Birmingham RI Convention Ends

The 100th Rotary International Convention was held in Birmingham, England, through June 24th. More than 15,000 Rotarians from 150 countries attended. The theme of the convention was to make the final push to eradicate polio - which remains in only 4 countries in the world. John Kenny of Scotland was inducted a new RI president (remember he visited Boise last year?). Keynote speakers included Desmond Tutu, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Jane Goodall and Mia Farrow, representing the UN and UNICEF.

Elected President-elect for 2010-2011 was Ray Kinginsmith from Kirksville, Missouri. Interestingly, he began his Rotary career nearly 50 years ago as an Ambassadorial Scholar. Next year's convention will be in Montreal.

For more details, go to the RI website; check out some neat YouTube videos (find the link on our homepage)