Memphis (Tennessee) Central Rotary Club
meets Friday 11:45 at Chickasaw Country Club
main dinning room, Galloway Ave
between Holmes and Highland Streets
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Vol. 30. No. 42 June 17, 2005 Meeting 1425 Editor: Henry Francis
Today's program
Bill Williams, Underage Drinking
It’s Redbird time
Don’t go to Chickasaw next Friday – that’s not where the meeting is going to be. But there will be a meeting – at Autozone Park as we gather to watch the Redbirds play. It’s going to be Memphis Central Rotary Club=s Family Night at the Ballpark. Supper will be served from 6:00 B 7:30 at the Picnic Pavilion, and the game will start at 7:05. Forty have signed up. Your tickets will be in the member’s name at the Will Call booth facing Union.
A great year for Dave
Our club has had a great year, and this is due in great part to the fine work done by President Dave Luiken.
We have performed a wide range of charitable activities – scholarship awards, character achievement awards, clothing drive, food drive, adopt-a-school activities, the hospital in Haiti, the tsunami disaster, etc.
Our functions have been successful financially and socially. We raised thousands of dollars for our charities through our Christmas party silent auction and our golf tournament.
Excellent committees made everything work, but Dave was there to lead the way and lend a hand.
Upcoming programs
June 24 B No daytime meeting. Club party at Memphis Redbirds game.
July 1 B No meeting B Independence Day weekend
July 8 B Induction of new officers
Vijay takes over
District gavel
Vijay
Surpuriya
of the Germantown club will become our District Governor on July 1,
taking over from our own Dick Wieland.
Vijay has been a Rotarian since 1991 and was president of the
Germantown club in 1998-99. He was Assistant Governor in 2000-2001. He
has been Group Study Exchange chairman for the District for the last
five years and District Chair for the Grants for the last two years. He
was the team leader of our District’s GSE team and took the team members
to District 3080 in India. He and his wife Lata enjoy meeting people
from other countries and have hosted several GSE members over the past
15 years.
Vijay has a Ph.D. in Pharmacy from the University of Michigan. He worked for Ayerst Laboratories for 3.5 years and then Schering Plough for 20 years. Currently he is working for the Methodist Hospital in Germantown. Very active in the community, Vijay has received service awards from the City of Germantown as well as India Association of Memphis.
Home address: 2989 Carnton Drive. Germantown, TN 38138,
Home phone: 901-756-7183.
FAX: 901-756-7183
Cellphone: 901- 210-6039.
Email address: satyasai1941@yahoo.com
Rotary's Big Boots
The New York Times became the second national daily to congratulate Rotary for its work in the polio eradication project that is on the verge of total success throughout the world. The Wall Street Journal published a congratulatory editorial recently that was reprinted here in the Rotarian.
Our club has been a major contributor to the polio campaign ever since it started. I remember how hard Marty Petrusek worked to get every member to contribute at least $100. He received almost 100% cooperation, and many members contributed many times the $100.
The following article was written by Tina Rosenberg and was published in the Times on May 11.
Next month Rotary International turns 100. Rotary clubs, a staple of small-town life, are celebrating the construction of innumerable parks, the holding of myriad blood drives, the awarding of countless college scholarships - and the imminent global eradication of polio.
Twenty years ago, there were a thousand new cases of polio every day. Now polio strikes only about a thousand children a year. By next year, that number should be zero. People who think of Rotary as a congregation of service-minded dentists and funeral directors may not have noticed, but the dentists and funeral directors have created the largest, most successful private health initiative ever.
When Rotary celebrated its 75th birthday, its leaders decided to find a project that all its clubs - now in 168 countries - could work on together. A Rotarian ophthalmologist in the Philippines, where polio was rampant, asked Rotary to vaccinate Filipino children. It vaccinated six million, then made similar efforts in five other nations. In 1985, Rotary decided to wipe out polio completely.
By the time polio is eradicated, Rotary clubs will have directly contributed at least $600 million, more than any other organization except the United States government. And they offer more than cash.
"We realized the task of getting vaccines to children, persuading mothers and fathers of the value of immunization, was a problem of distribution, logistics and social mobilization," said Herb Pigman, an American who was one of the campaign's early leaders. "And here's an organization with boots on the ground in hundreds of thousands of communities."
Big boots, too. "Every polio meeting you go to, you see them," said Rima Salah, deputy executive director of Unicef. "They have commitment, credibility and influence with leaders." This is crucial, as the challenge today is political. In August 2003, Muslim clerics from the northern Nigerian state of Kano charged that America had laced the polio vaccine with drugs to render African girls infertile. Kano stopped vaccinating. Kano's cases doubled, and Nigerian strains of polio have spread to 16 other nations that had beaten the virus.
Coincidentally, the president of Rotary International that year, Jonathan Majiyagbe, was from Kano. He helped broker a compromise: Kano would use vaccine made in Indonesia, a Muslim country. In August 2004, Kano's governor publicly vaccinated his infant daughter.
Although the countries Kano infected will have to spend millions on emergency vaccination campaigns, they will probably be successful. The real challenge is to eliminate polio at its epicenter, Nigeria. If Kano does not bolt again, this will probably happen in a year.
"We would not be here without Rotary International," Dr. Salah said. "Rotary is the heart and soul of polio eradication."
Club roster
Rod Ashley, 363-6000
L.D. Beard, 369-9642
John Bennett, 853-3460
Bert Canfield, 575-0500
Larry Conn, 682-1800
Jim Crone, 754-0777
Leroy Dahler, 362-9700
Fred Davis, 761-9486
Jerry Daws, 757-8578
Bill Eddings, 386-3182
**Mark Edwards, 795-9260
Pedro Fernandez, 601-1125
Henry Francis, 754-3405
Doc Harris, 312-5104
Al Hollingsworth, 767-3600
Laura House, 323-6216
Rick James, 362-3492 X27
Jeff Jones, 853-8109
Doyle Lemons, 756-6536
R.E. Linkous, 754-0700
Dave Luiken, 382-3823
Harvey Marcom, 761-2016
Bill Matthews, 345-5650
John May, 761-3000
Floyd McDaniel, 327-2013
Chris McDermott, 377-1000
Tom Michael, 759-2143
Bob Neal, 685-7772
**Don Palmer, 662-429-1542
Jean Patterson, 332-5586
Chester Perry, 685-0972
Andy Peters, 821-4145
Marty Petrusek, 755-5945
Mike Robbins, 363-5880
Randolph Reeves, 681-0507
Jack Robinson, 213-3993
Gary Rutherford, 753-7957
*Tidwell Semmes, 767-5752
John Shepherd, 850-1061
Carlton Smith, 690-1203
*Henry Springer, 757-9005
Jack Springer, 681-0025
*Jim Vandenburg, 735-7003
Lee Whipple, 755-8350
Dick Wieland, 322-8630
Buddy Wright, 680-0340
* Honorary member
** On leave of absence
A great year for Dave
Our club has had a great year, and this is due in great part to the fine work done by President Dave Luiken.
We have performed a wide range of charitable activities – scholarship awards, character achievement awards, clothing drive, food drive, adopt-a-school activities, the hospital in Haiti, the tsunami disaster, etc.
Our functions have been successful financially and socially. We raised thousands of dollars for our charities through our Christmas party silent auction and our golf tournament.
Excellent committees made everything work, but Dave was there to lead the way and lend a hand.
Upcoming programs
June 24 B No daytime meeting. Club party at Memphis Redbirds game.
July 1 B No meeting B Independence Day weekend
July 8 B Induction of new officers
Vijay takes over
District gavel
Vijay
Surpuriya
of the Germantown club will become our District Governor on July 1, taking
over from our own Dick Wieland.
Vijay has been a Rotarian since 1991 and was president of the
Germantown club in 1998-99. He was Assistant Governor in 2000-2001. He has
been Group Study Exchange chairman for the District for the last five
years and District Chair for the Grants for the last two years. He was the
team leader of our District’s GSE team and took the team members to
District 3080 in India. He and his wife Lata enjoy meeting people from
other countries and have hosted several GSE members over the past 15
years.
Vijay has a Ph.D. in Pharmacy from the University of Michigan. He worked for Ayerst Laboratories for 3.5 years and then Schering Plough for 20 years. Currently he is working for the Methodist Hospital in Germantown. Very active in the community, Vijay has received service awards from the City of Germantown as well as India Association of Memphis.
Home address: 2989 Carnton Drive. Germantown, TN 38138,
Home phone: 901-756-7183.
FAX: 901-756-7183
Cellphone: 901- 210-6039.
Email address: satyasai1941@yahoo.com
Rotary's Big Boots
The New York Times became the second national daily to congratulate Rotary for its work in the polio eradication project that is on the verge of total success throughout the world. The Wall Street Journal published a congratulatory editorial recently that was reprinted here in the Rotarian.
Our club has been a major contributor to the polio campaign ever since it started. I remember how hard Marty Petrusek worked to get every member to contribute at least $100. He received almost 100% cooperation, and many members contributed many times the $100.
The following article was written by Tina Rosenberg and was published in the Times on May 11.
Next month Rotary International turns 100. Rotary clubs, a staple of small-town life, are celebrating the construction of innumerable parks, the holding of myriad blood drives, the awarding of countless college scholarships - and the imminent global eradication of polio.
Twenty years ago, there were a thousand new cases of polio every day. Now polio strikes only about a thousand children a year. By next year, that number should be zero. People who think of Rotary as a congregation of service-minded dentists and funeral directors may not have noticed, but the dentists and funeral directors have created the largest, most successful private health initiative ever.
When Rotary celebrated its 75th birthday, its leaders decided to find a project that all its clubs - now in 168 countries - could work on together. A Rotarian ophthalmologist in the Philippines, where polio was rampant, asked Rotary to vaccinate Filipino children. It vaccinated six million, then made similar efforts in five other nations. In 1985, Rotary decided to wipe out polio completely.
By the time polio is eradicated, Rotary clubs will have directly contributed at least $600 million, more than any other organization except the United States government. And they offer more than cash.
"We realized the task of getting vaccines to children, persuading mothers and fathers of the value of immunization, was a problem of distribution, logistics and social mobilization," said Herb Pigman, an American who was one of the campaign's early leaders. "And here's an organization with boots on the ground in hundreds of thousands of communities."
Big boots, too. "Every polio meeting you go to, you see them," said Rima Salah, deputy executive director of Unicef. "They have commitment, credibility and influence with leaders." This is crucial, as the challenge today is political. In August 2003, Muslim clerics from the northern Nigerian state of Kano charged that America had laced the polio vaccine with drugs to render African girls infertile. Kano stopped vaccinating. Kano's cases doubled, and Nigerian strains of polio have spread to 16 other nations that had beaten the virus.
Coincidentally, the president of Rotary International that year, Jonathan Majiyagbe, was from Kano. He helped broker a compromise: Kano would use vaccine made in Indonesia, a Muslim country. In August 2004, Kano's governor publicly vaccinated his infant daughter.
Although the countries Kano infected will have to spend millions on emergency vaccination campaigns, they will probably be successful. The real challenge is to eliminate polio at its epicenter, Nigeria. If Kano does not bolt again, this will probably happen in a year.
"We would not be here without Rotary International," Dr. Salah said. "Rotary is the heart and soul of polio eradication."
Club roster
Rod Ashley, 363-6000
L.D. Beard, 369-9642
John Bennett, 853-3460
Bert Canfield, 575-0500
Larry Conn, 682-1800
Jim Crone, 754-0777
Leroy Dahler, 362-9700
Fred Davis, 761-9486
Jerry Daws, 757-8578
Bill Eddings, 386-3182
**Mark Edwards, 795-9260
Pedro Fernandez, 601-1125
Henry Francis, 754-3405
Doc Harris, 312-5104
Al Hollingsworth, 767-3600
Laura House, 323-6216
Rick James, 362-3492 X27
Jeff Jones, 853-8109
Doyle Lemons, 756-6536
R.E. Linkous, 754-0700
Dave Luiken, 382-3823
Harvey Marcom, 761-2016
Bill Matthews, 345-5650
John May, 761-3000
Floyd McDaniel, 327-2013
Chris McDermott, 377-1000
Tom Michael, 759-2143
Bob Neal, 685-7772
**Don Palmer, 662-429-1542
Jean Patterson, 332-5586
Chester Perry, 685-0972
Andy Peters, 821-4145
Marty Petrusek, 755-5945
Mike Robbins, 363-5880
Randolph Reeves, 681-0507
Jack Robinson, 213-3993
Gary Rutherford, 753-7957
*Tidwell Semmes, 767-5752
John Shepherd, 850-1061
Carlton Smith, 690-1203
*Henry Springer, 757-9005
Jack Springer, 681-0025
*Jim Vandenburg, 735-7003
Lee Whipple, 755-8350
Dick Wieland, 322-8630
Buddy Wright, 680-0340
* Honorary member