Rotary International Convention: Day 3

The highlight of today was the plenary address by Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan. The CentreBell Arena was almost packed full. She spoke on “The Prospects for Peace in the 21st Century.” I’m really excited at Rotary’s emphasis on “peace” and “peacemaking” as well as “health,” “poverty” and “education” – all areas of deep interest to me. Other plenary speakers this morning included Jo Luck, the President of Heifer International (our WWU students who attended “The Awakening” worship service, for a couple years bought a $5,000.00 “Ark” from this organization as part of their Christmas giving). Also speaking was Dr. Bruce Aylward. He gave an update on PolioPlus. For those who don’t know, for the past 25 years Rotary has taken on the task of eradicating Polio in the world. We have almost completed that goal – polio is just about a thing of the past. Right now we have raised $133 million to reach the $200 million matching grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I’ve made this one of my strategic push in my year as President of Rotary in Walla Walla. For luncheon we were part of the large Presidents-Elect contingent. This afternoon we toured Old Montreal – a great little city