In August, I was proud to visit Pakistan and highlight Rotary’s top goal, eradicating polio. It was also a tremendous opportunity to spotlight female health workers who are playing a critical role in protecting children from this vaccine-preventable disease.
This month, as we celebrate World Polio Day, we are shining a spotlight on our more than 30-year effort to lead the first global polio eradication campaign and our success in forming partnerships capable of completing this massive goal. We all know that this is one of the most ambitious global health initiatives in history and that we’ve reduced polio cases by more than 99.9 percent worldwide.
Pakistan is one of only two countries in the world where wild poliovirus remains endemic. (The other is neighboring Afghanistan.) I was able to witness and take part in vaccination campaigns in Pakistan, and soon after I left, a monumental nationwide immunization campaign took place, focused on 43 million children under the age of 5. I saw the incredible work of Rotary members on the ground. More than 60 percent of vaccinators in Pakistan are women, and they are doing a remarkable job building trust and convincing mothers to vaccinate their children.
Seeing it all firsthand, I know that the will exists across the Rotary world to end polio, and I’m confident that we have the strategy. The Pakistani media has been very supportive of our efforts as well, and this is making a difference. This month, a new global pledging moment at the World Health Summit in Berlin promises to pull together more resources to fund these time-sensitive eradication efforts. Now it is up to us to do our part and raise $50 million this year to earn the full 2-to-1 match from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
There’s great cause for optimism on the polio front — but also some staggering new events that have further raised the stakes. Over the past few months, new polio outbreaks have occurred in Israel, the United Kingdom and, most recently, in the New York City area. These stories are frightening, but in every case, the response is clear — vaccines work, and if polio is spreading, we need to make sure the most at-risk people have kept their vaccinations up to date.
Most importantly, we need to eradicate this virus now. If polio exists anywhere, it can spread everywhere. What I saw in Pakistan convinced me that we can and must finish the job, but it will only happen if we remain committed to a strategy that’s working and back it with all necessary resources.
Through our commitment, generosity, and sheer determination, we will #EndPolio.
Rotarians are passionate about providing solutions to poverty. Over the past year, The Rotary Foundation has provided $9.2 million to support club and district-led projects that grow local economies and reduce poverty. Our support is critical to continue empowering local entrepreneurs and community leaders, particularly women, in impoverished communities.
What have we been up to?
Rotarians are People of Action. We share a unique passion for taking action to improve communities and the world. The Rotary Club of Edmonton West has a proud tradition of being a Hands-On club and we have had a busy October doing just that. So far this year we have logged 373 volunteer hours.
The Daytimers
Our intrepid Edmonton West Daytimers have been working hard putting their skills to work in the community.
Grandview Extended Care
We are always willing to help out the residents of the Grandview Extended Care Facility. Al and crew built flower planters and delivered them to the facility.
Sinkunia Community Development Organization
Sinkunia Community Development Organization (SCDO) is a registered non-profit organization that has been in existence in Edmonton, Alberta since November 2007. Our focus is helping new African immigrants-especially youth- to get accustomed to life in Canada, to partner with like minded organizations offering complementary services for our clients. Our goal is to help African immigrant families develop their talents and capacities to participate fully and equitably in Canadian life, through grassroots initiatives. As a result of our successful programs and initiatives, SCDO has attracted the attention and support of communities in the wider immigrant population, causing us to expand our reach.
Al and Karen Sanderson worked with Shelly Sabo on their shed in the community garden. The shed was a complete jumble when they arrived. They emptied out the shed, put the shelving together and secured it so it won't fall down, built a rack for the long garden tools, then organized all the items in the shed. Shelley and the Sekunia Society Executive Director were very pleased with the result, so RCEW gets the kudos!
The following week they helped them layout and organize the garden plots in the field by the shed to make better use of the land they have available.
We hope to develop this relationship with our club and hope there will be further opportunities for our club to get involved, and to get connected with a different cultural community in the City.
Anyone wishing to be part of our Daytimers, please contact Al Sanderson.
Purolator Tackle Hunger
Since 2003, Purolator employees have been going the extra mile to take action through Purolator Tackle Hunger – an initiative that’s all about people helping people. Since then, this employee-led grassroots initiative has helped deliver more than 18 million pounds of food to families across the country.
For many years Edmonton West volunteers have supported this food drive for the Edmonton Food Bank. Thanks to our members and MacEwan Rotaract for volunteering. This event raised over $25,000 in cash donations and 4,500lbs in food donations. This is welcome news for Edmonton's Food Bank. The demand for hampers in Edmonton went up more than 20 per cent from last spring. Edmonton's Food Bank supplied 26,000 hampers in the year ending March 2021, and that went up to 32,000 hampers this past March.
Boyle Street Thanksgiving
It was all hands on deck at Boyle Street Community Services at Thanksgiving. This was truly a group effort with community organizations coming together to bring a warm turkey dinner to the community. The Edmonton Food Bank supplied the food, NAIT Culinary Students cooked the food, Edmonton West Rotarians and MacEwan Rotaractors packaged and handed out the meals. Warm socks were donated by On Site Restoration and winter scarves were donated by the Oilers Community Foundation.
We handed out 450 meals to the Boyle Street community. Thanks to the staff at Boyle Street for giving us the opportunity and for all they do every day. This is what Thanksgiving is all about.
Highway Clean Up
We were very lucky to have such a beautiful fall day to clean our section of Highway 16. As the saying goes, "More Hands Make Light Work", and we had lots of volunteers. This was a Joint Service Project with Rotarians, Rotaractors, Interacters, Family and the Lions Host Club. We filled 32 bags with garbage and left the Highway spotless!!
Building Beds for Ukrainian Kids
We spent a wonderful day making beds for kids. Rotarians from Rotary District 5370, and Rotaractors from MacEwan and the University of Alberta came together to build beds for the Ukrainian families arriving in our city. The goal was to build 15 beds. But when Rotarians are asked to help we show up and work hard and we built 35 beds. Al’s wife Karen, and her St. Albert quilting group, donated 15 quilts with more to come. We are looking forward to delivering the beds in a couple of weeks. A huge thank you to Marc, Julie, Neil and their crew for being fantastic hosts and for all you do to make sure that “No Kid Sleeps on the Floor in Our Town”.
At our club meeting September 26, Dr. Lynne Paradis presented on the Literacy Alive Project, in Belize, now into 9th Rotary International Global Grant. This project has been active since 2014.
Lynne, a Rotarian from Red Deer has moved to Edmonton and is hoping our club might become re-engaged in Belize. We are hoping as well that Lynne will join our club and continue this project.
There is an opportunity for members of the club to travel to Belize and become part of this project. Members will be joined by Rotary volunteers from the Rotary Club of Red Deer.
Carol Lund has agreed to assist with this project, along with myself.
Please contact Jackie or Carol if you are interested in this opportunity. There is lots of flexibility for travel in Belize as well as connecting with Rotarians in this vibrant and developing country.
Call for more information.
Please note: non-Rotarians are welcome!
Jackie Hobal
780-910-0527
Carol Lund
780-220-9286
Indigenous Speaker Series
Birthdays & Anniversaries
Member Birthdays
Arthur Lachance
October 18
Douglas Sollows
October 22
Vicky Grabb
October 29
Alastair Sanderson
November 1
Lorne Proctor
November 9
Bryan Gouthro
November 19
Carol Lund
November 29
Spouse Birthdays
Alastair
November 17
Wayne Hobal
November 24
Join Date
Robert Dunseith
October 1, 1997
25 years
Benjamin (Ben) Turner
October 17, 2011
11 years
Ed Schultz
November 1, 1995
27 years
Jigo George
November 7, 2014
8 years
Douglas Sollows
November 22, 1998
24 years
World Polio Day 2022
One Day. One Focus: Ending Polio
24 October
The detection of wild and variant poliovirus in places where it hasn’t been found for years demonstrates the difficulty of eradicating a human disease, especially in the final stages.
In recent months, an unvaccinated man in the United States was paralyzed by variant polio. In the UK, poliovirus was detected in sewage. In Malawi, a child contracted polio from a wild virus imported from Pakistan. Children in Mozambique have also been infected with wild poliovirus imported from Pakistan, and in recent years the country has had outbreaks of both cVDPV1 and cVDPV2.
But Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative remain confident for several reasons about achieving a polio-free world.
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