BOALSBURG — Nearly 150 Centre County Rotarians, friends and guests gathered at Mountain View Country Club in Boalsburg on May 19 to celebrate the 100th year of the Rotary International Foundation.
Organized by the State College Downtown Rotary Club, the event included a variety of programs that explained and extolled the virtues of the Rotary Foundation, which was created in 1917 in Chicago when Rotarian Arch Klumph donated $26.50 to establish it.
To date, the Rotary Foundation has given out $3 billion in grants to support a wide variety of humanitarian projects. Perhaps the best known project to date has been Polio Plus, an effort to completely eradicate polio from the earth.
“The Rotary Foundation was the driving force in the 1970s and 1980s with a plan to ‘contain’ polio in the world,” said Jim Eberly, a former district governor and member of the Downtown Rotary Club. “Contain became eradicate. As of today, more than 2.5 billion children have been immunized by Rotary. Polio is a disease that has been around since 1580 B.C.”
Eberly noted that he has a passion for Rotary because it lives up to its motto of “Do Good in the World.”
Here in State College, the Rotary Foundation has provided help in supplying computers and projectors to the Dyslexia Reading Center, financing restroom and shower facilities for the Seven Mountains Boy Scout Camp, and helping groups such as the Women’s Resource Center and the YMCA.
Tracy Sepich, current president of the Downtown Rotary Club, said, “I think we are all called to help others, according to our individual abilities. Through the Rotary Foundation, we are able to give a helping hand, not only to our own neighbors, but to people in need around the world.”
Sepich pointed out that Charity Navigator has given the Rotary Foundation the highest rating for nine consecutive years. “That means the money goes where it was intended and effective projects are funded.”
Long-time Rotarian Kat Snowe agreed.
“The foundation’s impact is worldwide. I have witnessed children in Brazil obtaining access to medical and dental care firsthand,” Snowe said. “Rotary is accomplishing things that governments can’t or won’t do to help their citizens.
“I feel strongly that plenty and privilege gives us an obligation to help those less fortunate.’
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