Dan Ryan, District 6540 Rotary Foundation Chair was the guest of Don Wilson for the regular Monday luncheon meeting of the Kentland Rotary Club.  Mr. Ryan began his program with recognition for the Club’s contributions to the Rotary Foundation during the past year that were presented at the District Foundation Dinner in Elkhart on November 4th.  He presented the club with certificates recognizing Kentland for contribution more than $2,000.00 to the Polio Plus Fund, over $10,000.00 in total giving, and over $150.00 per member.  Mr. Ryan made a special banner presentation recognizing Kentland Rotary as the top Club in the District in giving per member with a total of $571.00 per member.  He stressed that the goals and giving per member are important but the real meaning of the Foundation’s efforts are the human stories that go with each polio vaccination, clean water source, medical intervention, and each donation brings around the world.

Highlights of these programs include the team of heart doctors from the Indianapolis District that travel each year to a country and perform heart repair surgeries on children while training local doctors to repeat the process when they leave.  He also noted that the dreaded smallpox disease was eliminated worldwide wide with vaccinations and that the world was almost polio free due to the efforts of Rotarians in the past 20 years.  Polio remains a target in only the countries of Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan.  Rotary has almost reached the 200 million dollar match to the 355 million dollar challenge grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donation to eradicate polio worldwide.  Mr. Ryan also shared the multitude of opportunities to join 1.3 million Rotarians around the world to place “service above self” and become involved in an International Rotary project.

In other Rotary news John Frischie reported that he attended the District Rotary Foundation Dinner at the Lerner in Elkhart, Indiana on Friday evening.  The Kentland Club donated one 2012 Truck raffle to the auction.  The keynote speaker Ken Johnson Chaplain for the Indianapolis Colts shared spiritual and motivational opportunities with the audience. Image