Don Broyles

June 8, 2010

Putnam Rotary extends far beyond the weekly fellowship luncheons and special events, Don Broyles reminded the group today.

In the years since he became a charter member of the local club in 1995, Broyles has led the way in service through Rotary to make a difference in the world.

He has traveled halfway around the world leading a Rotary Group Study Exchange team to Australia, and at home he has given time and labor in numerous efforts to enhance the quality of life for family and neighbors.

This happens because Broyles is an active Rotarian, and as a Rotarian he is a "shareholder" in the Rotary Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation which supports humanitarian service programs with an endowment of over $1 billion.

The Foundation began in 1917 with a chariatable donation of $26.50 by RI President Arch C. Klumph. When the endowment had grown to $5,000 in 1928, Rotary Foundation became a corporate entity within Rotary International.

Programs supported by the Foundation include --

• Ambassadorial Scholarships, the largest non-governmental and most international scholarship program in the world: Scholars study in a country other than their own where they serve as unofficial ambassadors of goodwill. Since 1947, over 37,000 scholars from some 110 countries have received scholarships at a cost of almost $446 million.

• District Simplified Grants for short-term service activities or humanitarian endeavors of districts in communities locally or internationally; This program since 2003 has awarded grants in 44 countries at a cost of $5.2 million.

  " . . . all sustaining members . . ."

• Group Study Exchange (GSE): Awards are made to paired Rotary districts to provide travel expenses for a team of non-Rotarians from a variety of vocations; since 1965, almost 48,000 individuals in more than 11,000 teams from more than 100 countries have participated at a cost of $85 million.

• PolioPlus: Since the program’s inception in 1985 more than two billion children have received oral polio vaccine; to date, 209 countries, territories and areas around the world are polio-free.

• Grants for University Teachers are awarded to faculty members to teach in a developing nation for three to ten months; since 1985, 377 university teachers have shared their expertise with a college or university in a developing country.

• World Peace Fellows: Each year up to 70 fellows at the master’s degree level are sponsored to study at one of the six Rotary Centers for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution; in 2003-2004, 62 new scholars from 26 countries received grants totaling $3.9 million for the two-year program.

Putnam Rotary membership has included 25 Paul Harris Fellows, persons who have contributed (or friends have contributed in their name) $1,000 to the Foundation. Several Putnam fellows have made multiple contributions for a club total of $38,000 since 1995.

During the current year, Putnam Rotary is encouraging all members of the club to become "sustaining members" of the Foundation. This means that all members by the end of the year will have made a personal contribution to the Foundation.