Rotary International President DK Lee from Seoul, Korea has made reducing child mortality for children under five his theme for the coming year. He calls for Rotarians to “Make Dreams Real” for children who are not having their needs met in the areas of water, health and hunger, and literacy.

There are 26,000 children who die needlessly every day from preventable diseases like pneumonia, measles and malaria due to lack of medicine and mosquito nets. Poor sanitation and malnutrition complicate the problem further since clean water, nutritious food and an education are beyond most children in third world countries.

Polio Eradication is the other major emphasis this year in Rotary. We must fill our promise to the world's children and finish our campaign to wipe out polio from the face of the earth. Rotary International President DK Lee from Seoul, Korea is asking each club to contribute a minimum of $1000 (or in District 5650 $20/person per year for three years) in order to match the $100 million Challenge Grant given to Rotary by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Every Rotary club is being asked to initiate a project this year to reduce child mortality. Clubs can do local projects such as an immunization program at their town health department; or they can do international projects like contribute to our District water well project in Zambia.

Meet the District Governor

District 5650 Governor Sharon Wherry and her husband Dan are both members of the Downtown Lincoln Rotary Club 14. Sharon is looking forward to working with the 45 clubs in our District to “Make Dreams Real” for the children of the world. Sharon is pictured here, with a volunteer from Quebec, during a National Immunization Day in Dhaka, Bangladesh on December 8, 2007.

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