Fresh Water, With the Help of the Rotary
Club of Bellevue

Marial Bai, Sudan, is the hometown of a friend of Bellevue Rotary Club World Community Service Chair Peter Kalunian. The drinking source for the village is the polluted Bahr Al-Ghazal River, and people are suffering from cholera and dysentery.

Peter's friend, William Deng, asked if money could be raised to drill a water bore hole. The Bellevue Rotary Club has provided an $8,000 grant to International Aid of Sweden to drill a bore hole.

We are happy to announce that the water bore hole has been successfully dug in Marial Bai and is producing 9,000 liters of clean water per hour. Clean water is one of the goals of Rotary International.

3-H Grant Approved by TRF!

Email Message:

From: Steve Townsend
Senior Coordinator, 3-H Grants
Humanitarian Grants Program, The Rotary Foundation

Subject: 3-H Grant 62861, Nepal - Approved

Rabendra Raj Pandey, Primary Contact, Rotary Club of Patan (D-3290)
Robert Rose, Primary Contact, Rotary Club of Bellevue (D-5030)

Dear Rtn. Pandey and Rtn. Rose, Congratulations!

The Trustees of The Rotary Foundation have approved 3-H Grant application #62861 to launch an integrated, multi-media awareness campaign to overcome disability prejudices in Nepal. Please share this good news with your fellow Rotarians. Your hard work toward developing this 3-H project was recognized by the Trustees, who congratulate you on your efforts.

With best wishes,
Steve Townsend
Senior Coordinator, 3-H Grants
Humanitarian Grants Program, The Rotary Foundation

• • •

Dear District 5030 Rotarians,

As you can read in the above email from The Rotary Foundation’s 3-H Grant Coordinator Steve Townsend, the application for the 3-H grant 'Nepal Disability Awareness Campaign' project has been officially approved! As you can imagine, I am very excited as well as emotionally drained after three years of working toward this goal.

If you have ever dreamed about being an important part of a major project that will change the lives of thousands of wonderful, talented people who are just waiting for a project like this to bring them out of the darkness and into the light of knowledge and opportunity, then I can honestly tell you that this is the project! With the approval of this project, we have the opportunity to bring hope, education and empowerment to people with disabilities in Nepal, who have been held back and held down for so long. This is our moment in time to be that agent of change with Rotary as our vehicle.

When you think about it, our time on earth is relatively short. For me, this project is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a lasting legacy; an indelible footprint that will last beyond my own, brief existence. I hope you will find it in your heart (and club budget!) to partner with a club in Nepal to be a part of this rewarding and life-changing project!

With Warm Rotary Regards,
Rob Rose
Bellevue Rotary Club

Rotary Delivers Over 200 Computers to Schools
Tuesday April 08 2008
Reprinted by permission of the Antigua Sun
by Afeefah Beharry

The Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club of Seattle, Washington, and the Rotary Club of Antigua yesterday donated over 200 computers to private and public primary schools across Antigua and Barbuda.

Antigua is the fourth country outside of the USA that is benefitting from the club’s project “computers for the world.”

The overall cost of the project is approximately US$70,000.

It is part of the literacy programme for the 2007/2008 Rotary year.

The computers will be installed in 17 schools and the Rotarians will be on island for ten days.

During a short handing over ceremony held at Rotary House, former president of the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club Steven Lingenbrink said “computers for the world” is a district approved project where funds are solicited from outside of Rotary and other Rotary clubs.

“I think it’s very significant to note that the Mill Reef Club also made a last minute contribution of about $9,000 towards this project that we are able to use to help finance this computer project,” Lingenbrink said.

Another member of the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club John Martinka explained that this is their fourth project and that they are bringing a total of 220 computers to the schools.

“We have been driving around and we went to some of the schools yesterday, we can just see that yes, there is a need for what we are bringing here,” Martinka added.

“They all have windows XP, they all have one of the most recent versions of office, they are all ready to go on the Internet, they will be networked together in the classroom and the bigger classrooms will have printers attached to them.”

Martinka also stated that they have been able to afford a special printer that prints in Braille for students of the blind school and special software for them to read the computer screen.

“Those are all in the works, some of them are different levels of software, but they will be a lot of blind or visually impaired students who will be able to understand what is in front of the computer,” Martinka stated.

During his remarks, Minister of Education Bertand Joseph said the whole concept of computers for the world seems very appealing. “I am happy to know that Antigua and Barbuda is part of that world,” Joseph said.

According to him, the United Progressive Party (UPP) government came into office in March of 2004 under the mandate of an agenda for change and as it relates to computers, they promised the people in Antigua and Barbuda that they would bridge the digital divide across every social stratum and across the various communities of Antigua and Barbuda.

President of the Rotary Club of Antigua Paul Ryan, Public Relations Officer (PRO) Lorraine Josiah and service project co-ordinator were present at the ceremony.

Rotary Members Aim to Collect 1,200 Instruments
By Emily Heffter
Seattle Times education reporter

When Marcus Pimpleton returned to the Denny Middle School band room to teach music, the trombone he played as a Denny student was still there. A frayed piece of masking tape on its case still bore his name.

Click here to read the full article.

Music Education: Strike Up the Band

Rotary Music4Life is a collaboration among Seattle Public Schools, the Northwest Youth Music Association, and Seattle Rotary District 5030, partnering to expand music education for all children in Seattle Public Schools. The Seattle P-I recently published an article on this program:

P-I Editorial: Music can transform moods, lives and education. That’s why we just want to celebrate another dimension of opportunity for Seattle Public Schools’ children.

Click here to read the full article.

Guess Who’s Going To Nepal

Bellevue Rotarian Charlotte Ellis and her friend Sandy Anderson, along with Bellevue Rotary Club Administrator Laurie Larson and her son Eric, are part of a group of 21 volunteers traveling to Nepal with Bellevue Rotarian Rob Rose and his wife Gina during mid-February. Charlotte and Sandy will be in charge of a special arts and crafts project we will be doing during a big party we’ll be having for children with disabilities in Nepal. Charlotte is a whiz with arts and crafts from her years of experience with the kids at “Camp Goodtimes.”

Rob will be leading this group of 21 Rotarians, spouses and children, representing nine clubs from around Distict 5030 and even one Rotarian from Minnesota — Brad Putney — who found out about the trip and project from the project website and was so inspired he is now confirmed for the trip and is contacting other clubs in his district about participating in the "Nepal Disability Awareness Project"!

Rob will be reporting from Nepal and you can read his updates in the Nepal Trip Travel Blog, here on the District website. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed and get updates in your email inbox/newsreader! Rob is already in Nepal and has posted his first entry. The rest of the group will be leaving on February 13th for a two-week visit.

Kicking Polio Out of Africa
Editorial From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
December 13, 2007 5:13 p.m. PT
By RALPH MUNRO

Our jeep had just entered town when I saw him out of the corner of my eye. Low to the ground, he was using his shoulders and hands to drag the rest of his body across the dirt street in this tiny village high in the hills of Ethiopia.

Back in East Africa for my fifth year of vaccinating children for polio, I instantly recognized a "crawler." This man was perhaps 40 years old and lived on the ground because his childhood polio affliction tightened the tendons in his legs and made it impossible for him to walk upright. So there he was, dragging himself across the street. His knees and elbows were thick with calluses but he "wore" thongs on his hands to keep them looking somewhat normal. Every inch was a struggle.

We stopped our vehicle and I went over to talk with him. He had contracted polio when he was 4 years old and could hardly remember the days when it was possible to walk normally. Polio had permanently rendered him an invalid who had to beg for every scrap of food, piece of clothing and chance in life.
We gave him a T-shirt boldly emblazoned "Let's Kick Polio Out of Africa" and one of our bright yellow hats that we Rotary Club volunteers wear when we vaccinate. The clothes clearly identify us as Rotarians, who are in the country only to vaccinate kids and help eradicate a disease that was defeated in the Western Hemisphere many years ago.

As we drove away from this man, in one tiny and remote village, I suddenly got very depressed. I wondered if we would ever lick this damned disease that cripples so many people. Even though we have now narrowed endemic polio to four countries, I was still feeling pretty low. There is no way that I can describe how hard it is to find and vaccinate every single child in such places as Afghanistan, Ethiopia, India, Pakistan and Nigeria.

Rotary teamed up several years ago with the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United Nations Children's Fund and others to bring the dreaded disease of polio to an end. Thus far, individual Rotarians have donated more than $600 million to the effort and many of our members have joined us overseas to take a personal part in vaccinating children.

But at this moment, seeing and talking to a "crawler" on the street, my heart was low. Would it ever be possible to defeat polio, once and for all?
Just recently, we all received a huge shot in the arm. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated $100 million to the Rotary Polio Eradication Campaign. Upon hearing the news, I broke into tears. Maybe there is hope -- maybe we can do it. Total eradication might be possible.

Rotarians around the world will throw in an extra "happy buck" at their weekly meetings, auctions and rummage sales will be held, members will put provisions in their wills to contribute, and everything from snow cones to light bulbs will be sold to raise the money to match the Gates Foundation's generous grant. My guess is that we Rotarians will raise far more than the $100 million match.

And my prediction is that in the coming years Rotarians will swarm over Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, like bees on sugar, to find every child. Two drops of that magic vaccine will be put in every little mouth, and some day we can tell our grandchildren about the "war against polio." A war that was won by Bill and Melinda Gates and lots of us who helped along the way.

[Ralph Munro was Washington secretary of state from 1980 to 2001. In 2002 he was the President of Seattle Rotary Club No. 4, the largest Rotary Club in the world.]

New District Governor Nominee Designate: John Matthews

John Matthews, District Governor Nominee Designate (2010-2011) has been a Rotarian for 19 years. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Mercer Island, where he served as President in 2006-2007. Under his leadership, the club led the District in Membership growth for large clubs, achieved 100% participation in the TRF Annual Fund campaign, led the District in per capita giving and in total giving, and successfully initiated 2 matching grants for check dams and for wheelchairs in India.

John participated in the Polio NID trip to Ethiopia in 2002, served as instructor for the Rotary Academy in 2004-2006, and chaired the Permanent Fund for the District Foundation Chair from 2005-2007, bringing in new Bequest Society Members, Major Donors and Paul Harris Society members.

He is currently serving as Assistant Governor for the Rotary clubs of Bellevue, Bellevue Overlake, Bellevue Sunrise, Issaquah and Seattle #4.

Community involvement outside Rotary includes serving as an elder of the Mercer Island Presbyterian Church, Board Chair of University of Washington/Bothell, Secretary of the Board of Pacific Science Center, Trustee of Seattle Chamber of Commerce and Board Member of the Sunshine Brooks Foundation. John is an Eagle Scout and has held various leadership roles in the Boy Scouts of America.

Following graduation from Penn State, John served 20 years in the U.S. Navy, and retired as a Commander with 5 Meritorious Service medals, 2 Navy Commendation medals and 1 Navy Achievement naval. Following his retirement from the Navy, John joined Costco Wholesale, a $70 billion company with over 130,000 employees worldwide in 520 locations. John is current Senior Vice President, and his responsibilities include the oversight of all Human Resources functions, including personnel, benefits and labor relations. He also oversees all Risk Management functions of insurance programs, and serves as President of Costco’s insurance company and President of Costco Foundation.

John and his wife Mary Ellen live on Mercer Island and have two adult children.

USA-Nepal "Differently-Abled" Theme Song

Mr. Sunil Joshi visited Bellevue Rotary Club recently to debut his project theme song, "Song for Nepal's 'Differently-Abled,'" to enhance our club's Rotary Disability Awareness project in Nepal.

Sunil is a native Nepali who lives in North Seattle. He wrote, sang and performed the music for the song. Sunil's friend, Mr. Ramesh Acharya, from Kirkland, wrote the Nepali lyrics and English translation. While in Nepal for a ten-day visit with his family and with the superb help of Nepali Rotaractor's Sacheen Shakya and Anil Shrestha, Sunil recorded the song.

BRC Rotarian Rob Rose would like to recognize Sunil's dedication and efforts, as he spent nearly all of his vacation in Nepal recording this song. His musical efforts were definitely in "concert" with our Rotary motto of "Service Above Self"!

[Stay tuned for Rob Rose's updates from Nepal as he begins his USA District 5030/NEPAL District 3292 Joint Disability Awareness Project in February.]

Rotary International & Gates Foundation Together Commit $200 Million to Eradicate Polio

EVANSTON, Ill., U.S.A. (Nov. 26, 2007) -- Rotary International today announced a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that will inject a much-needed US$200 million into the global campaign to eradicate polio, a crippling and sometimes fatal disease that still paralyzes children in parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East and threatens children everywhere.

The Rotary Foundation has received a $100-million Gates Foundation grant, which Rotary will raise funds to match, dollar-for-dollar, over three years. The Evanston-based volunteer service organization will spend the initial $100 million within one year in direct support of immunization activities carried out by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a partnership spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF.

“The extraordinary dedication of Rotary members has played a critical role in bringing polio to the brink of eradication,” says Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Eradicating polio will be one of the most significant public health accomplishments in history, and we are committed to helping reach that goal.”

The polio eradication grant is one of the largest challenge grants ever given by the Gates Foundation and the largest grant received by Rotary in its 102-year history. Polio eradication has been Rotary’s top priority since 1985. Since then, Rotary has contributed $633 million to the eradication effort.

“Rotary members worldwide have worked very hard over the years to reach this point, and it is rewarding to see our approach validated in such a significant way by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,” says Dr. Robert Scott, who leads Rotary’s polio eradication effort and chairs The Rotary Foundation, the not-for-profit charitable arm of Rotary that will administer the grant. “We hope that this shared commitment of Rotary and the Gates Foundation will challenge other donors – including foundations, governments and non-governmental organizations – to step up and make sure we have the resources needed to rid the world of polio once and for all.”

The Gates Foundation grant comes at a crucial juncture for the initiative, which urgently needs an infusion of funds to reach the eradication goal. Although the GPEI has succeeded in slashing the number of polio cases by 99 percent over the past two decades, the wild poliovirus still persists in four countries: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan. The polio cases represented by that final one percent are the most costly to prevent due to such factors as geographical isolation, worker fatigue, low coverage with the vaccine, armed conflict and cultural barriers.

Last month, WHO released data confirming that all four remaining polio-endemic countries are on track to achieve eradication. In particular, significant progress has been made in India and Nigeria, which together account for 85 percent of the world’s polio cases. Nigeria has reported 226 cases so far this year, compared with 958 at the same time last year. In both countries, more effective oral polio vaccines have contributed to steady progress in reducing polio cases.

WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan says the Gates Foundation grant reaffirms that polio eradication is both feasible and achievable. “This investment is precisely the catalyst we need as we intensify the push to finish polio,” said Chan. “We have the technical tools to do it, and we can achieve a polio-free world if the rest of our financial partners step up to meet the challenge.”

Most of the initial $100 million will be spent in support of mass immunization campaigns in polio-affected countries, poliovirus surveillance activities and community education and outreach. The grant will also support an expanded research agenda on ways to halt the spread of the poliovirus. Rotary will distribute the funds through grants to WHO and UNICEF.

“The funds made possible through the Gates Foundation grant will help the Global Polio Eradication Initiative scale up its efforts to provide oral polio vaccine to children in those isolated locations where it’s most needed,” says UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman. “This important contribution will improve the capacity to protect vulnerable children from this debilitating disease.”

CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding says the collaboration between Rotary and the Gates Foundation underscores the importance of private sector involvement in major public health efforts. “As a government agency, we think it’s wonderful that our private-sector colleagues have taken a leadership role in something as important as polio eradication. Their participation is absolutely critical.”

Founded in Chicago in 1905, Rotary is a worldwide organization of business and professional leaders who provide humanitarian service and help to build goodwill and peace in the world. Rotary’s global membership is approximately 1.2 million men and women who belong to more than 32,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas.

Group Study Exchange Team Selected

District 5030 GSE Chair Laverne McIntyre announced the GSE Team that will be heading to Peru in April 2008.

Team Leader is:
Mary Catherine "Kay" Rodriguez, retired Public Relations

Team Members are:

• Elisabeth Hein, Academic Coordinator for New Futures (Non-Profit)
• Nicole Comforto, Program Advisor, Worldlink Education
• Dena Schuler, Recreation Coordinator, City of Seattle Parks Dept.
• Osho Berman, Business Development & Sales Trainer, Cintas Corp.

The team will be departing Seattle on Sunday, April 13, 2008, and returning from Peru on Monday, May 12, 2008.

Morrie Tugby is Newest Assistant Governor

Please welcome from the Rotary Club of Alderwood-Terrace multiple Paul Harris Fellow Morrie Tugby to the position of Assistant Governor. Morrie has over 22 years of Rotary Service to District 5030 and 19 years or perfect attendance. He has been to four International Conventions and many District Conferences. He has served as Club President twice and also as Club Membership Chair, and he is currently serving his Club as Media Chair.

At the District level Morrie has served three years as District Secretary and seven years as Chair of the District 5030 Audit and Accounting Committee. He has also served as District Conference Treasurer and is a Graduate of the District 5030 "Rotary Academy."

Morrie will represent the Rotary Clubs of Edmonds, Edmonds Daybreakers, Lynnwood, Mill Creek and Lake Forest Park. Please welcome Morrie to your clubs, get to know him, and include Morrie in your emails and club events. He is looking forward to working with each club throughout the remainder of this Rotary year.

Morrie can be reached at .

Rotary to Receive UN Association's Humanitarian Award

SPECIAL BULLETIN from
The profile of water and sanitation in Rotary International will receive a tremendous boost on October 25th. On that day the United Nations Association of New York will honor RI and The Rotary Foundation with its 2007 Humanitarian Award, in recognition of Rotary’s significant efforts to provide safe water and sanitation and its commitment to sustainable development worldwide.

“In the years since RI has started focusing on water as one of its annual service emphases ... We’ve learned just how much can be accomplished with relatively little, how a single small water project, perhaps a pump or a filter, can change the life of a community,” says RI president Wilf Wilkinson. “However, our work has also included participation in many other major water projects.”

The award is presented annually in observance of United Nations Day (October 24). This year’s award ceremony will focus on the global water crisis. Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and special adviser to the UN Secretary-General, will serve as Honorary Chair of the event.

Proceeds from the dinner will benefit organizations and enterprises working to alleviate water-related problems around the world.

This message comes to you from WASRAG (the Water & Sanitation Rotarian Action Group). While under the general auspices of Rotary International, this group operates independently of RI and receives no funding from it. As is so often the case with Rotary, all the members of WASRAG are volunteers and we need funds to help run the day-to-day operations of the Group. Please help us by logging on to www.wasrag.org, clicking on “Sign Up” and becoming either a Charter Member ($100) or an Annual Member ($25 per year).

Gift from Rotarians Should Fascinate Rock Hounds

Gift from Rotarians should fascinate rock hounds by Daniel Mooney When Rotary International celebrated its centennial anniversary in February 2005, local Rotary clubs put their heads together to figure out how to symbolize that longevity in the Kent community.

More than two years later, they will give the city a sphere.

“We wanted to find a project for the community that would be everlasting,” said Billy Graham, past president of Rotary Club of Kent. “Two and a half years ago I had no idea what we were going to do, but with a lot of help, we came up with this idea.”

Rotary Club of Kent and Rotary Club of Kent Sunrise will donate a unique adornment to be used as the centerpiece of the Kent Town Square Plaza project — a piece of public art in the shape of a sphere.

The $500,000 project will consist of a 12,500-pound, 63-inch, smooth sphere of granite resting in a stone fountain base. The water from the fountain will allow the sphere to rotate in the base, creating a hands-on marvel for the public. The Rotary clubs got the idea from a similar public artwork that can be seen in the Kennelly Commons on the Green River Community College’s Auburn campus.

“There’s only three places in the world that make these things,” said Graham, head coordinator of the project. “One’s in Finland, one’s in Germany and one just happened to be in Seattle.”

The clubs contacted Seattle Solstice, a company whose stone spheres and other artworks can be seen across the country, and the project began. After a world-wide search, a 20-ton piece of granite was found in India that would produce the desired, unflawed final product.

“It was shipped over from India, and now it’s in Seattle being carved out,” Graham said. “It will be in Town Square in the middle of October all finished.”

An official installation date hasn’t been set, but Graham said the tentative mid-October installation will include a public celebration and dedication.

Graham said the project comes at a perfect time for Kent.

“Kent Station, Town Square — it all came together and the timing was perfect,” Graham said. “We’re excited to be a part of the new downtown area.”

This is only one project the Rotary clubs of Kent have been working on since their births in the community. Rotary Club of Kent started in 1958 and Rotary Club of Kent Sunrise started in 1999. Made up of business people and professionals in Kent, the two local clubs are part of a community of 32,000 Rotary International clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas around the world.

“Rotary is the oldest and largest service organization in the world,” said Mark Scarff, current Rotary Club of Kent president. “It is about giving back, helping out the community. The Rotary motto is ‘Service over Self,’ and I think everyone involved really tries to practice that motto.”

As a whole, Rotary International has donated more than $500 million to the eradication of polio, and the organization is now directing its efforts to bringing palatable drinking water to third-world countries.

In addition, the local chapters have Kent interests in mind. This year, Rotary Club of Kent raised more than $10,000 for the Ryther Child Center, and its members remain committed to Kent schools.

“One of our focuses is students,” Scarff said. “We recognize students of the month from all four high schools, and we also give out academic and vocational scholarships to all four high schools, both academic and vocational.”

The Kent clubs also participate in their own international projects, sending members to places like Mexico, Japan, Ethiopia and Russia in previous years.

“We’re truly an international organization, even though we’re based here in Kent,” Graham said.

The approximately 67-member Rotary Club of Kent meets Tuesdays at 12 noon at Meridian Valley Country Club, and the approximately 38-member Rotary Club of Kent Sunrise meets Tuesdays at 7:30 a.m. at Golden Steer Steak & Rib House. For more information about the clubs, visit www.kentrotary.com or www.kentsunriserotary.org.

Contact Daniel Mooney at 253-437-6012 or .

Paul Harris Society Challenge

At the District Foundation meeting, held on September 29, 2007, Bob Smith, the Rotary Club of Maple Valley Foundation Chair, challenged the Foundation Chairs of all of the other District 5030 clubs to a contest to see what club could obtain the greatest percentage increase in Paul Harris Society members from now through June 15, 2008. The percentage increase is based upon your current club membership and excludes all current Paul Harris Society members. The winning club will have the greatest percentage increase.

To date the challenge has been accepted by the following Rotary clubs:

• Southcenter
• Bellevue Overlake
• Emerald City
• Maple Valley

The winning Foundation Chair will receive dinner for themselves and their spouses/partners at a restaurant of their choice within District 5030, paid for by the losers! Additionally, they will get the pleasure of observing the losers “Eat Crow.”

Okay, Foundation Chairs of the other Rotary clubs, where’s that club pride? If you are a Foundation Chair from a club that hasn’t joined in the challenge, do so now by emailing .

Include your club name, current club membership count, and current Paul Harris Society membership count.

2009-10 RI President Nominated

The 2007-08 Nominating Committee for President of Rotary International in 2009-10, having functioned in accordance with the bylaws of Rotary International, has indicated that it unanimously nominated:

Rotary Helps Bring Health Center to Village

On a trip to Cameroon, three Maple Valley Rotary Club members got a glimpse of a life much different than their own. These Southeast King County residents saw a place where families fight a daily struggle against AIDS and malnutrition.
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