I interviewed Northfield Rotary Club member Richard Maus this week. Richard is the author of Lucky One: Making it Past Polio and Despair and has been involved in our club’s polio eradication activities since he joined.
The Gates Foundation recently awarded the Rotary Foundation a challenge grant of $100 million to eradicate polio (see the press release) and clubs throughout the world are now involved in fundraising efforts to meet the challenge grant.
District 5960 sent a polio team to Africa a few years ago (see this 2004 press release) that included club members Charlie Cogan, Rick Estenson, Jim Pokorney, and Brett Reese. See the District’s PolioPlus Partners Goal for 07-08.
The video is 20 minutes long. Click play to watch. Option: drag the slider to these segments:
- Richard’s arrival in Northfield: 0-4:40
- His polio story: 4:40-9:45
- Rotary and the polio eradication effort: 9:45-20:00
Nice interview and thanks to Griff for getting this done. Richard is too modest. He has become a district spokesperson for polio eradication and done talks at several clubs and I’m sure his talks have generated giving, but also made polio real to people who never had to live in fear of the disease. His book was also featured in “The Rotarian” magazine last year, so it will have inspired people across the world (magazine’s circulation over 500,000 copies). Jim Pokorney was also on our 2003 team and the drum Richard mentioned is significant because it’s a “talking drum”, which can be used to spread news in rural areas where there is no TV and even radio can be sketchy. Richard’s been a great addition to our club and has helped out in many different efforts. He was already very active before he joined Rotary and when I mentioned his name at a talk in Wayzata, someone in the crowd immediately jumped up and said, “I know Richard, we used to teach together”, which just reminds us that people who come to Northfield and share their talents have often been doing so long before they settled here.
Thanks, Charlie. I’ve edited the blog post to include Jim Pokorney’s name.
Sounds like we need a blog post on that drum!
Page 8 of the District’s Feb. newletter has details on the polio eradication trip to Nigeria.