Corbin, London Rotary Clubs hosting annual ‘International Dinner’

Corbin and London Rotary International Clubs are once again joining together to help in the organization’s fight to eradicate polio.

For the ninth consecutive year, the clubs will co-host the Rotary International Dinner on Feb. 11 at the Community Center in London.

Joe Caldwell, the Rotary Club Committee Chair of the Rotary Foundation, said this year’s dinner would feature samples of cuisine from 15 to 20 different countries.

“We will have England, Ireland, some African countries, Japan, Pakistan, India and the Philippines,” Caldwell said. “We have had Germany represented in the past, but I’ve heard somebody of German decent will be cooking.”

Tickets are available from any Corbin or London Rotary Club member, or at the door.

The cost is $25.

Those in attendance may visit any of the food booths to obtain sample portions of the offering.

“You can sample all of them or as many as you want to,” Caldwell said. “You can go get a second plate and even a third plate if you like.”

Caldwell said the doors would open at 6:30 p.m. with dinner beginning at 7 p.m.

“We serve until everybody is fed and/or we run out of food,” Caldwell said noting the event typically ends about 9:30 p.m.

Musical entertainment will be provided as well.

Caldwell said all of the food is provided on a volunteer basis so all proceeds go to the polio eradication efforts.

“It is getting down to very low numbers,” Caldwell said of the number of reported cases.

Caldwell said 35 cases were reported worldwide in 2016, with Pakistan still seeing the highest number.

“You can have more cases of the flu in Corbin schools than cases of polio around the world in a year,” Caldwell said.

Caldwell explained that in Pakistan there have been several instances where volunteers and doctors have been killed because someone believed they were trying to do something more than administer the vaccine to a child.

“Once health officials say there have no reported cases, the countdown begins. If there are no reported cases over a three-year period, the disease is considered to have been eradicated.

“There have been one or two cases reported in the month of January,” Caldwell said.