|
FUTURE
MEETINGS: Meetings
will be at the location noted, at 6:00 pm.
|
|
May
5th: Eric Hoiland will present the
program, but I have no idea what or where.
May
19th: Steve Heithecker will host us
at the Patrick Ranch.
June
9th: At BCCC but the program is unknown.
June
23rd: A party at the BCCC in view of the lack
of a demotion
|
This was the evening
arranged for by Diana and Jessica for the presentation of the Student
Scholarships and Student of the Month awards. So we had students
and many of their parents and other relatives present.
Since that was what
this meeting was about, we had no Announcements, Recognitions or the
other usual things.
Tom did talk about
the various things Durham Rotary has done for the Durham community.
After dinner, which I
believe Diana arranged for, we got right into the awards. Larry
Bradley was the Master of Ceremonies for that.
He began with the
Students of the Month:
For March it was Ava
Bunch.
For
April
it was Daisy Knowles
For May it was Hank
Simmons.
He
then
introduced the Interact Officers.
Concluding with the
Scholarship winners.
Following each introduction,
Larry talked about each student’s academic accomplishment, sports
accomplishments, their other interests and what college they were
going to. About 7 of them are going to Cal Poly.
When Larry had concluded his
introductions and discussions of the students, Tom closed the
meeting.
Membership
Bring
guests who you think you can interest in becoming a member. We Need More Members! Your
dinner and your guest’s dinner will be paid for by the Club.
Also, bring a guest to one of our occasional social gatherings.
President
Tom is asking the members to bring in new members this year.
Go to the
following Rotary International web site for information on membership
development: https://my.rotary.org/en/learning-reference/learn-topic/membership
.
From this website there is access to membership development and
other related information.
The
Rotary Foundation Donations
You can make a difference in this world by helping
people in need. Your gift can do some great things, from supplying
filters that clean people’s drinking water to empowering local
entrepreneurs to grow through business development training.
The Rotary Foundation will use your gift to fund
the life-changing work of Rotary members who provide sustainable
solutions to their communities’ most pressing needs. But we need help
from people like you who will take action and give the gift of Rotary
to make these projects possible.
When every Rotarian
gives every year, no challenge is too great for us to make a
difference. The minimum gift to The Rotary Foundation is
$25.00. An annual $100.00 gift is a sustaining
member. Once your donations accumulate to $1,000 you become a
Paul Harris Fellow.
If you have any
questions, ask Steve Heithecker.
It is possible to learn more about The Rotary
Foundation on the Rotary web site.
Your gift can be made online or by sending Jessica
Thorpe a check made out to The Rotary Foundation to Durham Rotary,
P.O. Box 383, Durham, California 95958.
The latest District Newsletter has been uploaded to DACdb - to view it
there go to the District tab, open the District Bulletin file and look
for the pdf file named Rotary District 5160 Newsletter.
From
Rotary International’s News and Features Website
{Note that the proceeding may not be the complete article.
See the complete article on Rotary International’s web page.}
Note that
the photos in the original article may not have been reproduced here.
A Rotarian works to dispel myths about polio vaccines
Diana
Maria
Pirga
Rotary
Club
of Türkiye Evrensel, District 2430
Digital community engagement specialist, UNICEF Pakistan
I
was looking for volunteer opportunities in my home country of Romania
when I saw a social media post about a Rotaract project. I made a
donation, and the members invited me to come with them in the field. I
joined Rotaract and got involved in many other projects that came
after. You could even say my digital career started there. Back in
those days social media was booming in Romania, and as a club we
started organizing conferences for youth to learn about social media
not only as users but as a job.
Image
credit:
Khaula Jamil
When
I joined Rotaract, I had no idea what Rotary was about. I remember,
even now, I was sitting at my computer and watching all these videos
about Rotary’s work on the polio eradication initiative. I was
impressed by the hard work being done. I said to myself back then that
it would be so great one day to be working with Rotary on this
program. And somehow, 10 years later, I got the chance.
At
UNICEF,
part of my work lies in managing disinformation and addressing
hesitancy around polio vaccination. The majority of parents are not
against vaccines, and they do vaccinate during every campaign.
However, we have a small group that has worries. Some people fear side
effects; others question why children need several doses of the same
vaccine. When these concerns are not addressed, uncertainty can grow
and negative narratives can lead to hesitancy or refusal.
We
respond
to vaccine concerns in two ways. First, we support health workers with
simple explanations they can use when speaking with families about why
the polio vaccine is safe and why repeated doses are needed. Second,
we rely on trusted local voices. Parents are more likely to listen to
people they know, and when other caregivers share their own
experiences of vaccinating their children, that reassurance often
matters more than official messages. By listening carefully and
working through trusted community voices, we protect confidence in
polio vaccination — one conversation at a time.
This
story
originally appeared in the April 2026 issue of Rotary magazine.
© 2026 Rotary International. All
rights reserved. Privacy
Policy
Terms of Use
|
The Rotary International web site
is: www.rotary.org
District 5160 web site is found at www.dacab.com. But you
will need a user name and password. Contact your editor
for instructions.
The Durham Rotary Club site
is: www.durhamrotary.org
The Rowel Editor may be contacted at: pbprice1784@gmail.com
The deadline for the Rowel 10:00 am on
Wednesdays.
The Editor’s photographs published in the
Rowel are available, upon request, in their original file
size. Those published were substantially reduced in file
size.
If anyone finds an error in this Rowel, please email me. I
can do a corrected Rowel within the first day or two.
|
