This week’s Photo Friday features a new pump provided by the International H2O Collaboration at a launch ceremony in Ghana in May. The International H2O Collaboration is a partnership between Rotary International and the U.S Agency For International Development (USAID). Launched in 2009, the International H2O Collaboration works to implement long-term, sustainable water, sanitation, and hygiene projects in the developing world. Villages in four regions of Ghana are being equipped with ventilated pit latrines, showers, and boreholes featuring hand pumps and mechanized pipes through the efforts...

Rotary released its new public service announcement, “This Close,” aiming to raise awareness about our 25-year fight against polio. Check out the 60-second spot, and see how it was created with behind-the-scenes footage.   You can watch more Rotary clips by clicking here.

Incase you missed it, prior to the Oscar’s Red Carpet Live show on Sunday, February 27, 2011, ABC News aired this piece showing Rotary’s effort to eradicate polio. This piece does a nice job of sharing our story of why Rotarians are so engaged in the eradication of the disease.

Applications for Rotary Peace Fellowships for those applying in 2011 are now available on the District Peace Fellowship website. We can change lives by identifying outstanding non Rotarians with at least 3-5 years of experience in fields related to peace and conflict resolution. Think big! Returned Peace Corps volunteers? Someone in the local police force? Public administrators? Environmental engineers? Immigration experts? Educators? Someone you met while working on a project in a developing nation? Rotarians should reach out to candidates who demonstrate a commitment to peace and conflict resolution...

In this photo, one Rotary volunteer gives an infant just a few doses of vaccine that can help prevent diseases for a lifetime. This photo and more are available in a photo gallery on www.gatesfoundation.org. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation released its 2011 Annual Letter that highlights the progress in the fight to eradicate polio. Gates and Rotary International have kept polio eradication a top priority. “Everywhere I go to learn about polio,” Gates said, “I see Rotary members helping out with the hard work.” In the Annual Letter, Gates acknowledged his foundation...

On Monday, January 31, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invites you to watch a webcast about the extraordinary progress in the fight to eradicate polio. The webcast will air on www.gatesfoundation.org at 6:30 am PST, after which it will be available in its entirety on the website. The webcast will present a powerful case for the value of vaccines. Gates, along with other global leaders, will discuss what the past can teach us about protecting children around the world from polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases. ABC World News anchor Diane Sawyer will moderate the event. Rotary’s...

On January 27, 2011, Rotary International remembers the 64 years since the passing of its founder and president emeritus, Paul P. Harris. He was 79. His obituary further read: “A spirit of loneliness influenced Mr. Harris in part to create the world-wide organization. He was educated at Princeton and the University of Iowa in 1891. For five years he roamed, working as a newspaper man, an actor, and a salesman. He worked on fruit farms, and twice worked his way to Europe on cattle boats. Paul Harris became a lawyer after his journeys. Mr. Harris then founded Rotary in 1905 in Chicago with...

A new year brings a new theme to Rotary International: Reach Within To Embrace Humanity. RI President-elect Kalyan Banerjee asked Rotarians, “To harness their inner resolve and strength to achieve success in Rotary,” during the opening plenary session of the 2011 International Assembly in San Diego, California, a training event for incoming district governors. He urged Rotarians to find their inner strength then, “they can accomplish great things in their communities and around the world.” Banerjee told Rotarians, “Discover yourself, develop the strengths within you, and then...

The latest issue of the Rotarian magazine highlights the story of a Rotarian from Michigan and his friend who set off on the Mongol Rally last summer to find adventure and raise money for the construction of a Mongolian kindergarten. Learn about their adventures and how they supported the work of Rotary clubs in the United States and Mongolia. Last summer, a young Rotarian from Michigan, USA, set out to drive a 2001 Chevy Metro with 140,000 miles on it from England to Mongolia. The Mongol Rally – equal parts charity fundraiser and lunatic odyssey – was dreamed up by two bored Englishmen...

Did you know that the “Rotary Wheel,” an artificial reef in Lamon Bay, Philippines, is the world’s largest artificial reef? Constructed in October 2009 by Rotarians, fisherfolk and community members in the area. After illegal fishing over the past few decades had deprived the bay of much of its native marine life, the community rallied together to create the reef and encourage the growth of life in the bay. After being constructed on on land and then sent into the bay, the reef was about four meters high, 21 meters in diameter and weighed about 85 tons. In addition to being the...