The Rotary Club of Reno Centennial Sunset is sponsoring a fundraiser focused on eradicating polio from the face of the earth. And we are soooo close. There are only two remaining countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan, where polio in the wild still exists in the wild. This exciting news pushes us to continue the campaign: So far in 2021, there has only been one case of polio in Pakistan and one case in Afghanistan. In addition, a new polio vaccine has been released that does not give the rare risk of giving polio to the vaccinated. We are so close.End Polio Now
The Polio Purple Pinkie Trail Run has raised roughly $72,864 over the past 10 years for the Rotary Foundation’s Polio Plus Fund, the RCS Rotary Foundation Inc. and Immunize Nevada. All proceeds raised for Polio Plus are matched 2 to 1 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This money directly supports immunization campaigns in developing countries where polio continues to infect and paralyze children, robbing them of their futures and compounding the hardship faced by their families. For more information about Rotary’s efforts to eradicate polio, please visit www.EndPolio.org.
Why Purple Pinkie? Every time a child is immunized, their pinkies are colored purple to show that they are safe from this crippling and deadly disease. Now with new reports of polio amongst the refugees, it continues to be of importance to help us fight. The polio cases represented by the remaining one percent are the most difficult to prevent, due to factors including geographical isolation, poor public infrastructure, armed conflict and cultural barriers. Until polio is eradicated, all countries remain at risk of outbreaks.