Photograph – London’s Tower Bridge lit up to raise awareness of the End Polio Now capaign.
Figures from this year’s Thanks for Life fundraiser event show that Rotary members have smashed through the £1million fundraising target.
To date, £1,005,653 has been raised thanks to donations from the public. This figure is expected to rise further as more donations pour in.
All across Great Britain and Ireland, during the week surrounding Rotary Day on the 23rd of February 2010, Rotary club members worked with schools, held collections at Tesco stores, dressed empty shop windows with information about polio and reached into communities to raise awareness of and funds to eradicate polio.
The target of £1m was set to help meet the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation challenge. $355 million dollars is being pledged by the Foundation provided that Rotary can generate $200m.
President of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland, David Fowler, said: “This fantastic result not only shows how much Rotary members are willing to do to save lives, it clearly demonstrates how much the public cares for youngsters overseas. I am very grateful to everyone who has donated their money and their time to help get rid of polio.
“Every time we collect for the Thanks for Life campaign, we are one step nearer to saving more lives and preventing others from being affected by this cruel disease.
“It is easy to take for granted our own good health and protection from polio but not everyone is so fortunate. Seeing little children unable to walk never mind run and play is heartbreaking. What we are doing is providing a brighter and healthier future which everyone can contribute to.”
The commitment to wipe out polio has been in place since 1985 when Rotary International pledged to make the world polio free. Rotary members across the globe regularly travel to countries where polio is still endemic to deliver the vaccine to children under five. Thanks to this determined effort, the number of new cases of the crippling and sometimes fatal disease has dropped significantly.
At the start of the campaign, 125 countries were blighted with polio. Now, 25 years on, this has reduced to just four: Afghanistan, northern India, Nigeria and Pakistan. Far from being complacent, Rotary clubs in Great Britain and Ireland are continuing to work with their fellow clubs across the world and with partner organisations to permanently eradicate the disease.
