Newtown Rotary Attends United Nations Day

Newtown Rotary members were among more then 800 Rotary members from 22 states and 30 countries who gathered at United Nations headquarters on October 4 to attend the annual UN/Rotary Day.

 Discussions were held as to how local level collaboration can foster a more peaceful world. Rotary Day at the United Nations encourages the 31,000 Rotary clubs in 166 countries to better meet worldwide humanitarian needs.

“The connection between humanitarian service and peace is especially important to consider today,” said Jonathan Majiyagbe, president of Rotary International. “Hunger, poverty and ignorance breed despair, anger, and fear –– the very same emotions that fan the flames of intolerance, conflict, and even war.”

Mr Majiyagbe emphasized Rotary’s many humanitarian aid and cross-cultural education programs and their contributions to peace. In addition to humanitarian grants, ambassadorial scholarships, and the youth exchange, Mr Majiyagbe mentioned Rotary Centers for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution. Through the newly created Rotary Centers, 790 Scholars from more then 30 countries study annually toward master’s degrees related to peace and conflict resolution at eight prestigious universities around the world.

In panel presentations, United Nations’ leaders representing UNICEF, UNESCO, UNAIDS, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and others, educated Rotary members about the agencies, encouraged Rotary-UN cooperation, and praised Rotary‘s work, in conjunction with WHO, and UNICEF in the global effort to eradicate polio from the face of the earth. By 2005, Rotary will have contributed more then half a billion dollars and thousands and thousands of volunteer hours

towards polio eradication.

Newtown Rotary has been involved with many humanitarian projects including providing thousands of families and children with safe drinking water for the first time in their life, providing three 40-foot steamer containers with more than 200,000 books and 100 computers to South Africa, arranging for thousands of people in India suffering from cataract blindness to have their sight restored and raising $9,000 to enable the final few countries of the world to become the final countries to become polio-free. The 31,000 clubs of the world raised a total of more than $100 million to ensure the competition the polio campaign.

“Rotary’s close relationship with the United Nations dates back to 1945 when some 50 Rotary members acted as delegates, advisors, and consultants at the United Nations Charter collaboration in San Francisco,” said Bob Coultas, Rotary’s primary representative to the United Nations. “The first few Secretary Generals were Rotarians and by jointly addressing human needs at local, regional and international levels, Rotary can more fully meet its global mission –– ‘World Peace Through Understanding.’”