We had incredible weather, good entertainment, great food and lots of fellowship for those who attended the District Social at Tail Race Marina in Mount Holly on Sunday. Final totals aren’t in, but it appears that we raised over $55,000 to help eradicate Polio. Hopefully, our many participating clubs made a few bucks too.

An event like this doesn’t happen by accident and many people need a special "thanks” for exhibiting "Service Above Self.”

First, a special thanks is due to our Sponsors who underwrote our prize money and nearly all of our expenses.  They were:

1. Randy Marion Cadillac - Mooresville
2. H & H Pest Control - Allen Langley, Shelby
3. B+E Manufacturing Company – Lindenbecks, Matthews,
4. GSM Heating, Air & Commercial Roofing – Steve Long, Gastonia
5. Cleveland County Health Care System - Dottie Leatherwood, Shelby
6. Champion Yacht Charters - Cliff Champion, Cornelius

And, a big Rotary thank you goes to:

• Joni Stanley for the thousands of ducks

• George Gallegher from Duke Energy for making the river run

• Jim Brown, Cotton Ketchie and David Dilda for taking pictures and video of the event

• PDG Jim Morton, District Polio Chair, for his support

• Our assistant governors for promoting the event

• Our 17 clubs who provided food and fun for family and friends

• The interact and rotaract students and friends for gathering ducks

• Forest Hills High School’s "New" Interact for renting $2,000 worth of ducks

• Governor Allen Langley for supporting and promoting the event and for being such a great     sport in the dunking booth. And finally,

• PDG Bob Wilson and his staff at Tailrace Marina for making their facility available for us for the second year.

This year we raised over $55,000 towards the eradication for Polio. Together with last year’s proceeds our Rotary ducks have raced and raised nearly $80,000. It’s true that kids in our district have big smiles on their faces when they see our ducks race.  Just think about the "other” smiles from those kids who will receive a world free from Polio.  What a difference we make in the lives of so many children.

Thanks, couldn't have done it without you,

Ineke Van der Meulen

Assistant Governor 2011-2012
www.worldcc.org

Here are the winners of the 2011 Duck Race for Polio:

$2,500 Fastest Duck

# 1947 - Lake Norman - Huntersville Rotary Club 

$100 Lucky Ducks

# 0082 - GSM Heating, Air & Commercial Roofing
# 0969 - Mount Holly Rotary Club
# 1409 - Colleen Hattingh from the Mooresville Top-of-the-Lake Rotary Club
# 1755 - Lake Norman - Huntersville Rotary Club 
# 2348 - Randy Marion - Main sponsor
# 2433 - Randy Marion - Main sponsor
# 2725 - Charlotte South Rotary Club
# 3749 - Liam Wilson – PDG Bob Wilson's grandson
# 3951 - Steve Walker - President of the Charlotte Top-of-the-Week Rotary Club
# 4108 - Jennifer Williams from the Ballantyne Rotary Club

The $100,000 cash prize or the Cadillac had to be one of the 10 lucky ducks numbers, according to the insurance company.

The winning numbers were:
# 4315 for the $100.000 - Charlotte East Rotary Club
# 1720 for the $45,000 Cadillac - Ballantyne Rotary Club