Disaster Response and Fighting Disease

Rotary members have played a key role in efforts to eradicate polio worldwide — a 99.9% reduction since our program started in 1985 — and in providing relief for disasters and humanitarian crises through ShelterBox.

Rotary clubs across the world have contributed more than 2.2 billion dollars and countless volunteer hours to help immunize more than 3 billion children in 122 countries. Rotary is close to eliminating the second human disease in history—after smallpox—with a 99% reduction in polio cases worldwide since 1985. However, polio knows no borders, and the virus can therefore reappear in previously polio-free countries. That is why Rotary International and its partners have been relentless in this fight.

Rotary’s program to eradicate polio, called PolioPlus, has been Rotary International’s primary effort for over 35 years and has been described as the finest humanitarian project by a nongovernmental organization the world has ever known. Rotary has even been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts.

Rotary members also lead efforts to fight and prevent a host of diseases from malaria to diabetes, and provide health care and education.

Polio Plus

Chestnut Hill Rotary members contributes annually to PolioPlus to help eradicate this debilitating and sometimes deadly disease. Approximately 12.5 billion children around the world are still not vaccinated.    

ShelterBox

Chestnut Hill Rotary awards grants to ShelterBox that provides immediate shelter and support to communities around the world who are impacted by natural disasters or conflicts. ShelterBox, an International Rotary project, has provided shelter, warmth and dignity to over 1.5 million people since its founding in 2001 by a Rotary Club member from a small town in England. At first, a box contained a tent, cooking utensils, blankets and other equipment a family of 10 would need to survive for six months. Boxes are still sent, but now our aid varies depending on the needs brought on by each disaster.

RotAplast

Our club’s foundation and individual members give regularly to Rotaplast, an international program which began as a project of the Rotary Club of San Francisco to help children born with facial and palate deformities live a normal life. Teams of volunteers comprised of Rotarians, surgeons, and nurses take part in medical missions throughout the world.

Ukrainian Relief Fund

Chestnut Hill Rotary participated in the committee that founded the Rotary District 7450 Gundaker Foundation’s Ukrainian Relief Fund. The committee raised $100,000 for Rotary Poland’s initiatives to help alleviate the suffering of the three million refugees from Ukraine.

Rotarians in Poland and Ukraine responded to the crisis after Russia invaded Ukraine last spring. They practiced “Service above Self” by opening their wallets, their homes, their cars and their networks to help Ukrainian refugees and people in Ukraine.

The District’s Ukrainian Relief Committee spoke virtually with District Governor-elect Piotr Jankowski of Poland and District Governor Volodymyr Boranenko of Ukraine. Funds enabled Rotary Poland to purchase generators and food for residents in Ukraine, and provide temporary modular homes, medical supplies, and supportive infrastructure for refugees resettled in Poland.

COVID-19 Relief

Chestnut Hill Rotary partnered with Angel Flight East during the worldwide COVID 19 pandemic to purchase and fly in much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE) to rural hospitals. Some Rotary volunteers helped sort and load equipment for transit during this difficult time.

Community Wellness

Volunteer members prepare and donate food and provide grants to Prevention Point Philadelphia’s programs that promote health, empowerment and safety for communities affected by drug use and poverty.