[D9640general] [eFlash_Rotary] Digest Number 823

[Garry Krischock]

 Message 

1.
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eFlash_Rotary/message/1474;_ylc=X3oDMTJxMjAxM
XFlBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE1BGdycElkAzI3ODYwNzYEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDY0MDg2BG1zZ0lkAzE0N
zQEc2VjA2Rtc2cEc2xrA3Ztc2cEc3RpbWUDMTIxODk2MDgxNw--> 1556: Rotary and Easter
Seals renew connections 

 

Sun Aug 17, 2008 12:37 am (PDT) 

Rotary and Easter Seals renew connections By Brad Weber
[http://www.rotary.org/SiteCollectionImages/News/easterseals.jpg]
F. Timothy Muri, president and CEO of Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago,
and District Governor Michael Slevnik, at the Therapeutic School and
Center for Autism Research. Photo courtesy Rotary District 6450.
Easter Seals and Rotary share more than a devotion to improving the
lives of the disabled and disadvantaged.

The heritages of the two organizations are intertwined: Easter Seals'
founder, Edgar F. "Daddy" Allen, was a Rotarian. Rotary founder Paul P.
Harris was the charity's first chairman, and one of The Rotary
Foundation's first grants, in 1930, went to the International
Society for Crippled Children, Easter Seals' precursor.

Now, District 6450 (Illinois, USA), which covers part of the Chicago
area, is reuniting with an old friend by pledging US$2.5 million over
three to five years toward programs and materials for Easter Seals
Metropolitan Chicago's Therapeutic School and Center for Autism Research
<http://chicago.easterseals.com/site/PageServer?pagename=ILCH_New_School\
<http://chicago.easterseals.com/site/PageServer?pagename=ILCH_New_School> 
> .

Part of the center's first phase, a research wing scheduled to be
completed later this year, will be named in Rotary's honor. The
$32-million facility will be built in four phases over the next four to
six years.

"I approached Rotary because we had lost connection," says F. Timothy
Muri, president and CEO of Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago. "I said,
'Rotary's into big things. You are trying to eradicate polio, and we are
trying to eradicate autism. Why don't we unite again to change the
world?'"
White Sox night
On 7 August, the district sponsored a night at U.S. Cellular Field, home
of the Chicago White Sox, where a portion of tickets bought by Rotarians
went to Easter Seals. Irv Kaplan, past district governor, said 836
tickets were sold, netting $10,000 for Easter Seals. Rotarians and their
guests were paraded around the warning track prior to the game, and a
Rotary public service announcement appeared on the big screen.

Rotary's ongoing support for Easter Seals has often come from individual
clubs, but with the growing number of reported cases of autism-spectrum
disorder - 1 in 150 eight-year-olds has it, according to the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - the need for care is
greater than ever.

"It just came to me that we could do something with this," says Past
District Governor Art Davis. "With the history Rotary has, it would be
fabulous to have a Rotary wheel on the wing of a hospital."

The center, which will tap expertise from the nearby University of
Illinois at Chicago Medical Center <http://uillinoismedcenter.org/> and
Rush University Medical Center <http://www.rush.edu/> , will offer a
research facility, classrooms, gymnasium, swimming pool, and independent
living space for 30 people, with room to grow.

"For the first time, we will have the facility where we'll be able to
observe patients yearround," says Muri. "There's none other like it in
the country."

Source: Rotary International News

Courtesy: eFlash_Rotary

 

 

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