CLINTON COUNTY — This fall members of the local Rotarian Action Group for Peace (RAGFP) will promote human rights the week before the annual International Peace Day, Sept.21, by distributing a personal copy of the Illustrated Universal Declaration of Human Rights to every ninth-grader in Clinton County.
The local RAGFP members are Jerry Bailey, Jason Hillard, Bill Martin and Chuck Watts.
The RAGFP is one of 25 Rotarian Action Groups, developed by Rotary International. Each RAG board includes representatives from at least three nations. Because the climate crisis threatens human rights, Rotary International recently made the UN’s fossil fuel reduction targets for 2030 climate survival an underlying focus for all of Rotary’s six human rights causes.
Martin, Rotarian for Peace and a former U.S. Senate page during President Richard Nixon’s term, said, “In addition to giving a personal copy of the Illustrated Human Rights Pocketbook to every ninth-grader, we want to present a Proclamation of Gratitude to each government teacher the week before International Peace Day.”
Hillard, Rotarian for Peace and Edward Jones financial advisor in Wilmington, said, “Getting human rights pocketbooks to each ninth-grader in our public schools is an easy way to spread positive peace.”
Bailey, Rotarian for Peace and Edward Jones financial advisor in Wilmington, said, “I’m excited that Clinton County is where the Illustrated Human Rights Pocketbook Project is launched. I’m reminded of Martin Luther King Jr.’s words, ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’
Watts, Rotarian for Peace and founder of the Empathy Surplus Project, is grateful to Edward Jones for sponsoring an ad in the pocketbook. Watts said, “I think what caught my firm’s attention about this project, besides its commitment to human rights and focus on the community, was the wonderful illustrations that the UN commissioned in 2015.”
Ninth-grade government teachers who would like to participate in the Human Rights Pocketbook Project should contact [email protected] or call 937-725-4317.
Anyone who would like to donate to the project can go to http://bit.ly/19ipdWo .
