Great news! Past DG Anil Garg, member of Simi Valley Rotary Club, is recruiting another D5240 team to participate in a National Immunization Day (NID) in India on February 4-5, 2024. The trip will most likely start on January 29th and end around Feb. 10th, 2024. Besides the activities on Feb. 4th, door to door immunization will be done over a few days starting on Feb. 5th. At a recent meeting Ojai Rotarians had a chance to talk to previous volunteers at a table display illustrating the amazing experience of participating in an India NID trip with Anil, which also included home stays with Indian Rotarians.
Rotary Club of Ojai has strongly supported Rotary’s mission to eradicate polio, both financially and with boots on the ground. Dedicated Polio Plus chair Bob Davis has begged, cajoled, donated matching funds, and even performed a strip tease to entice club members to contribute regularly to Polio Plus.
NID trips inspire international projects when participants are shown a need. After 5 Ojai Rotarians went on a 2001 NID to Ghana, a partnership developed with Street Girls Aid, a Ghanaian NGO that resulted in grants and projects for street-related young women in Accra, totaling $173,000 in the past 20 years. Seven Ojai Rotarians participated in NIDs in India; some toured Prashanti International School, where Rotary Club of Ojai has completed over $123,000 in projects to provide English immersion education for low-income students who would otherwise be ineligible for good jobs and higher education. Relationships with host Rotarians developed during NID trips made these grants possible.
D5240 Rotarians interested in more information about the 2024 India NID trip can contact Anil Garg at PDGAGarg @gmail.com. Rotary Club of Ojai members and friends can find out more from Kay Bliss or Mike Weaver.