Wilmette Rotary Clubs Announce
Near Eradication of World Polio
WILMETTE, Ill., Jan. 27, 2012 – The Wilmette Rotary Club and Wilmette Harbor Rotary Club announced major progress in their global organization’s signature cause, the worldwide eradication of polio. Members of both Wilmette clubs have donated money for decades to fund the Rotary International public health campaign.
In 1985, Rotary Clubs worldwide targeted this crippling disease, which can be prevented by inoculating children. Since then, global Rotary club members have donated $1 billion to the cause and partnered with the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to mount extensive child vaccination programs on six continents. Since 1988, the incidence of polio plummeted 99 percent from 350,000 infections per year in 100+ countries to only 650 cases last year in four countries.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, inspired by Rotary’s earlier work, gave a $355 million challenge grant several years ago with the understanding that Rotary would match it with $200 million. Having just surpassed the match, the Gates Foundation announced another $50 million dollar grant.
Both Wilmette Rotary Clubs channel annual member contributions and weekly meeting donations to world polio eradication. Both heard presentations on third-world inoculation programs that save hundreds of millions of children from paralysis. Both sent members to the 2011 Chicago Symphony Orchestra performance with pre-eminent violinist and polio survivor Itzhak Perlman to raise additional funds. And both celebrated the gigantic Rotary End Polio Now symbol lighting the Wrigley Building.
Wilmette Harbor Rotary Club President Rob Davis and Wilmette Rotary Club President Cathy Pratt expressed pride in meeting the Gates Challenge Grant and global eradication progress. They noted the polio scourge in the 1940s and 1950s which terrified America and the North Shore. Both said Wilmette-area Rotary members are deeply devoted to this cause.
The Wilmette Rotary Club meets at noon Wednesdays at McCormick & Schmick’s Restaurant in Old Orchard. The Wilmette Harbor Rotary Club meets at 7:15 a.m. Wednesdays at Sheridan Shores Yacht Club in Gillson Park. For information, check www.wilmetterotary.org or www.wilmetteharborrotary.org.
Rotary International is a global service organization with 1.2 million members in 34,000 Rotary clubs in 200 countries and geographic areas. Members are men and women who are business, professional and community leaders with a shared commitment to make the world a better place.
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