Comedy benefit this Saturday for Garden State Rotary Club

This Saturday, I'll be performing comedy at the Cherry Hill Crowne Plaza along with comedians Stacy Axler, John Kensil, and "The Legendary Wid," to benefit the Garden State Rotary Club. What does the Garden State Rotary do? Well the Garden State Rotary Club Club Historian Marvin Axler gave me the following information:

The first Rotary Club was started in Chicago in 1905. Now it’s a global network of 1.2 Million business and professional leaders, neighbors and friends in 35,000+ clubs around the world. They are problem -solvers, taking action to create a positive, lasting change across the globe and in our communities. The Rotary's mission is to provide service to others, promote integrity and advance world understanding, goodwill and peace through our fellowship of business, professional and community leaders. Rotary International is one of only two nongovernment organizations to have a seat at the United Nations.

Some of the things Rotary International does:

• Support Education through scholarships and exchange programs
• Provide clean water and sanitation systems in remote communities
• Grow local economies by providing training and infrastructure
• Fight disease and save lives by inoculating children against Polio and other childhood diseases

In 1988, the World Health Assembly set a goal of worldwide Polio eradication with Rotary as its partner. At the time, Polio paralyzed more than 1,000 children every day within 125 countries – that’s 365,000 children every year. So far, we have immunized over 2.5 Billion children. In 2018, there were only 33 cases of wild Polio in two areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. We hope to finally rid the world of this terrible disease within the next few years.

The garden State Rotary Club of Cherry Hill has been raising money for Polio eradication since 1985. Each year, we hold a fundraiser with the Philadelphia Phillies called Strike-Out Hunger. At one home game, we collect thousands of pounds of non-perishable food for local food banks and raise money from ticket sales to Rotarians in four States. With the help of a matching grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, by 2017 we had raised over $1 Million for Polio eradication.

Some of the other things Garden State Rotary does:

• Hold a yearly Holiday Party at a Camden homeless shelter for up to 200 families
• Give Scholarships to High School Seniors involved in community service
• Built a 30 acre sports complex in Cherry Hill with eight fields for baseball, soccer and rugby
• Send 100 Boxes of Love (Personal & school supplies) each year to a Santo Domingo orphanage

The Garden State Rotary Club has left its mark on Cherry Hill, the Delaware Valley and the world during the past 43 years. This is an incredibly worthy cause and it will make you feel good to know that while you're cracking up, you'll be supporting it!

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