Bill Smimmons at Scenic 7

Rotary District Governor Bill Simmons talked to the Rotary Club of Scenic 7

about "building communities bridging continents."

Members of the Rotary Club of Scenic 7 were honored to have 6170 District Governor Bill Simmons visit the club two weeks ago.

Assistant District Governor Pam Gibson accompanied Simmons to the meeting. Both participated in a lively conversation with club members about activities the club could engage in as part of its service to the community.

Simmons is originally from North Carolina. He is a graduate of the Naval Academy and served in The Navy for 23 years before starting his second career as a civil engineer in city management.

Simmons is visiting each club in the district. He discussed the success Rotary has had with polio eradication. There are only four countries left in the world that still have polio. Simmons said that even with polio nearly gone, the disease is "still just two plane rides away."

Partnering with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary is well on its way to making polio a disease of the past not the present. The Gates have pledged $200,000,000 if the Rotary can match the pledge to help rid the world of polio. Rotary was given three years to raise the matching funds. This is the beginning of the third year and Rotary has raised $140,000,000 so far. If each club around the world pledges an average of $1,000 this year the goal will be made.
Simmons also talked about the GSE exchange with Taiwan this spring. Teams from Taiwan come here to learn about our culture and teams from the U.S. go to Taiwan in return.

Simmons mentioned simplified grants available to Rotary Clubs in the district as seed money for worthy projects.

Selection for ambassadorial scholarships will take place next month. Scholarship recipients are given $25,000 to pursue educational study anywhere in the world. The only restriction is there must be a Rotary Club in the chosen city of study.

He also mentioned the Ferris Leadership Academy opportunity for Rotarians.

Simmons talked about Rotary joining with the DEA in a statewide effort to have citizens turn in outdated medications for disposal. Citizens are urged to turn in the drugs for incineration instead of flushing them into the community water system.

District conference is coming up on April 15 and 16 of next year in Hot Springs. The Rotary international conference will be in New Orleans on May 21 through 25 of next year.

Simmons inducted the newest member of the Scenic 7 Rotary Club, Diane Upchurch.