(CHENNAI, INDIA)  "Today we visited a couple of Rotary
projects in the rural villages of the District.  Our first
stop was at Kadalur village to visit the Swami Dayanada
Rotary Nursery and Primary School." 

Click here http://gsechennai2012.wordpress.com/ to
follow the District 5280 GSE team in India, as they
describe their daily activities in their blog.

"January 13, 2012 will mark one year since the last case of polio
was reported in India," predicted John Osterlund, general manager
of The Rotary Foundation, at the District 5280 breakfast earlier
this week.  Two days later the "polio-free" deadline came and went
without a new case being reported.  Meaning India has been free
of any new cases of the dreaded disease for a year. "Now instead
of the four so-called 'PAIN' countries, the only three countries
remaining are Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria," he said.

Learn more about this momentous development on the
Rotary International Web site and the significance it has for
RI President Kalyan Banerjee.  In his remarks thanking Rotarians
worldwide for achieving this important milestone, President
Banerjee urged avoiding complacency in Rotary's continuing
effort to erradicate polio from the face of the planet.

                Click on the banner above to reach
                   the District Conference Web site. 

Dear fellow Rotarians,

RI President Kalyan Banerjee has challenged all clubs to qualify for two special award programs during 2011-12: the Changemaker Award and the Presidential Citation. Please review the following information and ensure that your clubs are on track to meet this challenge.

Changemaker Award

Deadline: 15 March 2012

To qualify for the Changemaker Award, clubs must complete a minimum number of activities in each of the five avenues of service. Rotaract and Interact clubs may also qualify for this award, and I hope you will encourage your partners in service to participate.

Friday, January 13th 2012 is the Youth Protection Policy Certification Training & Wine Tasting Event at the Hacienda Hotel Courtyard Hotel. 6:30pm is the seminar & certification and at 8:00pm is the wine tasting social. All Rotarians who work with Youth/New Generations must be certified with YPP and go though the background certification process. This event makes it easy; watch a quick power point, fill out a few papers and then you're excused to the wine tasting. Each club must be represented. Please RSVP to the District Office and check out the flyer HERE with more details. Please direct questions to NG SAG Jaimee Sul Cantrell.

"As of today, November 28th, the District 5280 humanitarian trip to Puerto Rico has been sold out," said John Ramey, chair of the activity.  He said only stand-by reservations will now be accepted.  The five-day trip is scheduled for February 8 - 13, 2012.  Rotarians from District 5280 will travel to San Juan, Puerto Rico and there engage in 13 service projects in partnership with Rotarians from District 7000. Inter  Details about the trip have been posted to the District Web site and remain available. For more information about late registration John Ramey at jfr435@yahoo.com.

The Orientation Meeting is Saturday, January 14th at 10:00am. It is strongly encouraged that all travelers attend this meeting as additional information on the projects, evening events and excursions will be provided. The meeting will be held at the La Feria Restaurant, located at 10903 S. Inglewood Ave, Lennox CA 90304. A breakfast buffet will be avaliable for $13, payable at the door. The meeting should not last more than 90 minutes. Please bring or fax your completed Event Sign Up Sheet which is avaliable, HERE. To read more about the planned projects click HERE and to read about optional excursions click HERE. If you plan on attending please RSVP to John Ramey at jfr435@yahoo.com.

(SAN DIEGO) This afternoon at the International Assembly, Rotary International officials announced that the Gates Foundation Challenge Grant has surpassed the US$200 million mark and has raised US$202.6 million as of 17 January 2011.
 
In addition Jeff Raikes, Chief Executive Officer of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was at the Assembly and announced that the Gates Foundation has awarded The Rotary Foundation an additional US$50 million grant for polio eradication.  The new $50 million grant from the Gates Foundation is not a challenge grant; it results from Rotary’s early achievement of the $200 million milestone and of the need for continued funding support for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.  RI leaders are aware that there may be many questions concerning the additional grant from the Gates Foundation so to help answer many of these questions a Fact Sheet has been prepared. Please feel free to share the Fact Sheet with your fellow Rotarians.