This year the 2008 event will raise money principally for our nominated local charity UCAN with the balance being given to various Rotary supported charities including the Rotary Foundation which supports international humanitarian projects.

UCAN was launched by two consultant urological surgeons based at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.- Sam McClinton and James N’Dow. They saw a need to raise awareness of urological cancers, to make a diagnosis as early as possible, and to improve the patient’s experience of care, treatment and aftercare.

UCAN was established as a Recognised Scottish Charity in autumn 2005 and launched in January 2006 with the aim of adding value to NHS services by raising £2 million over three years to create a recognised centre of excellence for urological cancers in the north of Scotland.

UCAN stands for Urological CANcers. The four main urological cancers are kidney, prostate, bladder and testicular cancers. They mainly affect men, although women can suffer from kidney and bladder cancers. Urological cancers are more common than many people realise, and account for 1 in 3 of all cancers in men and 1 in 5 of all cancers in men and women.
             
UCAN has been set up as a charity dedicated to raising awareness of urological cancers, and improving support and quality of life for people and families who are affected.

Click here to visit the UCAN website

Rotary is a worldwide organisation of business and professional leaders that provides humanitarian service, encourages high ethical standards in all vocations, and helps build goodwill and peace in the world. Approximately 1.2 million Rotarians belong to more than 30,000 clubs in more than 160 countries.

Founded in Chicago in 1905 as the world’s first volunteer service organisation Rotary quickly expanded round the globe and is now the world's largest service organisation for business and professional people of any age, sex and ethnic background.

The Rotary Foundation is the charitable trust fund of Rotary International. Its mission  is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education and the alleviation of poverty. The Rotary Foundation is supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation who share its vision of a better world.

An example of the successful initiatives underway is the PolioPlus programme where Rotary International is the spearheading member of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and is the largest private sector donor. It has contributed more than US$600 million to the polio eradication activities in 122 countries. In addition, tens of thousands of Rotarians have partnered with their national ministries of health, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and with health providers at the grassroots level in thousands of communities. Polio has now been almost eradicated and only now exists in a very small number  of isolated areas.

www.rotary-ribi.org see also www.rotary.org