Oswestry Cambrian Rotary Club presented our Adcote Rotarians with a new pop-up display banner, T-shirts to wear at fundraising events and 150 purple crocus bulbs to raise awareness of the ‘Purple 4 Polio’ campaign. The items were presented by Club President Anna Pugh, Executive Secretary Cath Baldry and Past President Ian Slipper.
Adcote students are planning to plant the bulbs in the Adcote gardens as a symbol of the continued world fight to eradicate polio. The childhood disease can kill or severely disable children. There is no cure which is why a worldwide immunisation programme is essential to prevent children from contracting the disease.
In 1988 Rotary International joined forces with the Bill and Belinda Gates Foundation to launch the Global Polio Eradication Initiative which supports a worldwide immunisation programme. For every £1 raised by Rotary International the Bill and Belinda Gates Foundation donates two dollars. Since then 3 billion children have been immunised and polio has decreased by 99%. Today wild polio is only found in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and with the return of The Taliban to Afghanistan, it is feared that cases within the country could rise rapidly.
Every child, who is immunised, receives an indelible purple mark on their finger – hence the significance of the choice of purple crocus bulbs.
World Polio Day is on 24th October. Adcote Rotarians are looking to hold an assembly, after half term, to raise awareness of the polio campaign. They also hope to organise activities for World Interact Week, November 1st – 7th.
Categories: Charity