PDG Doug Whinnery has been awarded The Rotary Foundation Distinguished Service Award for exemplary service to The Rotary Foundation. Whinnery has been a member of the Rotary Club of Kerrville since 1992 and served as 2005-2006 District Governor for Rotary District 5840, which includes 58 clubs throughout central and south-central Texas.
The award was presented by District 5840 Governor Carol Holmes of Brady and Past District Governor Jerry Hardy of San Antonio, who will serve as District chair for The Rotary Foundation in 2018-19. In 2012, Whinnery received The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service, a prerequisite to the Distinguished Service Award.
The Distinguished Service Award, the Foundation’s highest service recognition for Rotarians, is given annually to only 50 Rotarians worldwide for work in support of The Rotary Foundation. Whinnery served twice as chair of the District 5840 Rotary Foundation Committee and in 2011 chaired a successful “Million Dollar Dinner” that raised $1.07 million to further the work of the Rotary Foundation. For the past 15 years, he has presented numerous training seminars on Rotary Foundation programs and fund-raising efforts for Rotary clubs and volunteer leaders throughout the district and state.
He served four years as coordinator for fund-raising efforts and educational outreach for The Rotary Foundation’s Polio Plus campaign with responsibility for 10 Rotary districts in Texas and Oklahoma. During his tenure in this position, he presented numerous seminars on Rotary’s polio eradication efforts to individual Rotary clubs and at state-wide training events including President-Elect Training Seminar (PETS), Zone Institutes and Multi-District Training.
Since Rotary launched Polio Plus in 1985, Rotarians around the world have contributed more than $1.7 billion and countless volunteer hours to immunize more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. When this effort began, more than 1000 children were paralyzed by polio every day; in 2017, there were only 20 cases of polio reported in the three countries where the virus is still present in the environment (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria).
