Blair McDonald (left) was inducted into the District 5910 Roll of Fame by Assistant District Governor Tim Andrews (right) at the Livingston Rotary Club's installation banquet on June 25. The award is considered the highest honor granted by the district. The biography submitted for Blair's nomination reads as follows:Blair McDonald joined Livingston Rotary Club in 2008. He is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow who has held many different leadership positions.
Through Rotary, he founded Livingston’s chapter of Don’t Meth With Me, an organization that educates every fifth-grader in Polk County about the dangers of methamphetamine.
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Blair’s biggest contribution is his passion for Rotary Youth Exchange. For several years he has ensured that Livingston would host an exchange student. He and his wife Ann find host families and serve as hosts themselves. They take up the slack when needed and do what it takes to make every exchange successful.
Board members of the Livingston Rotary Club presented a check for $5,427 to Gloria Barber and Mike Fortney of Center of Hope. The donation was a collection of contributions to date from Rotary clubs in District 5910 for tornado disaster relief. The funds were used to purchase building materials for repairing homes in the Onalaska area damaged by a tornado on April 22.
Pictured (L-R) are Kole Puckett, Andrew Boyce, Janet Wiggins, Gloria Barber, Lee Hon, Mike Fortney, Joe Roth, and Will Watson.
Since the presentation, Past District Governor Betsy Robinson donated an additional $500 of district grant money. Together with the Livingston Rotary Club's own donation, Center of Hope has received a total of $6,500 from Rotary clubs in District 5910.
Center of Hope is able to purchase building materials at a discount, so the money received from donations goes a long way towards repairing homes that were not insured. 926 homes were impacted in the tornado, and there will be no assistance from FEMA. For more information about how money from donations was spent, please see a video of Center of Hope Disaster Response Coordinator Mike Fortney at http://polkenterprise.com/index.php/community/2630-video-center-of-hope-assists-in-onalaska-rebuild or https://youtu.be/l8Sr-hYXWpo
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