Local Rotary clubs celebrate foundation

Five local Rotary Clubs join together for a Rotary International Foundation dinner on Thursday. The Carson City Sunset Rotary Club is the host for this gala event that includes members of the Rotary Club of Carson City, Minden Rotary Club, Rotary Club of South Lake Tahoe and the Tahoe Douglas Rotary Club.

The guest of honor will be Robert E. Dorr, Rotary District 5190 governor. The guest speaker will be former Rotary ambassadorial scholar, Jean Irwin. This dynamic speaker is a teacher for deaf children in the Washoe County School District. Irwin was a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship winner in 1989. Irwin earned a master's degree from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom where she learned unique techniques for teaching deaf students to speak.

The Rotary Foundation was created in 1917 as an endowment fund for Rotary "to do good in the world." It has grown from an initial contribution of $26.50 to more than $111.9 million contributed in 2005-06. The total donations since 1917 are $1.792 billion.

The mission of The Rotary Foundation is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education and the alleviation of poverty. Polio Plus, Rotary's powerful effort to eradicate polio around the world is the most visible program of the foundation. The Ambassadorial Scholarships are just one of many educational programs. The Rotary Foundation is a non-profit corporation that is supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation who share its vision of a better world.