Announcements/Business:
- May 6th is the District Conference - In person event will be held. Can get more information on the District’s Website.
- Rotary District Governor’s monthly message from Bob Kemp can be viewed by going to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fWfulSFn98
- Several 9 News Health Vaccination sites are still running. Can contact Audrey if interested in volunteering audleav2@aol.com
- Sept 26th - Rotary Day at the Rockies : portion of ticket sales goes to End Polio Now. More info will be coming soon.
- Next board meeting will discuss a starting date for meeting in person. May be hybrid, but need to explore the technology. Earliest is June - need to see what happens between now and then but just would like an indication of how many people are interested.
- ConiferFest save the date is up on the website coniferfest.org. Tentative date is August 21st.
- Diana: Rotary youth exchange is postponed one more year.
- Angela: St Paddy's day, didn’t bring in as much as years past but would like to highlight. that she made a deposit for a total of $396 from St. Paddy’s Collections, plus Valentines, and the barrel.
- Called about peaches fundraising, hoping to be able to do it but can’t say anything definite until after may10th. We’ll be first on the list if they can grow them this year.
- Conifer Lobos bleecher box project: in final phases of fundraising. planning to install bleachers in May. If anyone is inclined to purchase a seat or a row, there’s still time to do that.
- Denise & a Peace Committee: Something we would form within our club. Opportunity to pair with other countries at the International Convention. Will be on the agenda to discuss at the board meeting.
- Leslie & May 8th day of service: Still trying to get in touch with King Soopers to nail down a location. Backup plan is to look at the parking lot at 1st Bank.
Program: Dr. Marny Eulberg, District PolioPlus Chair
- District 5450 Polio Committee chairperson
- Dr. Eulberg is a polio survivor who is very involved in organizations dedicated to survivors and eradication
- In Rotary, the terms Polio Plus and End Polio now are all basically the same thing. The hope was that Rotary could declare world polio free by 2005 but the effort is ongoing.
- Some of the pluses in PolioPlus:
- Giving vitamin a drops and deworming medicine in addition to drops of polio vaccine
- Including water and sanitation projects
- Since 2020: teams have included covid training, surveillance, and contract tracing
- Making a lot of progress, and back on track:
- Cases caused by wild polio virus has dropped by 99.9%
- So far this year, there have been 2 cases caused by wild polio virus
- 43 caused by circulating cVDPV
- 20 million people are estimated to be walking who would have otherwise been paralyzed
- No cases of wild polio cases outside of Afghanistan and Pakistan for several years.
- All of Africa declared polio free since august 2020
- You must listen carefully when hearing statistics about polio
- Are they talking about only wild polio virus or also including those caused by the circulating vaccine derived virus?
- In 2020 1075 children were paralyzed by cVDPV and those children are just as paralyzed as those who contract the wild one
- There is a new program in district 5450
- Polio Plus society
- Sign a pledge that they wild donate at least $100/yr until polio is eradicated
- Donations can be made at endpolio.org/donate
- Conifer Rotary already has 2 members which is a higher percentage basis than many of the other clubs!
- Sunday September 26th: in the afternoon will be a game for the Rotary Day at the Rockies
- portion of tickets will go to end polio now
- Details will be coming
- Some hesitations with covid and wanting to make sure everything is all clear