I mentioned at one of our meetings that October seems like the Rotary Month – it seems that there is a lot happening with our club, our district, and throughout the world Rotary community. For example, we are coming down the stretch with our efforts for world-wide eradication of polio. Many of our members have made significant contributions in time and money to this effort, such as the Walk-a-Thon that we helped to sponsor on October 24 at Mercer County Park. I want to personally thank all the participants, but I want to especially thank Susan Mullins who organized this effort. We need to make one final push to achieving the goal of raising $200M which will match a grant of $355M by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Please consider making a donation in the next several weeks, so our Club can achieve its personal goals of full member participation.

Our weekly raffle is in full swing, with all the money supporting our Literacy Project. This is one of our Club’s key community service activities, and it is a perfect model for community service, requiring both our time and money. Our board recently approved the continuing efforts of Marcia Bossart’s project, and I hope that many of us can participate in this year’s efforts. I would ask you to please consider a donation to the raffle. Please see either Dana or myself. We would like to be able to announce the items at least a week ahead.

Please remember our weekly Food for Friends drive, providing food and monetary contributions to the Crisis Ministry. They can accept any type of canned goods (particularly tuna and canned meats), dry goods such as beans and pasta, cereals, personal care items and anything that does not come in a bottle. They would also be happy to accept a cash donation, of course.

It was a great honor to have hosted Ziauddin Yusafzai who was visiting from Pakistan on October 14. All in attendance would agree that we learned an incredible amount about the Swat Valley in Pakistan, and got a greater appreciation of how different, and difficult, the rest of the world is. Mr. Yusafzai is a friend of Rotarian Zebu Jilani, who has visited our club many time. Mr. Yusafzai’s story is truly inspiring – a tale of rising above the oppression of the Taliban, while facing the possibility of their deadly wrath. I would encourage you to read and see the report on the NY Times website about Mr. Yusafzai if you haven’t already experienced this: http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/a-familys-journey-and-agirls-dream/.

It is always humbling for me to see all the work that goes on with our club, and the many enthusiastic members we have. We need to continue to pass along the word to our community, and to let people know who we are and what we do. So, don’t be shy – ask someone to come to our next luncheon.”