FOUNDATION MINUTE: AUGUST 31, 2026
Welcome to Week FIVE of RI’s Month of New Club Development.
This week’s report is a plea from RF’s Chair of Trustee, Jennifer Jones:
“This month, I want to have some fun and do a little preplanning exercise for World Polio Day on 24 October. Are you with me? Each year, World Polio Day gives us a moment to pause, reflect, and recommit to the promise Rotary made to the world that no child, anywhere, will ever again suffer the devastating effects of polio. This year, that moment feels especially powerful. President Yinka has challenged all of us to "better our best," and I want to echo that call with a challenge of my own. Look honestly at what your club has done to support polio eradication. If your efforts have been strong, stretch further. If your club has not yet engaged in our No. 1 corporate priority, begin now by making a gift of at least US$1,500 at endpolio.org/donate. That single act of generosity will do much more than you may realize. Thanks to the Gates Foundation’s 2-to-1 match, every dollar becomes three. Together, we can reach our annual goal of $50 million and finish the job Rotary began. Each step brings us closer to a world where polio exists only in history books. But numbers alone do not tell the whole story. Above all, polio eradication is a human endeavor — built on courage, compassion, and the belief that service can reshape the future.”
In Rotary,
Olabisi Gwamna, PhD
Mount Pleasant Evening Rotary
Editor, Foundation Minute.