St. George Rotary eBulletin (Mar. 18, 2024)

GUATEMALA STOVES PROJECT UPDATE ... Rotarian Dan Strobell reports he and Cindy have reserved accommodations at Porta Del Lago at Lake Atitlán where he guarantees “we’ll have as much fun as it is possible to have while zip lining, cliff diving, boating and swimming in the spectacular clear blue lake.”

Reservations are available on the Porta Del Lago Hotel website, but cheaper rates may be available online at hotel.com, expedia.com or any of many other booking sites.

Also, last Tuesday, Chris Parker, Dan Strobell and Bryan Thiriot traveled 50 miles to the north to ask for financial support from the Cedar City Rotary Club … again! Historically, CCRC has been SGR's largest donor and many have traveled to Guatemala making this very much a joint club project.

The response to SGR’s “ask” is “anything over $2000 must be approved by our entire board.” That will happen during the April board meeting and it is hopeful they will, once again, contribute $5000.

In the meantime, please consider a contribution from your family, business or another social group of $200 for a stove … or keep buying oranges!

ORANGES UPDATE ... This year’s 2^nd order of sweet, delicious California oranges will arrive in St. George on Monday, April 1. Wild Coyote Foods, in the River Road Industrial Park, has agreed to loan SGR their refrigerated truck from which we will be distributing oranges at our regular Monday meeting.

So please join us for a special get-together and pick up your oranges at the same time.

PS: If you’ve eaten - or distributed – all the oranges you ordered last month … or if you didn’t order because you forgot … there’s still time! They are a very tasty way to kick off the spring season so contact Linda Sappington TODAY to order before its too late.

POLIO PLUS UPDATE ... Sorry to report the wild poliovirus has once again reared its very ugly head. After many months – including none in 2024 – 2 new cases causing paralysis were reported in Pakistan this week. Onset of paralysis was in 2023, so it not uncertain if they'll be added to 2023 totals or counted for 2024.

And 12 more cases of variant caused polio paralysis (cVDPV) — 8 in 2023 and 4 already in 2024. Just when we were hopeful the fight to eradicate this terrible disease had been won - finally and forever – we are starting the countdown clock again!

Please contact SGR’s Foundation Chair Dale Desmond to get more information on how you can help support this most vitally important of Rotary International's "service above self" projects.