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Rotary Walk With Us – Ending Polio

By Grant Hocking on behalf of Kitty O’Connor and Murray Verso, Rotary District 9800, End Polio Walk With Us Team

During the month of October, Rotarians and friends in Australia and across the world took action to raise awareness, funds and support to end poliomyelitis, a vaccine-preventable disease that still threatens the children of the world today.  The Rotary Walk With Us campaign was very successful, raising over $123,000 for the Rotary End Polio campaign. The amount raised by District 9800 was over $73,000, 4-5 times more than previous walking events.

https://rotarydistrict9800.org.au/stories/rotary-walk-with-us-%e2%80%93-ending-polio/

During the month of October, Rotarians and friends in Australia and across the world took action to raise awareness, funds and support to end poliomyelitis, a vaccine-preventable disease that still threatens the children of the world today.  

As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Rotary has helped to reduce polio cases worldwide from an average of 1,000 cases per day in 1987 to a total of only 174 cases in 2019, a 99.9% reduction.

The District 9800 End Polio Walk With Us organising team would like to thank all those who walked and donated. It was pleasing to see so many embrace the event in our first year. The 355 individuals and 47 teams who walked, and all their supporters, can feel very proud of their efforts.

The Rotary Walk With Us campaign was very successful, raising over $123,000 for the Rotary End Polio campaign. The amount raised by District 9800 was over $73,000, 4-5 times more than previous walking events.

Knowing that donations will be matched 2 to 1 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is exciting...this is a huge result.

The Walk With Us site will remain active throughout November to accept late donations.

The added benefits from this event included encouraging people to get out and walk, improving their health and fitness, as well as their mental health, especially during COVID restrictions. Another significant benefit was increasing public awareness of Rotary in general, and the important role Rotary has played in the effort to eradicate Polio.

An attraction to sponsor event participants was the tax deductibility of all donations, which were credited via Rotary to the individuals, Rotary clubs and Districts where appropriate. We are hopeful of increased involvement from more Rotary Districts next year.

The surprise this year was the overseas involvement with several countries joining the campaign. We will explore this more next year and review the capacity to replicate the platform for other countries.

The final challenge remains: to eliminate polio from Afghanistan and Pakistan, the last two countries where it remains endemic. Failure to do so, whilst also keeping all other countries polio-free, would see as many as 200,000 children paralysed each year within the next decade. Fortunately, Rotary and its partners are committed to making polio the second disease ever to be totally eradicated, the other being smallpox.

We look forward to seeing everyone return next year, along with many new people and Rotary Districts joining the fun and fundraising for a really important cause.

Fun and Fundraising - It’s what Rotary does!


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