Rotary District 7730

“All Quality Clubs, Everyone Involved”

May 3, 2006 – Columbia SC — District CART Chair PDG Milt Iossi presents award of $250,000 to Dr. Claudio Soto , PhD, Director of the George & Cynthia Mitchell Center for Alzheimer’s Research, Department of Neurology, Biochemistry, Neuroscience & Cell Biology, University of Texas Medical Branch, on behalf of the CART Fund (Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust)

Group Study Exchange to Japan
The District Outbound GSE Committee, under the leadership of Chair Beth Steelman, met on Sunday to interview the final group of candidates for the Group Study Exchange Team to Japan slated for October-November 2006. We met many highly qualified candidates and expect to have an outstanding team representing our district. This opportunity to promote goodwill and understanding throughout the world is made possible because of your contributions to the Rotary Foundation. We will announce our selection of 4 Team Members and 2 Alternates next week.

The Rotary Foundation: Every Rotarian Every Year!
Thank you to all presidents-elect who have set club goals for 2006-07 for our Rotary Foundation. The good works performed by Rotary around the world are funded, not by your Rotary International dues, but by the Rotary Foundation. Are you aware that 100% of the money that we give to the Rotary Foundation goes to the projects for which the funds were intended? — For humanitarian projects in developing countries such as the “Full Belly Project”, for the eradication of polio, for Group Study Exchange, for Ambassadorial and Peace Center Scholarships, for projects in our own communities. This is the best investment that we can make in the effort to serve those less fortunate, to help build peace and goodwill, and to improve the world.

Please encourage every Rotarian in your club to make a reasonable contribution each year to our Rotary Foundation – one that he or she can afford. But also please note that our district goal is a minimum of $100 per member (This minimum is required for the Star Presidents Recognition). Let’s work together in meeting the goal of $100 per member per year.

CART (Coins For Alzheimer’s Research Trust)
Many of our Rotary clubs pass the blue buckets each week to collect pocket change for CART, but I wonder if you know how the money is used. CART received 71 grant applications last year from prestigious research institutions such as Harvard, Stanford and Johns Hopkins. The applications are subjected to a rigorous peer review, and each year one institution is chosen. Currently, because of the coins that Rotarians in 11 districts collect for CART, seven institutions are doing research to find a better understanding of the mechanism of Alzheimer’s, its cause, its early prevention, and ultimately its cure. The cure has not yet been found, but we are on the cutting edge. Because of CART, it is not a matter of “if”, but “when”. This important research affects all of us and our loved ones. For more information, check out www.cartfund.org, or contact District CART Chair PDG Milt Iossi at 910-754-9958 or rotarydiplomat@yahoo.com.

Lead the Way!