass of agents of change. This is why it is an absolute must for Canadian Rotarians to congregate in Calgary.”

For Valarie Wafer, the Calgary convention promises to be “a global adventure packed into a few unforgettable days!” A member of the Rotary Club of Burlington Lakeshore in Ontario and chair of Rotary’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Council, Wafer describes how that would unfold. “Imagine rubbing shoulders with thousands of Rotarians from every corner of the world, swapping stories, and brainstorming ideas that could transform your community.

“And let’s not forget the sheer excitement of showing off Canada’s awesomeness! Hosting this mega event in Calgary means we get to roll out the red carpet and share our vibrant culture, stunning landscapes, and warm hospitality with the world. It’s the perfect blend of fun and purpose — a chance to create amazing memories, forge lifelong connections, and proudly showcase what makes Canada such an incredible place to live and serve.”

Let’s give the last word to Claude Martel. Écoutez bien!

“Que vous soyez un membre d’un club Rotary, un dirigeant du club, un administrateur d’un district du Canada, la convention saura vous faire prendre conscience de la grandeur et de la force du Rotary,” says Martel, a member of the Rotary Club of Québec-Val-Bélair (as if you had to be told). “Des conférenciers dynamiques, des discussions passionnantes, des rencontres intéressantes vous y attendront. Vous apprécierez l’amitié internationale. Lors des conventions du Rotary, on y trouve toujours des découvertes magiques.

“La participation à la Convention Internationale du Rotary 2025 vous motivera par la quantité et la qualité des rencontres. Que ce soit avec des membres de votre district ou de nouveaux contacts, vous reviendrez heureux, satisfaits et actifs dans votre club. Nous sommes privilégiés d’accueillir la convention du Rotary au Canada. Ne manquez cette opportunité. Nous vous y attendrons du 21 au 25 juin.”

Well put, Claude. We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. See you in Calgary!

This story originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of Rotary Canada magazine.

New Team End Polio campaign reminds people about a tenacious disease

By Etelka Lehoczky

At an event announcing Canada’s contribution of CA$151 million (US$111,233,500) to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Ramesh Ferris presents a Team End Polio jersey to Canadian Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen.

Ramesh Ferris wants you to see his legs.

“When people see me walking with my crutches and braces, if I’m not wearing shorts, they do not think of polio,” says Ferris, who contracted the disease at six months old. “But when people see my legs, they’re like, ‘Oh, what happened?’ It starts a discussion around what people can do to work together for a polio-free world.”

Ferris tries to wear shorts whenever he’s hiking or using his hand-cycle, a three-wheeled device powered by hand cranks. And he’s found other ways to channel his athleticism into the fight against polio. In 2008, he hand-cycled 7,140 kilometers (4,437 miles) across Canada to raise awareness and funds for polio eradication.

Using a 27-speed hand-cycle and consuming 5,000 calories a day to maintain his energy, Ferris traveled 400 kilometers (249 miles) every 10 days from British Columbia in the west to Newfoundland in the east. His Cycle to Walk trip raised funds for Rotary International’s End Polio Now effort and other anti-polio projects.

Now Ferris has joined Team End Polio, a new campaign by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to raise awareness about the need to wipe out the disease. Team End Polio’s starting roster of top international athletes includes several who, like Ferris, have been directly affected by the disease. All are determined to speak up on social media and at sporting events.

Rotary commits funds to polio outbreak response in Gaza

“Polio is one of these forgotten-about diseases that is ‘out of sight and out of mind,’” says Ferris, a member of the Rotary Club of Whitehorse-Rendezvous, Yukon, Canada.

The effort to fully eliminate polio has been a massive project. It’s reduced cases by 99.9% over four decades, and today the wild poliovirus endures in just a few places around the world. And yet, as is true in many races, the final lap is the hardest part.

“It is critical that people realize that polio knows no borders,” says wheelchair athlete Minda Dentler, who contracted polio as an infant. “As long as this disease exists anywhere, it is a threat to children everywhere.”

Dentler used a hand-cycle to complete the New York City marathon in 2006 and later qualified for the Ironman World Championships. It took her two tries, but she became the first woman wheelchair athlete to complete the grueling triathlon. She had to swim 2.4 miles, hand-cycle 112 miles, and propel her racing wheelchair for 26.2 miles, with a time limit for each stage. The second time she competed, she crossed the finish line in 14 hours and 39 minutes.

“I learned how, with perseverance, anyone can overcome obstacles and achieve goals that seem impossible,” says Dentler, who published a children’s book in March titled, “The Girl Who Figured It Out.” She says that same quality is needed for the fight against polio.

“With continued effort from donors and affected countries, we can overcome the remaining challenges and deliver a polio-free world,” she says. “But increased funding and continued commitment to vaccinating every child is essential.”

Like Dentler, the other athletes on Team End Polio embody ideals associated with sportsmanship: strength, dedication, determination, and the ability to work as part of a team.

“When you compete in a sport like football, you have to rely on your teammates to defeat your opponent. The fight against polio is no different,” says Michael Essien, a coach and former star player from Ghana. During a trip to Liberia in June 2024, he says, he witnessed the collaboration and coordination required to implement a polio vaccination campaign.

“To end polio, it will require all of us working together as one team,” he says.

Other members of Team End Polio include:

Ade Adepitan, a polio survivor and two-time wheelchair basketball medalist in the Paralympic Games
Wasim Akram, former captain of Pakistan’s national men’s cricket team and an international cricket commentator
Muhammad Ali, a member of Pakistan’s national men’s cricket team
Junior Bosila Banya, a French polio survivor and professional breakdancer
Bismah Maroof, a former captain of Pakistan’s national women’s cricket team
Ajara Nchout, a Cameroonian professional football player
Anne Wafula Strike, a British polio survivor who was among the first female wheelchair racers from Africa to compete in the Paralympic Games

Ferris’ home country of Canada recently emphasized its commitment to ending polio. On 20 September, Minster of International Development Ahmed Hussen announced a pledge of CA$151 million (US$111,233,500) to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative at a Rotary institute. The donation puts Canada at over $1 billion contributed for polio eradication. At the event where the pledge was announced, Ferris gave Hussen a Team End Polio jersey.

“There have been a copious number of amazing global citizens who have rallied together with one goal in mind, and that is ending polio,” Ferris says. “The good thing about the polio program is that we’re united to cross the finish line. We’re not doing it alone.”

Learn more about Team End Polio and donate to the cause.

‘When,’ not ‘if’: Progress continues toward ending polio

On World Polio Day, Rotary International leaders and public health experts reiterate their commitment to global eradication

By Etelka Lehoczky and Arnold R. Grahl

Eradicating polio around the world is still an attainable goal, Rotary International President Stephanie A. Urchick and public health experts said as they commemorated World Polio Day in the city where the vaccine was developed.

“I know it is a question of when polio will be eradicated, not if,” Urchick told the audience at a livestream event on 24 October in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

“Our Action Plan talks about improving our impact. That’s really where our polio eradication program shines,” Urchick added. “Millions of children won’t get this crippling disease. Billions of U.S. dollars won’t be spent on ancillary health care costs as a result of this disease. We have made so much progress.”

Rotary leaders, including RI President Stephanie Urchick (middle), and global health experts discuss the future of the polio eradication effort at a World Polio Day event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, 24 October 2024.

Photo credit: Rotary Zones 33/34

World Polio Day raises awareness and funds for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s work to eliminate the disease. Since Rotary and its partners formed the GPEI in 1988, the number of wild polio cases has decreased by 99.9%. The event highlighted Rotary’s continuing efforts toward complete eradication.

Polio remains endemic in two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 2024, increased case counts of wild poliovirus and the first case of paralytic polio in Gaza in 25 years served as a reminder that until the disease is fully eliminated everywhere, it remains a threat to children everywhere.

Despite the challenges, Michael K. McGovern, chair of the International PolioPlus Committee, said he remains confident as ever that global eradication is within reach. “We’re in a bumpy period, but we’re going to get this done by continuing to focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan and doing the things that were done so successfully by Rotarians,” he said.

The event included videos featuring polio vaccination workers in the field. Urchick said she was inspired by them during a visit to Karachi, Pakistan, earlier this year.

“Men work diligently to immunize thousands of children every day at traffic checkpoints, while women go house to house to reach families directly,” Urchick said. “Some workers literally climb mountains to vaccinate children in remote locations, and their determination never wavers.”

The livestream event was part of a two-day Rotary zone institute. RI Director Patrick Eakes, who convened the institute, said Pittsburgh was a perfect location because it’s where Dr. Jonas Salk developed the vaccine. “We realized we were in a unique position,” said Eakes, a member of the Rotary Club of Crescent (Greensboro), North Carolina, USA.

Dr. Peter L. Salk, president of the Jonas Salk Legacy Foundation in La Jolla, California, and a part-time professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, talked about what drove his father to develop the first inactive polio vaccine.

“He just never let go,” Salk recalled. “It was his personality to have a dream and get things done.”

Salk said his father wanted to make a difference in the world from a young age and became interested in science. After working in the U.S. state of Michigan on an influenza vaccine, he came to Pittsburgh in 1947 to work at the virus research lab and received a grant for polio research from the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. That led to his work developing the inactive polio vaccine.

Other presenters at the livestream event included 2016-17 RI President John Germ. Several members of Rotary’s eradication effort also sent video messages.

In a video shown at the event that was originally recorded for the 2023 Rotary International Convention, Gates Foundation co-founder Bill Gates lauded the commitment toward eradication. “When polio is eradicated, it will be one of the biggest advances in public health in human history,” said Gates. The Gates Foundation, a partner in the GPEI, matches up to US$50 million that Rotary raises each year at a 2-to-1 ratio, which means up to US$150 million for the effort each year.

Salk, too, said he was honored to be in a room full of Rotary members who have a passion for solving tough problems.

“Every time I get together with Rotarians,” he said, “I am just uplifted by the quality of humanity that you all radiate and the dedication you put in all the different realms helping the world become a better place.”

Visit:-

https://www.rotary.org/en/when-not-if-progress-continues-toward-ending-polio

Thursday, April 24, 2025

Camino walk raises funds and camaraderie for Florida club

Camino walk raises funds and camaraderie for Florida club

The power of international service

Serve together, stay together

Promoting peace and helping refugees

Rotary clubs operate around the globe and online, in a variety of formats. Which one is right for you?

related stories

Calgary awaits!

Eager Rotarians encourage other Canadian members to prepare to experience the magic of the 2025 convention

related stories

New Team End Polio campaign reminds people about a tenacious disease

New Team End Polio campaign reminds people about a tenacious disease

Related stories

‘When,’ not ‘if’: Progress continues toward ending polio

On World Polio Day, Rotary International leaders and public health experts reiterate their commitment to global eradication