2013 Prior Lake Rotary Valentine Gala a Big Success!

Prior Lake Rotary: Fun, Service, and Polio Plus

By Kyle Haugen

If there are two ideals that best represent what the Prior Lake Rotary Club is about, it’s having fun through fellowship and doing good in the world.  During February, both of these ideals were on great display at our club’s 12^th Annual Valentine’s Gala! 

Each February, Prior Lake Rotarians and their guests take over The Wilds for our Gala:  an evening that includes dinner, desserts, live and silent auctions, raffles, entertainment and dancing.  We had over 360 people attend this year, and a great time was had by all.  Just as importantly, we raised over $30,000 that will be used entirely to help fund our projects and giving, both in our community and around the world. 

One of the highlights of the evening came during our “Fund-A-Need” portion of the night, which is an opportunity for us to raise money for a special cause: Polio Plus.  Typically, we raise approximately $1000, but this year, with the help of one of our newest Rotarians, Mayor Ken Hedberg, who stepped up and offered to join our group participating in the Polar Bear Plunge for Special Olympics, we raised $3,300 to support Polio Plus! 

Polio hasn’t been an issue in the United States for more than a generation, but throughout the world it has continued to be a crippling disease for millions of children.  For the past nearly 30 years, Rotary International has made the eradication of polio one of its greatest priorities through the Polio Plus campaign.  Over those 30 years, Rotarians have donated over $1.2 Billion to the cause, and have been joined by such organizations as the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the Center for Disease Control and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to work towards eliminating Polio.  We’re 99% of the way there too, as there are only three countries in the world where polio is still endemic: Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria.  India, which was once considered the epicenter for polio throughout the world, was declared Polio free in 2012, and cases worldwide have dropped on a regular basis, including from 653 in 2011 to 222 in 2012. 

It costs $.60 to vaccinate a child for polio, so in one night our Rotarians and their guests contributed enough to ensure that 5,500 kids will never be affected by polio!  We’re proud of our efforts, and if you’d like to help eradicate polio or would like more information, go to www.endpolio.org.

The Prior Lake Rotary Club meets every Wednesday morning from 7:00 to 8:15 at The Wilds Golf Club, and on March 6^th we’ll be joined by Minnesota Timberwolves President Chris Wright to talk about the Wolves and how important customer service is in their business as well as every business.  On Thursday, March 14, we’ll be hosting Prior Lake’s current and retired firefighters and their significant others for our annual Firefighters Appreciation Day.  And don’t forget about the 4^th Annual Prior Lake Rotary’s Lakefront Music Fest on July 19 and 20.  Tickets are on sale now at www.lakefrontmusicfest.com!!

For more information about the Prior Lake Rotary Club or to get involved, please check us out at www.priorlakerotary.org.