Foundation honors two couples for major gifts
By Ryan Hyland
Rotary International News -- 20 April 2010
Top: RI Director Masahiro Kuroda and his wife, Michiko, were inducted into the Arch C. Klumph Society on 26 January.
Photo by Cindy Fandl/Fandl Photography. Bottom: Carl Chinnery, past governor of District 6040, was inducted into the society on 16 March.
Rotary Images
Two Rotarian couples were recently inducted into the Arch C. Klumph Society , which honors people who give at least US$250,000 to The Rotary Foundation.
RI Director Masahiro Kuroda and his wife, Michiko, were inducted on 26 January, and Carl and Jean Chinnery became members on 16 March. Their commitment was recognized at RI World Headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, USA, and their portraits now hang in the Arch C. Klumph Gallery on the 17th floor.
Kuroda, a surgeon and director of the Kuroda Internal and Gastrointestinal Medicine Clinic, joined Rotary in 1978 as a member of the Rotary Club of Hachinohe South, Aomori, Japan.
Michiko and the couple's three children are all physicians. When Kuroda travels on Rotary business, they assist at the family's medical clinic.
He says it was a goal for him and Michiko to become Arch C. Klumph Society members.
"The reason we make contributions to the Foundation is to support the organization of Rotary and the services they provide that ultimately advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace," says Kuroda. "We are most grateful to our family and friends, as this is only possible with their support."
Kuroda established an Interact club at Hachinohe High School and served as district Interact chair. He also served as secretary for the seventh Rotary Japan-Korea Friendship Meeting and helped form the Rotary Club of Pohang South, Gyeongsangbug, Korea. He and his wife are generous supporters of PolioPlus, the Annual Programs Fund, and the Permanent Fund.
Carl and Jean Chinnery
Carl Chinnery, a 2010-11 regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, has a personal connection to Rotary's campaign to eradicate polio: He and his four brothers contracted the disease in the 1940s. His oldest brother died within days of being diagnosed with polio, and another was confined to an iron lung.
"When Rotary launched its polio eradication campaign in 1985, it brought back memories of the hardship polio took on my family. It flooded my life again, but in a positive way. I wanted to do my part to help Rotary," says Chinnery, past governor of District 6040 (Missouri, USA) and a member of the Rotary Club of Lee's Summit. "I have no doubt polio will be eradicated. There has been incredible success."
Chinnery served as PolioPlus subcommittee chair for his district and has been a member of The Rotary Foundation's PolioPlus Task Force since 2003. He is a recipient of the Foundation's Citation for Meritorious Service and District 6040's Humanitarian Award for Polio Eradication.
A lawyer at Chinnery, Evans & Nail P.C., Chinnery also serves as president of a number of community organizations, including Children's Mercy Hospital Planned Giving and the Truman Medical Center Philanthropy Board. He also has been president of the Lee's Summit school district, economic development council, and chamber of commerce.
Chinnery says he and his wife donate to the Foundation because it has the best resources to help the world.
"The Foundation is successful because it keeps costs down and projects up," he says. "Rotarians are volunteers of these projects. Rotary is so much more when Rotarians get involved and can donate to the Foundation to keep important projects worldwide going."
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