Hinesville Rotarians welcomed a visit from Rotary District 6920 Governor, Kenan Kern, on Aug. 12.
Kern updated the club on several projects Rotary International is working on.
The member service club has continued its effort to reduce child mortality, with a focus to eradicate polio.
"Rotary took on the mission in 1985 to remove polio from the Earth," Kern said.
Only four remaining countries stand between becoming a world free of the debilitating disease.
When the vaccine is finally distributed worldwide, Kern said all Rotarians can feel they have contributed.
"That's a legacy that we'll all be able to claim some ownership," Kern said.
To help combat the disease, each club will need to raise $1,000 each year for the next three years to match the $100 million the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation pledged to give.
"Hopefully, by that time, we would have been able to get to the remaining active case areas and really claim that polio has been wiped from our Earth," he said.
There is also a big push to increase literacy.
Kern spoke of the Ferst foundation, a program tailored after the Imagination Library established in Tennessee by Dolly Parton.
Under the program, a book is mailed to the home of a child from birth to 5 years old to encourage an early interest in reading, which is the basic principle of education, according to Kern.
"In our communities there's always need for improvements in reading," he said. "Usually the people that go lacking are the ones that can't afford to have access to books.
Kern updated the club on several projects Rotary International is working on.
The member service club has continued its effort to reduce child mortality, with a focus to eradicate polio.
"Rotary took on the mission in 1985 to remove polio from the Earth," Kern said.
Only four remaining countries stand between becoming a world free of the debilitating disease.
When the vaccine is finally distributed worldwide, Kern said all Rotarians can feel they have contributed.
"That's a legacy that we'll all be able to claim some ownership," Kern said.
To help combat the disease, each club will need to raise $1,000 each year for the next three years to match the $100 million the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation pledged to give.
"Hopefully, by that time, we would have been able to get to the remaining active case areas and really claim that polio has been wiped from our Earth," he said.
There is also a big push to increase literacy.
Kern spoke of the Ferst foundation, a program tailored after the Imagination Library established in Tennessee by Dolly Parton.
Under the program, a book is mailed to the home of a child from birth to 5 years old to encourage an early interest in reading, which is the basic principle of education, according to Kern.
"In our communities there's always need for improvements in reading," he said. "Usually the people that go lacking are the ones that can't afford to have access to books.