Rotary Club of Palgrave’s Weekly Rotary Minute

January 15, 2016 · 0 Comments

By Janet Gray and Ann Davidson
Being a Rotarian offers you an opportunity to give back, not only in your local community but internationally as well.
In 2010, we travelled to India to help administer polio immunizations. We spent one whole day visiting a local town where we mingled among the locals, seeking out young children who needed the vaccine. After we gave them the polio drops, we marked their little finger nail with a marker which would show to any other volunteers coming after us that this child has already received the vaccine. We also went aboard buses and looked about the local stalls and shops to check for any children whom we might have missed.
We visited many hospitals that are sponsored by Rotary. One was an amputee hospital, where limbs are provided to those that have suffered from polio, one was an eye hospital, and another was a blood bank. All of these were beautiful, modern hospitals and were completely free to the local people who normally could not afford treatment, thanks to the Rotary sponsors.
We visited some local schools that have a feeding program sponsored by Rotary and also many orphanages.
We also attended a reception where our Palgrave Rotary Club was thanked personally by the children and relatives for Healing Little Hearts. These are children that received life-saving heart surgery sponsored by our Club in cooperation with the Cambridge Rotary Club.
We saw many more activities that the Rotary Clubs in India are responsible for. It is unbelievable to see these many Clubs (with hundreds of members in each) do such great work for their country and local communities.
We left our hearts in India and both of us would like to go back again someday.
For more information on all that we do, please visit www.rotaryclubofpalgrave.com