John Robert Daniel Gallant

Today, November 11, 2025, on Remembrance Day in Canada and Veterans Day in the United States, we come together as one Rotary family to honour the courage, sacrifice, and service of all who have defended freedom and peace.

Across Rotary District 5050, which bridges two nations, we are united in deep gratitude for those who have served, those who continue to serve, and those who never returned home, so that we may live in peace. We also remember the families and communities who have stood beside them with unwavering strength, love, and support.

Today reminds us not only of the lives lost and sacrifices made, but also of the urgent need to build a world where peace prevails over conflict. Let us also look forward to creating pathways of understanding, collaboration, and sustainability that make lasting peace possible.  

As we honour the good that Rotarians achieve across the world, let us draw strength from Rotary’s mission to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace. The future is ours to shape. Let’s seize this opportunity to recommit ourselves to building peace and fostering understanding among all people.

With deep gratitude,

Isabelle Martinez Hayer

District Governor, 2025-2026

Rotary District 5050

This past May, in Santa Rita, Copán, Honduras our district’s International Project Alliance launched a new program of classes. Those classes were offered by ETAOO,  a local non-­profit trade school, and sponsored by a new partnership of the Rotary Club of Copán Ruinas and fourteen Rotary Clubs in District 5050 that form the International Project Alliance (IPA). Established in 1989, ETAOO is a non-profit trade school in Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras, committed to community development through education and skills training. For three decades, ETAOO has offered many courses, including gastronomy, carpentry, barista skills, beauty and cosmetology, electrical work, barbering, welding, and computer skills, among others.

Needs for trade school education have long gone unmet in the 40 rural villages around Copán Ruinas where for ten years the IPA has been working. We have sponsored numerous successful programs and individual students within the traditional schools in the area.  Each village has a primary school, and many have middle schools, that emerged from this partnership of Rotary clubs. But these 60 small villages have not been able to offer more specialized education, focused on the occupations needed in the region, because of the small population base in the individual villages. 

Fortunately, the IPA works with many small villages that all share this need, challenging us to explore, with the villages, the possibility of  a collaborative solution. Our Club, under the leadership of Mark Lascelles (Anacortes) and Walt Guterbock (Fidalgo Island), and logistical work of our in -country contractors, identified families who might have students interested in the idea of expanded offerings. Concurrently we were able to find an educational organization with an excellent reputation already conducting trade education in Honduras.  That group, ETAOO, was operating in the town of Santa Rosa a couple of hours from Copán Ruinas from where the IPA operates. Meetings to explore the feasibility and nature of expanding their offerings led over time to a successful contract under which a new set of classes to meet the needs of IPA villages was established. 

Interests in trade education have been great in the villages, but not a sense of how those needs might be addressed. That type of awareness and serving as a neutral broker and financial supporter was something IPA could bring to the table. Getting funding by the local school system was not a possibility given how far their resources were stretched already. However, we knew our alliance of Rotary Clubs could foster the planning and bring together the needed funding and do so in a sustainable fashion. 

A contract with ETAOO for facilities, equipment and teachers was negotiated and signed. Tuition and fees for each student was funded by the IPA. Each student paid for transportation from their village to and from the school. Because of those costs, and the ongoing need for students to work in support of their families, a scheme was devised to bring these mostly adult students to the school on Saturdays.   

Villages will rarely send more than two students since villages are small and the program, although inexpensive, is not free. After a ride to school of 30 minutes or so students will attend class and return home that day. Admittedly these school days will be grueling, but students are highly motivated and well aware of the challenges their remote locations pose for continuing their education. 

Village needs and family interests led IPA to float a proposal for a partnership initially offering education in four trades: carpentry, sewing, gastronomy and cosmetology. These are trades for which there are needs in the region, if not in every village. Fortunately, given ETAOO’S other offerings, there was no need to purchase equipment to launch these programs, using the existing facilities at the public Cashapa secondary school in Santa Rita. The IPA did agree to maintain the machines. 

Pictures that accompany this article were taken on the first day of class. Excitement among students, teachers and Rotarians was palpable. For some it was the culmination of a lot of planning. For others it was the opening of a door to new work opportunities, and the hope they’ll be bringing salaries back to their villages. 

If you would like more information about or are interested in joining the International Project Alliance, please contact Marty Pease of the La Conner Club or at 720-291-1979.  While Rotary Clubs from Canada, the United States, and Honduras constitute the bulk of the membership, individual Rotarians and friends are welcome to join and/or contribute to these projects and Club activities.

The Global Impact of The Rotary Foundation and the Heart of Rotary District 5050

For more than a century, The Rotary Foundation has been a driving force for good in the world. Powered by the passion and generosity of Rotarians, it transforms donations into life-changing projects that build peace, fight disease, provide clean water, save mothers and children, support education, grow local economies, and protect the environment.

It all started with an idea from Arch Klumph, who proposed an endowment “for the purpose of doing good in the world.” Through that humble idea, and an initial contribution of $26.50, the Rotary Foundation was set in motion, leading to its official formation in 1928. Today, the Foundation continues to be a powerful force that has transformed millions of lives around the globe through global grants available to Clubs worldwide.

One of the Foundation’s most extraordinary achievements is its leadership in the fight to eradicate polio. Since Rotary launched PolioPlus in 1985, polio cases have fallen by more than 99% sparing millions of people from paralysis or death. The global effort, supported by Rotary and generous partners such as the Gates Foundation, has not only brought us to the5 brink of eradication but also strengthened health systems, trained millions of workers, and laid the groundwork for future disease prevention.

Polio is a devastating, even deadly – and utterly avoidable disease! Let us unite and draw attention to WORLD POLIO DAY and to the need to keep the children of the world safe!

Successes:

• over 3 billion children immunized

• 21,000,000 children saved from the paralysis of polio

• 1.6 million lives saved thanks to polio vaccines   

Current Challenges:

• lowering vaccination rates allow the virus to mutate

• tense political situations hinder vaccination campaigns (paralysis case in Gaza in 2024)

• movement of peoples spreads the virus across the world (paralysis case in New York 2024)

• 30 cases of Wild Polio cases in last endemic countries Afghanistan and Pakistan this year

• environmental samples positive for polio in many countries around the world

Reaffirm commitment 

• This week senior global health leaders met to discuss the final push to eradicate polio in a side event of the 80^th United Nations General Assembly. 

• There is a sense of urgency to not let the current challenges let our pending success get away from us!

What can your Club do?

• Join Miss Vicky’s Matching Funds Campaign

• Raise awareness about the dangers of polio in your club and your community

• Show brief videos from the websites below during your Club meeting, give polio a face!

  • https://endpolio.org                                                                                       https://polioeradication.org 

• Arrange an event to raise awareness and funds, examples:

  • Pints Against Polio, 6 October  (Rotary Club of Semiahmoo)

  • PolioPlus Luncheon, 19 October (Rotary Club of White Rock)

• All donations of US$100/year or more qualify for membership in our District 5050 PolioPlus Society

• Bill Gates matches every dollar 2 to 1, so every $100 donation will turn into $300.

Remember: Polio is only a plane ride away!

*Did you know Actor Robert Redford, who passed away recently, contracted Polio as a child in the 1930s? The illness left him bedridden for weeks, during which time his mother read to him constantly. That experience nurtured his imagination and planted the seeds for his later interest in storytelling, film, and the arts.

Now is the time for high school students to apply for our District’s Rotary Youth Exchange Program! This is one of Rotary’s most impactful opportunities—where students not only experience the adventure of a lifetime, but also return as true ambassadors of peace, service, and global understanding.

Do you know any students who may be interested?

• Do you have a school administrator or teacher in your Club?

• A community group, church, or youth program staff person in your circle?

• An Interact Club looking for inspiration?

• Or simply want to bring new and youthful energy to your Rotary Club?

They need this information as soon as possible!