Last week, we celebrated the outstanding service of Past President David Hahn during our annual Demotion Ceremony. Although I was unable to attend, I understand the event was a lot of fun and everyone in attendance had a great time! I'd like to extend a very special thank you in addition to our collective appreciation to our Social Committee members Phyllis Kates, Terri Relf, Sheila McDevitt, and Brad White for their hard work and efforts in making the ceremony such a resounding success! Thank you also to President-Elect Darcy McNaboe for running the meeting in my absence.
This Tuesday, we are fortunate to host San Bernardino City Unified School District Board Vice President Danny Tillman as our guest speaker. The timing for Mr. Tillman's visit is perfect, with the new 2023/2024 school year recently getting underway. Thanks to our newest Rotarian Mary Ellen Abilez Grande for arranging Mr. Tillman's appearance and serving as our Rotarian of the Day.
President, Brian Pellis 2023-2024
Rotary Club of Downtown San Bernardino
Gifts for the outgoing President
Brad White and Tawnya Hensley
Thank you Social Committee for another crazy Demotion Ceremony.
Thank you, David Hahn for a fantastic year.
National Immunization Awareness Month
August is national immunization awareness month and as proud Rotarians, we know that our great organization is a worldwide leader in providing immunizations across the world with the goal of eradicating the poliovirus. The first outbreak of polio in the United States occurred in 1894, claiming the lives of 18 and causing an additional 132 cases of permanent paralysis. The famous "iron lung" was invented in 1929 and a vaccine was finally developed in 1955. Rotary began its major fight against polio in 1979 with a mission to immunize 6 million children in the Philippines. That effort later evolved into the PolioPlus campaign that we know today, which was initiated in 1985.
Significant progress has been made since Rotary's involvement in providing worldwide immunizations. Polio was eradicated from the Americas in 1994 and in 2000, the Western Pacific region spanning the area from Australia to China was declared to be polio-free. Polio eradication in Europe occurred in 2002. In 2014, Southeast Asia was declared to be polio-free and that same year, overall worldwide polio cases dropped to 99% of 1988 levels. Africa recently reported to have no wild poliovirus in 2020.
Over 3 billion children have now been vaccinated and today only Afghanistan and Pakistan remain polio-endemic. Although there have been many accomplishments in this noble fight, there is still much work to be done. Rotary's mission of eradicating the poliovirus can only succeed through continued fundraising for immunizations. If you wish to contribute to this very important effort, please consider making a donation athttps://www.endpolio.org/donate.
Rotary Club Website
Attention San Bernardino Rotarians,
You can now access the Rotary Club of San Bernardino website by entering the domain name: rotarysb.org and rcsb.net.
Featured Presentation
Danny Tillman
Our program speaker for August 15 is Danny Tillman, Board Vice President of the San Bernardino City Unified School District board of trustees. Mr. Tillman has served as a San Bernardino City School board member for 28 consecutive years.
Mr. Tillman is a Departmental Information Systems Administrator for the San Bernardino County Human Services and has worked for the County for 41 years. He has served the community as a volunteer mentor and tutor for 40 years.
