Merrill Rotary brings together business, professional and community leaders to very simply exchange ideas and take action. Merrill Rotary is proud of its local accomplishments to support stocking the shelves for our local food pantry as well as the proactive approach that the Merrill Rotary Club has taken to help enrich the River Bend Trail project with beautification efforts tied to the trailhead and the lighting project. Merrill Rotary is also committed to providing local scholarships as well as providing support for international projects directed at clean water initiatives to help with sanitation projects outside the U.S.
Rotary International has had a 30-year mission to eradicate polio from the world. In the mid 1980s there were 350,000 new cases annually. Rotarians are proud to share that this year there have only been 29. In partnership with local business owners, Merrill Rotary had the opportunity to send one of their own members to Port Harcourt Nigeria in October to assist with the Poliplus mission to further achieve the mission of Rotary.
Charise Weiger, pharmacist at Walgreens in Merrill, traveled with partners of Rotary International to Port Harcourt Nigeria to assist with administration of polio vaccine to residents of various African villages.
“The experience was nothing short of life changing. I am so grateful to be a part of Rotary and to have seen firsthand how this remarkable organization has positively impacted humanity, Without Rotary’s intervention, it is estimated that there would be approximately 15.5 million living paralyzed people in the world today,” stated Weiger.
In addition to assisting with immunizations, Charise traveled to schools in Nigeria to speak with both the students and the media about the importance of education. She also assisted in directing school children on how to brush their teeth properly and helped with the distribution of oral health supplies.
Rotary Club takes people and brings them together as friends to do remarkable things. Started in 1905, Rotary is now in over 178 countries with 35,000 clubs globally and has over 1.2 million Rotarians. The Merrill Rotary Club is planning to sustain international partnerships with Nigerian Rotary clubs to help with sanitation and economic issues in the future.
Merrill Rotary would like to say “Thank You” to the Merrill business owners and all the Rotarians that reached out to help support this incredible journey to Africa. It is a remarkable demonstration of Rotary’s mission to put service before self.