PURPLE PINKIE DAY Oct. 22

Rotary Club of Concord’s Purple Pinkie Day helps take on $200 million challenge from the Gates Foundation

On Saturday October 22, 2011 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. the Rotary Club of Concord will hold its third annual “Purple Pinkie Day” in Concord Center to help “End Polio Now.”  Rotarians worldwide join on World Polio Day to rid the world of this crippling disease. In Concord, as elsewhere, they will greet the public and invite them to join in the fight by making a contribution of any amount.  Contributions will earn the donor a “purple pinkie” and the Rotarian will apply purple color to his or her finger as is done to children throughout the world signifying that they have received their polio vaccine. The purple pinkie will serve as a personal reminder of helping one child become free from polio forever.

Rotary clubs here and around the world are determined to do whatever it takes to achieve a world free of the crippling disease polio. A key component of that effort is fundraising. Rotary members are working to raise $200 million in response to a challenge grant of $355 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

That may seem a daunting task, but Rotary’s track record shows it can be done with perseverance and hard work. Since launching its landmark PolioPlus Program in 1985, the volunteer service organization already has contributed more than $900 million to the cause, not to mention countless volunteer hours logged by Rotary members.

Although the polio epidemic may be a distant memory to many-- cases have been slashed by 99 percent worldwide -- it still threatens children in parts of Africa and South Asia.  

Steve Levitsky, President of the Rotary Club of Concord, urges everyone in Concord to help close that final gap and eliminate polio from the earth once and for all.  Together let’s get ‘er done.”

Indeed, for as little as 60 cents worth of oral polio vaccine, a child can be protected for life. However, a major funding gap now faces the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, of which Rotary is a spearheading partner (along with the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF). More than twenty years of steady progress is at stake, and polio -- now on the ropes -- stands to stage a dangerous comeback unless the funding gap is bridged.

In response to the funding crisis, Rotary eagerly accepted a US$355 million challenge grant from the Gates Foundation, which Rotary will match with an additional US$200 million over three years, raising a much needed US$555 million, all of it dedicated to polio eradication.

Rotary’s worldwide membership of 1.2 million men and women -- representing about 33,000 clubs in more than 200 countries -- immediately embraced the effort by digging deeper into their own pockets, planning special fundraisers and rallying community support. Rotary invites everyone who wants to learn more about this historic opportunity to end polio to visit www.rotary.org/endpolio.

The Rotary Club of meets weekly at the Colonial Inn in Concord at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and 12:15 p.m. on Thursdays.  For more information visit www.rotaryclubofconcord.org.

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