Rotarian Steven Harrold educates fellow club members

Published 8:00 am Wednesday, April 29, 2009

By Staff

Steve Harrold recently spoke to the Rotary Club of Greene and Putnam Counties on the Rotary Foundation. The Rotary Foundation was formally established at the 1928 Rotary International convention for the purpose of accepting endowments for doing good in the world. Since then, The Rotary Foundation has enabled Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty. The Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation, supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation who share a better vision of the world.

Steve stated: “The Foundation means so much to every one of the people touched by Foundation-supported programs every year- the children too poor to go to school, the families who have lost everything in a disaster, the communities that lack sanitation, clean water and medical care. It means so much to the two billion children now living lives free from polio. Because of the work that the Foundation has helped support, five million cases of paralysis and more than 250,000 deaths from polio have been prevented.”

It was Arch Klumph, father of The Rotary Foundation, who said, “We should look at the Foundation as being not something of today or tomorrow, but think of it in terms of the years and generations to come.”

Steve concluded by reminding Rotarians: “The Rotary Foundation lifts Rotary up as it allows every club and every district to do the most it possibly can. It allows every Rotarian to be part of all of the Rotary’s work and to bring that work to every increasing height. It is every Rotarians responsibility to support the Foundation to keep the Foundation strong and to insure we keep the work going—–whether Alliance for Smiles Missions (Rotary International Initiative for Cleft Palate surgeries), Second Harvest, (food rescue program for Greene and Putnam Counties) or other local or international work. “

Steve and his wife Eudora reside in the lake area. Rotarians look to Steve as the example to follow in supporting the Rotary Foundation.