San Francisco Rotary Joins Forces with Roots of Peace on Worldwide Campaign: “Give us your 2 cents for peace!”

San Franciscan Rotarians join campaign to remove landmines and rebuild war-torn communities

August 14, 2007—San Francisco, California—The Rotary Club of San Francisco and the Roots of Peace organization announce an international partnership to replace the scourge of landmines with bountiful vineyards, schools and soccer fields in war-torn countries.

Wilfrid Wilkinson, President of Rotary International, will join John Hoch, President of the Rotary Club of San Francisco, and Heidi Kuhn, Founder of Roots of Peace, for a call to action to “Give Us Your 2 Cents for Peace” at the Rotary club’s special reception and luncheon for RI President Wilkinson Thursday, August 16 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco.

Hundreds of canisters to hold “pennies for peace” will be distributed to Rotary members representing many companies in the Bay Area. The reception is at 11:00 a.m., followed by a luncheon meeting at noon, where Wilkinson will speak to his theme for 2007-08, “Rotary Shares” (see attached bio).

The challenge

There are an estimated 70 million landmines silently poised in over 70 countries. Remarkably, each week, Rotarians meet in 67 of these countries riddled with landmines. “Our fellow Rotarians understand first-hand the devastating impact of landmines and unexploded ordinance (UXO) within their communities, causing civilian casualties, preventing the cultivation of land, stopping the movement of people and goods and hindering political and economic stability,” says Hoch.

“As the Rotary Club of San Francisco begins celebrations of its 100th Anniversary, it is fitting to embody the Rotary International theme of “Rotary Shares” as we reach out to heal the wounds of war by transforming seeds of terror into seeds of hope,” Hoch continues.

There are 32,000 Rotary Clubs worldwide with an estimated 1.2 million members. According to Roots of Peace founder Heidi Kuhn, “This international Rotary Roots of Peace launch has the potential to engage Rotarians worldwide to truly impact the landmine crisis. And it’s fitting that it be announced by this RI president, who hails from Ontario, Canada. The Canadian government challenged the world to sign the International Campaign to Ban Landmines in Ottawa in 1997.”

About Roots of Peace

Roots of Peace www.rootsofpeace.org was founded in 1997 by Rotarian Heidi Kuhn with a clear vision to transform toxic minefields into bountiful agricultural fields—planting rice in Cambodia, grapes in Afghanistan, orchards in Croatia, flowers in Bosnia and wheat in Iraq. Kuhn’s teenage daughter, Kyleigh, also a Rotary exchange student to Utsunomiya, Japan, raised over 15 million pennies for peace to remove landmines and establish schools and soccer fields in Afghanistan. Together, this mother/daughter Rotarian team joined ABC7 News Anchor Cheryl Jennings in the minefields of Afghanistan in August 2005 to see first-hand the fruits of their efforts. See www.abc7news.com

For further information or to order your Rotary Roots of Peace canisters, please visit www.rootsofpeace.org.

About RI President, Wilfrid Wilkinson

As head of Rotary International, Wilkinson leads over 32,000 clubs worldwide and a membership of over 1.2 million. He has personally devoted much of his 45-year participation in Rotary clubs in Ontario, Canada to international causes, such as the eradication of polio.

As vice chair and treasurer of the PolioPlus Committee of Canada, he participated in national immunization days in Kenya, Tanzania, and India, was instrumental in gaining Canada’s commitment of US$180 million to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and administered polio drops to children of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. in the wake of the 2001 U.S.-led bombing. [Rotary clubs raised US$1.7 million in less than four months for refugee relief in Pakistan.] 

Wilkinson has also served as a Health, Hunger and Humanity Grants program volunteer to India, where he helped Rotary clubs promote a measles immunization program and persuaded the government to provide cold-storage areas for the vaccine, also ensuring its safe passage from the U.S. to India.

He has performed Rotary assignments in South Africa, Namibia, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and other regions throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Wilkinson has been recognized for his humanitarian service by the Canadian government and received the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal from Pope John Paul II in 2001. In 2005 he accepted the Sitara-e-Elisar (Star of Sacrifice) award from Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to honor Rotary’s swift relief work after the Kashmir 7.6 earthquake. Rotary International contributed more than US$5 million in cash and in-kind donations and brought help to tens of thousands of earthquake survivors. Pakistan has also received $39 million from the Rotary Foundation in the drive to make that country polio-free. [It is one of only four remaining polio-endemic countries.]

Now retired, Wilkinson was a chartered accountant in Canada and was a founding partner of Wilkinson & Company, a public accounting firm. He is expected to elaborate on the theme he has chosen for his 2007-08 year as president of Rotary International. As he recounts, “For me, ‘Rotary Shares’ was the natural choice as the theme of my year. This year’s emphasis will be on health, literacy, water and the family of Rotary. Rotarians have so much to share, and there is so much that the world needs from us.”

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