ACCOMPLISHING A GOAL - SIMPLY WONDERFUL
In eighteen months members of the Rotary Club of Westfield-Mayville raised $11,715.46 and donated it to The Rotary Foundation PolioPlus Fund for Polio eradication efforts. This organization had set an original goal of raising $10,000 within two years. On April 10th, thirty-two Rotary International Zone 24E and District 7090 officials, guests and club members gathered at Brazill’s On Main in Westfield for the official announcement and dinner celebration, which was titled “PolioPlus-apalooza.”
This Rotary club had been challenged by an anonymous, local foundation to raise $10,000 in two years, through new fundraisers, each with an educational component about the disease of polio. The Rotary Club of Westfield-Mayville energetically met its challenge. The club first submitted its major donation of $11,715.46 to The Rotary Foundation (TRF) PolioPlus Fund, and then the local foundation generously made its major contribution of $10,000.
Because the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is offering a $2:1 match of all donations, the Westfield-Mayville Rotary Club played a significant role in generating $65,146.38 in the fight against polio. A single dose of the polio vaccine costs about sixty cents. The polio virus remains in Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.
Polio (poliomyelitis) mainly affects children under 5 years of age. According to the World Health Organization, “Cases due to wild poliovirus have decreased by over 99%, since 1988, from an estimated 350,000 cases then, to 22 reported cases in 2017. As a result of the global effort to eradicate the disease, more than 16 million people have been saved from paralysis. As long as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio.” (Source: WHO Media Centre, Mar. 2018 Fact Sheet.) To date in 2017, only 7 new cases of the wild polio virus have been identified. (Source: WHO Global Polio Eradication Initiative; polioeradication.org, Apr. 2018.)
Jim Wakeman, Rotary Club of Westfield-Mayville Foundation and PolioPlus Challenge Chair, announced, “As we celebrate the achievement of our club’s goal, and recognize the fantastic efforts of all those who were involved, it is most important that we especially remember the end result. Because of our efforts, 108,577 children will receive doses of the polio vaccine. These children will not suffer the effects of this crippling and sometimes paralyzing disease, nor will their lives be forever negatively impacted by it.”
Rotary International Zone 24E Foundation Coordinator Karen Oakes stated, “This truly is an amazing achievement by the Rotary Club of Westfield-Mayville. It is a major contribution in support of global polio eradication efforts.”
Rotary District 7090 Governor Reg Madison said, “How proud I am of this Rotary Club for its PolioPlus Challenge campaign efforts. When I first learned that this organization had not reached, but surpassed its challenge goal, I was overwhelmed and just cried tears of joy. This is a remarkable accomplishment.”
Pictured (left to right) are Sue Hammond - Club Public Relations Chair; Karen Oakes - Rotary International Zone 24E Foundation Coordinator; Reg Madison - Rotary District 7090 Governor; Pat Castiglia - Rotary District 7090 End Polio Now Chair; Jim Wakeman - Club Foundation and PolioPlus Challenge Chair; and Janese Berkhouse - Club President.