Rotary accomplishes amazing things worldwide and in our local communities.
The Rock Island Rotary Club focuses on two main international initiatives - End Polio Now and providing safe water for children in rural Africa.
End Polio Now
For more than 35 years, Rotary has been leading the global effort to eradicate polio, helping reduce cases by more than 99.9% worldwide. Through fundraising, volunteer support, and partnerships with organizations like the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Gates Foundation, Rotary members have helped vaccinate billions of children against this devastating disease.
Our club is proud to support End Polio Now, Rotary's flagship humanitarian initiative. Every dollar raised helps fund life-saving vaccines, disease surveillance, and immunization efforts in vulnerable communities around the world. Together with more than 1.2 million Rotary members, we're working toward a future where no child has to suffer from polio again.
The Water Filter Project in Africa
With Rock Island Rotary Club leading the way, Rotary clubs throughout Western Illinois and Eastern Iowa have joined together to provide safe, sanitary water for thousands of children in rural Africa. In less than three years, Rock Island Rotarians built an alliance with fifteen other Rotary clubs and have purchased and delivered over 270 LifeStraw water filtration devices to children in village schools in Kenya.
These areas were identified as having no access to clean water for drinking, cooking, and bathing. To date, more than 20,000 children are receiving safe, sanitary water directly from this project. The project will continue to provide safe water for children in these villages for at least the next decade! Thank you to everyone who has made donations to this project.
See below for photos from some of the locations in Africa:
