June 20, 2007

Notice having been circulated, The Fourth Annual meeting of the Rotarians For Fighting AIDS, Inc. (RFFA) was held at the convention center in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA on Wednesday, June 20, 2007 at 2 p.m. In attendance were approximately 50 Rotarians from all over the world as well as the following RFFA Board members:

Marion Bunch, Chair (USA D6900)
Dude Angius (USA D5170)
Mark Doyle (South Africa D9250)
Anne Glenn (USA D6900)
John Paul (USA D5190)
Tony Serrano (South Africa D9300)

Apologies were received from Board members not present: Barry Smith, Cathie Brumfield, Patrick Chisanga, Jennifer Jenkins, Bill Mackay, Deborah Schultz, and Rajiv Tandon.

Also present were RFFA Country Representative for the U.K., Reg Ling, and RFFA/ANCHOR Representative for Lagos, Nigeria, Olu Olowu.

The Chairperson Marion opened the meeting welcoming everyone and made a presentation that incorporated the information below.

Marion presented a brief global overview of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, with a particular focus on the plight of the AIDS orphans and vulnerable children in Africa. It is projected by UNAIDS and UNICEF that by 2010, there will be 25 Million orphans on the continent of Africa. Marion reviewed RFFA's response to the orphan issue by informing the audience about the first Signature Project of RFFA, launched two years ago, called ANCHOR (Africa Network For Children Orphaned and at Risk). The partners involved in this project are RFFA, HOPE worldwide, Coca Cola Africa Foundation (CCAF) and Emory University School of Public Health. Together this partnership obtained a $8.1 Million grant from USAID, a $1.2 Million grant from CCAF, and $285,000 from CIDA and the Canadian Rotarians. This program helps children in the countries of South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique, Kenya, Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire.

ANCHOR is in its second year of funding, and to date, this program has provided care and support for a minimum of 26,000 orphans. Marion has been informed by USAID's Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) management that ANCHOR is the "Poster Child" of the more than 50 organizations to whom they provided OVC grants.
CCAF have named the ANCHOR program their "Flagship" orphan project for the continent of Africa.

Marion called upon Olu Olowu, RFFA/ANCHOR Rep to describe the great work being done by Rotarians in Nigeria to support ANCHOR.

Marion discussed the mission and the focus of RFFA and informed the group that membership was currently about 900 members and increasing rapidly. She asked everyone present to join RFFA if they hadn't already done so and encourage others to join. She also invited them to get involved in RFFA's Orphan Rescue program and the Kidz Club program. The Orphan Rescue program provides nutritional support and schooling for one year for one child for a donation of $450 US. The Kidz Club program provides group counseling, nutrition and psycho-social support to orphans who can be annually funded by a club or district for $3,000 US.

In addition to increasing membership, Marion invited those present to become or nominate a Country Chair for RFFA for those districts in Africa which, as yet, were not covered. She also said that RFFA needed grant writers that would help RFFA identify funding entities (either individual or corporate), specifically dedicated to helping orphans especially in Africa but also elsewhere in the world.

Marion announced that the Vice Chair of RFFA (Eric Henderson of South Africa D9300) had resigned, and this position needed to be filled. She requested nominations for this post and RFFA Board member Dude Angius nominated Mark Doyle (D 9250) who has an outstanding record of service to Rotary and The Rotary Foundation. The nomination was seconded by RFFA Board member, Tony Serrano. The nomination was approved unanimously.

In addition, Marion welcomed Sally Platt, a D6900 USA Rotarian, who will be RFFA's Global Project Coordinator, assisting clubs and districts with matching grant opportunities supporting HIV/AIDS projects in Rotary. Sally has an outstanding record of service with and as a consultant to Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation.

Mark Doyle addressed the audience on the assistance that RFFA wants to provide in creating linkages throughout the Rotary world about all ongoing AIDS projects. Creating a collaborative effort amongst Rotarians will ensure better results.

There was a question and answer period, and the meeting was adjourned at 3 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Marion Bunch
Chair, Rotarians For Fighting AIDS, Inc.

Submitted June 23, 2007