While the United States is well-known for its Thanksgiving festivities, many cultures around the world celebrate their own harvest festivals.
Canada: Just a bit earlier than the U.S., Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October. Much like the American tradition, it involves feasting, family gatherings, and giving thanks for the harvest.
Germany: Erntedankfest, or Harvest Festival, is a German tradition that celebrates the autumn harvest. People decorate churches with fruits, vegetables, and flowers, and there are often parades and festivals to mark the occasion.
Korea: Chuseok is a major Korean holiday that celebrates the harvest moon. Families gather to pay respects to their ancestors and enjoy traditional foods like songpyeon (rice cakes) and hangwa (traditional Korean sweets).
India: Pongal is a Hindu festival celebrated in South India. It's a harvest festival that marks the beginning of the Tamil calendar. People decorate their homes with colorful kolam (rangoli) patterns and offer prayers to the Sun God.
With the construction complete in May 2020, we became the first facility in the nation to combine equine-assisted therapy, community engagement programs, and mounted police patrol with a total of 24 horse stalls, indoor and outdoor riding arenas, classrooms, multi-purpose community room, and plenty of parking.
Ramesh Ferris wants you to see his legs.
“When people see me walking with my crutches and braces, if I’m not wearing shorts, they do not think of polio,” says Ferris, who contracted the disease at six months old. “But when people see my legs, they’re like, ‘Oh, what happened?’ It starts a discussion around what people can do to work together for a polio-free world.”
Ferris tries to wear shorts whenever he’s hiking or using his hand-cycle, a three-wheeled device powered by hand cranks. And he’s found other ways to channel his athleticism into the fight against polio. In 2008, he hand-cycled 7,140 kilometers (4,437 miles) across Canada to raise awareness and funds for polio eradication.
Using a 27-speed hand-cycle and consuming 5,000 calories a day to maintain his energy, Ferris traveled 400 kilometers (249 miles) every 10 days from British Columbia in the west to Newfoundland in the east. His Cycle to Walk trip raised funds for Rotary International’s End Polio Now effort and other anti-polio projects.
Now Ferris has joined Team End Polio, a new campaign by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to raise awareness about the need to wipe out the disease. Team End Polio’s starting roster of top international athletes includes several who, like Ferris, have been directly affected by the disease. All are determined to speak up on social media and at sporting events.
Read More:
https://www.rotary.org/en/international-athletes-speak-out-about-polio
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