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April 17 Meeting Held at Food Bank
 
On Monday, the Downtown Rotary Club will have their noon meeting at the Northeast Iowa Food Bank.  Parking is available in the parking lot off of Lafayette and surrounding streets.  Please enter through the Volunteer Door.   After Lunch the Food Bank will make a special announcement that is being unveiled at this meeting.  Members will then help the Food Bank pack backpacks for the BackPack program.  This program reaches 137 schools and 5000 kids in northeast Iowa.
 
Hops & Grapes 2017 Will Benefit Operation Warm
Thank you to all those who voted last week and chose Operation Warm to benefit from funds raised at this year's event! Get those purse strings loosened up, since we will not serve as hosts for the VGM Heartland Conference, we are already behind the mark to get coats for kids!  Hops & Grapes will be held on Thursday, May 18, from 6-9 PM at the Isle Casino Waterloo.  We are featuring wine and beer selections from Iowa Producers, along with heavy appetizers from our Friends at the Isle.  We will not have much of an auction this year, we will be requesting tax deductible donations directly to Operation Warm, the rest of the night belongs to you to network, mingle, and enjoy Rotarian fellowship!  Cost is only $20 per person, so invite friends, family, prospective Rotarians, anybody that might have fun!
This close gets even closer for polio eradication
 
Only five cases of wild polio virus this year thru April 12
We’ve all heard it dozens of times in the last five years, and it continues to be true. We’re this close to eradicating the devastating and crippling disease that attacks mainly children—polio.
 
The World Health Organization (WHO) of the United Nations reports only three new cases this year in Afghanistan and two more in Pakistan thru April 12 compared to ten at this time in 2016 and 21 in 2015. With hot summer weather ahead in those regions, the total will likely climb. Last year, for example, the total rose to 21 new cases by year-end.
 
Another piece of good news, no new cases were reported anywhere this year since February 20.
 
The Rotary Foundation has funded hundreds of millions of dollars to the effort since 1985 and has supported two UN agencies, WHO and UNICEF, in the eradication effort. But much of the progress in recent years has come from the Bill and Melinda Foundation with challenge grants to our foundation. Now Bill Gates has agreed to be the keynote speaker at this summer’s Rotary International convention in Atlanta June 11-14.
 
You can learn details and register at www.riconvention.org/en/atlanta/schedule-highlights.
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Russell Hampton
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