Oak Ridge Today

Spotlight: Rotary leads fight against polio

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‘We are this close to ending polio’

Rotary International, which includes some 1.3 million members in 33,000 clubs in more than 200 countries around the world, celebrated October 24 as World Polio Day.

Since 1985, Rotary has led the battle against polio, as worldwide cases plummeted from 350,000 per year to several hundred—a 99 percent reduction.

“This is a source of pride to Rotarians everywhere,” says District Governor Jerry Wear of Rotary District 6780, which includes East Tennessee. “In our relentless fundraising efforts and our participation in inoculation days around the world, Rotarians are committed to carrying this important mission to completion.”

Today, polio is endemic in only three countries—Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. When India came off that list in 2012, it was an important step toward eradicating a human disease from the earth for only the second time in history. (The first disease so eradicated was smallpox.) [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary, Altrusa present literacy grant awards

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Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary and Altrusa Literacy Award Grants

The Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club and Altrusa recently selected the winners of the 2013 Literacy Award Grants. Pictured above from left are Janet Swift of Altrusa, Emily Spahr of Clinton Elementary School, Sheila Michels and Zabrina Minor of TORCH, Jill McMaster of Roane Imagination Library, Linda Dalton of Oak Ridge Preschool, Doris Doherty of ADFAC, Rhoni Basden of Girls Inc., Kat Hall of Norris Middle School, Brenda Thornburgh of ORBRC, and Melinda White of Oak Ridge Preschool. (Submitted photo)

The Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club and Altrusa recently awarded roughly $19,000 in 14 literacy grants to 10 organizations.

The grants are awarded based on a competition that is judged by a committee of Rotarians and Altrusans, a press release said. Winners are celebrated during March of each year when Rotary International observes Literacy Month.

The total presented in the 2013 literacy grant awards was $18,987. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Peace Forum donates $7,500 to Rotary Peace Centers

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Oak Ridge Peace Forum Donates to Rotary Foundation

Past District Governor and Zone 30 Coordinator Karen Wentz, right, presents a check for $7,500 from the Oak Ridge Peace Forum to Rotary Foundation Chair Wilf Wilkerson, left, and Rotary International President Sakuji Tanaka at Duke University. (Submitted photo)

The Oak Ridge Peace Forum has donated $7,500 of its net proceeds to the Peace Centers Endowment of The Rotary Foundation.

“The Rotary Peace Centers offer an avenue for extending peace activities throughout the world through its growing cadre of Peace Fellows,” said Fred Heitman, chair of the Peace Forum planning committee, which decided in early April to make the donation.

The Oak Ridge Peace Forum is sponsored by Rotary District 6780, which is now led by District Governor Jack Bailey of Oak Ridge.

More than 250 people attended the Peace Forum on March 9 in Pollard Auditorium. The planning committee consisted mostly of representatives of three Rotary clubs in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Rotary International president visits Oak Ridge for peace forum

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Sakuji Tanaka

Sakuji Tanaka

When Rotary International President Sakuji Tanaka of Japan visits Oak Ridge on Friday and Saturday, he will talk about and hear innovative ideas on how to achieve peace through service.

On Friday, Thom Mason, director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will give Tanaka a tour of ORNL. At 3 p.m., the RI president will tour the Secret City Commemorative Walk built by the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge. City Manager Mark Watson, who is president-elect of this Rotary club, will present a gift to Tanaka, who will make some remarks.

At 3:45 p.m. Tanaka will then visit the International Friendship Bell, where he will be welcomed by Oak Ridger Jack Bailey, district governor of RI District 6780, which encompasses 65 clubs in East Tennessee. Shigeko Uppuluri will present a history of the bell and give a bell replica to Tanaka, who will make remarks and ring the bell.

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Why is Rotary International president coming here?

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Jack Bailey

Jack Bailey

For the second time since Rotary International was born in 1905 in Chicago, a sitting RI president will visit Oak Ridge. He will serve as keynote speaker and hear innovative ideas at the Oak Ridge Peace Forum on Saturday, March 9, at Oak Ridge Associated Universities’ Pollard Auditorium.

The only other time a sitting RI president spoke in Oak Ridge was in 2000 when Frank Devlyn of Mexico came here. Why will RI President Sakuji Tanaka of Japan be in Oak Ridge Mar. 8-10?

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Rotary International president to speak in Oak Ridge at March forum

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Rotary International President Sakuji Tanaka

Rotary International President Sakuji Tanaka of Japan will deliver the keynote address at the Rotary International District 6780 Peace Forum on March 9 in Oak Ridge.

For the first time in many years, a Rotary International president will visit Oak Ridge on Friday and Saturday, Mar. 8-9.

RI President Sakuji Tanaka of Japan will speak on “Peace through Service,” the motto for his one-year term, at the Peace Forum that the Rotary International District 6780 will hold.

Oak Ridge is the site of the only scheduled Rotary peace forum in the continental United States that the RI president will address. RI has sponsored international peace forums in Berlin and Honolulu. The RI president was present at these events and will attend the peace forum in Hiroshima, Japan.

[Read more…]