The Rotary Club of SLO Daybreak held our Annual Drive-Thru BBQ Fundraiser on Friday, September 25th and we thank everyone who purchased and donated a meal to support our efforts. We thank the Rotarians and former club members that volunteered in advance and on the day of the event to help raise funds for our year round charitable giving towards programs and projects.

Special thanks to Kevin Owens of The Sanctuary Tobacco Shop and the barbecuing team, as well as this year's sponsors and Rotarians. Join us in appreciating them:

• American Riviera Bank (Dustin Reese),
• Carmel & Naccasha LLP (Victor Herrera)
• Covelop Collaborative Development (Pat Arnold)
• Mustang Private Wealth (Ryan Olson)
• Obispo Wealth Management (Dave Nilsen)
• Richardson Sotheby's International Realty (Linda Wilson)
• The Sanctuary Tobacco Shop (Kevin Owens)
• Shalimar Restaurant (Aasim Sajjad)

Olayinka H. Babalola, President 2026-27

Rotary Club of Trans Amadi, Rivers State, Nigeria

Aminu Ahmed Tudun-Wada knows what polio takes from a child. He contracted the disease as a young boy in Kano, Nigeria, and was left paralyzed. Decades later, when Nigeria was struggling to eradicate polio, Aminu decided that he would use his experience to help protect other children.

He brought together polio survivors and began going door to door, talking with parents about vaccination. The survivors told their stories. They showed families the effects of polio. And they urged parents to make sure their children never had to go through the same experience. By 2021, the Polio Survivors Group that Aminu founded had grown to more than 400 members. Their work helped Nigeria reach a milestone that once seemed impossible: In 2020, the World Health Organization certified Nigeria, and the entire African region, free of wild poliovirus.

I think about people like Aminu whenever we talk about ending polio. Eradication is about children who will never know what it means to lose the ability to walk. It is about parents who will never have to watch a healthy child become paralyzed by a disease that vaccines can prevent. And it is about making sure the people who remember polio become the last generation that does. Rotary has been part of this fight for more than four decades. Together with our partners, we have helped vaccinate more than 3 billion children, contributed more than $3 billion to the global effort, and reduced cases of wild poliovirus by 99.9 percent. But 99.9 percent is not 100 percent.

Wild poliovirus remains endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan. As long as it circulates anywhere, children everywhere remain at risk. And even after wild poliovirus disappears from a country, we must maintain strong immunization and surveillance systems so the virus cannot find a way back. Aminu could have looked at his own experience and asked, “Why me?” Instead, he asked a different question: “How can I make sure this does not happen to another child?” That is the spirit we need now. The final mile of any journey can be the hardest. But we have walked too far, worked too hard, and protected too many children to stop here.

Let us remember why we began. Let us listen to those who have experienced polio. Let us be the generation that creates lasting impact and ensures no one ever experiences polio again.

We are proud to award this year's scholarships to the following students from San Luis Obispo High School:

Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) Awards:

• Wesley Bisheff - Cal Poly State University
• Gabriel Jantos - Colorado School of Mines
• Mila Shih - Harvard University

Scholarship Awards:

• Ruby Blackburn - Northwest Nazarene University
• Jennifer Cabrera - Fresno State University
• Ruby Gonzalez Torres - California State University Channel Islands

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) Sponsorships:

• Lucy Beck
• Christopher Estrada
• Tina Gonzalez
• Nyla Huebler
• Noah Jones
• Seth Jose

Supporting the education of youth has been a hallmark of ours since we chartered our club in1996. We raise resources through our annual fundraisers, including our Drive-Thru BBQ every September. Funds go to support grants to K-12 teachers, graduating high school students, the Interact Club at SLOHS, and to sponsor high school students to attend a four day leadership camp every April.

Congratulations to the recipients of our annual grant funding. These dedicated teachers are launching amazing programs and activities with their students, in part with the assistance of our support. Our thanks to these dedicated professionals that are creating the next generation of thoughful leaders.

Bishop's Peak Elementary

• Maya Lord, TK classroom supplies
• Kiley MacLeod, Communication/Social Skills Learning Stations
• Marifrances Williams, Play, Talk, Know - TK Science and Literacy Starter Kit

Hawthorne  Elementary School

• Fiona Lloyd-Moffett, Reflections of Us: Nurturing Identity, Caring Connections Through Dolls

Sinsheimer Elementary

• Juanita Canales, Phonemic awareness, reading and alphabet sound teaching tub supplies
• Jill Laursen, Build a Business

• The Water Wheel at the SLO Children's Museum
• The Bandstand at Mitchell Park (2004)
• The Community Garden at Meadow Park (2010)
• The Landscaping Projects at the SLO Botanical Garden (2013) and SLO County YMCA (2012)
• The Exercise Course at Laguna Lake Park (2013)
• The "Make Change Count" donation meters (2014)
• The Viewing Platform at the SLO Regional Airport (2015)
• The Amphitheater at the County Office of Education's Rancho El Chorro site (2017)
• The Playground at 40 Prado Homeless Services Center (2018)
• The Courtyard at the Octagon Barn (2019)
• The Commemorative Green Benches at the Rotary Community Garden (in memory of Rotarian Brian Conroy, 2019) and Laguna Lake Golf Course (SLO Daybreak, 2023)
• The Disc Golf Course at Sinsheimer Park (2021)
• The Painting and Repair of the Jack House and Gardens fencing (2022)
• The Mural at Restorative Partners' Bridge Cafe' (2023)
• The Neighborhood Pantry on Ferrini Road, hosted by Honorary Rotarian, Nancy Beighley (2023)
• The Born Learning Trail at De Vaul Park (2023)
• The Two Pergolas at Woods Humane Society (2025)
• The Refurbishing of the Rotary Pavillion at Laguna Lake (2026)
• The Peace Pole Installation in Mission Plaza (2026)