Rotary projects around the globe
October 2024
Rotary members and their partners in service come together each World Polio Day on 24 October to recognize progress in the fight to end the disease. Here is a sample of the ways members are taking action to make history and eradicate polio.
Colombia
Sonia Uribe and her husband, Alberto Londoño, created a stuffed animal collection called El Zoo del Amor, or the Zoo of Love, to comfort seriously ill children and raise money for polio eradication. Sales of Anna the giraffe, Lucas the tiger, and other animals — each wearing a shirt with Rotary and End Polio Now logos — have raised about $550,000 since their introduction in 2018. In addition to giving the animals to sick children, Rotarians carry them on their travels and snap photos of them at iconic landmarks. “All these animals have traveled, being ambassadors of the Rotary brand,” says Uribe, a member of the Rotary Club of Nuevo Medellín and, like Londoño, a past governor of District 4271. Londoño is a member of the Rotary Club of Medellín Nutibara. The couple also manage the Fundación Monica Uribe Por Amor, which assists children with spina bifida.
United States
The Rotary Club of Scranton, Pennsylvania, is helping a new generation learn about polio. Students from Dunmore High School have created a documentary based on interviews conducted during a polio and health policy symposium that the club and District 7410 organized for World Polio Day 2023. The film features interviews with International PolioPlus Committee Chair Michael McGovern, other Rotarians, and symposium attendees, and is scheduled for broadcast during the club’s World Polio Day events this month. “It is hard to get hands-on with history,” says Alan Roche, a Dunmore teacher who enlisted about 40 students to produce the video, which includes interviews with three local polio survivors, one of whom taught at the high school. The project was an eye-opener for the young people, he says. “It’s usually a page or two in the textbook, a blip in a slideshow,” Roche says. “It’s one thing to just learn about this and another to talk to someone who was affected by it and lives in your hometown.”
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22.00,000
Children who’ve received Zoo of Love toys
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18.0094
First U.S. polio epidemic
France
More than a dozen Rotarians and friends in southeastern France donned inflatable dinosaur costumes and stumbled along a 100-meter course in a playful footrace that raised funds and awareness for Rotary’s mission to end polio. Organized by District 1730, the T-Rex Race took place last October during the Fréjus International Air Festival, a kite fair that draws thousands of people. “The idea came to me to create an event to rejuvenate the image of Rotary in the fight against polio,” says Dinh Hoan Tran, the district’s immediate past governor and member of the Rotary Club of Nice. Spectators could place bets on the contestants. “We made people laugh and we informed people,” says Tran. More than 40 of the district’s 71 clubs participated in the event, as the district motivated clubs to “support PolioPlus to the tune of about $45,000,” he says.
South Africa
To draw attention to the need for vigilance and vaccinations, the Rotary Club of Newlands assembled Rotary members and others for a World Polio Day photo shoot with the landmark Table Mountain in the background. On the day of the shoot, however, a heavy mist enveloped the site. “We made the best of it, chatting and taking selfies, until eventually the sun came out,” says Past President Janey Ball. She used RI’s polio resources toolkit to create artwork for selfie frames and set up a Facebook event called Make Polio History to record the pictures and raise awareness. To encourage Rotary members, Ball suggested using the slogan “focus on the finish.” “The selfie frames have been in continuous use since the event, moving from one club to another,” she says.
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24.00+
Years since Europe was declared polio-free
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80.00 million
Polio vaccine doses administered in southern Africa in 2022
Japan
Yoichiro Miyazaki switched into high gear to raise money for the PolioPlus Society. Miyazaki, a member of the Rotary Club of Tokyo Mitaka, cycled the length of Japan last October, covering 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) in 24 days. “If you don’t act, there’s no point,” he tells Rotary Italia magazine, using a slogan developed for his year as governor of District 2750 in 2023-24. Along the way, fellow district governors, other Rotarians, and well-wishers cheered for him as he traversed twisting roads, uphill climbs, and tunnels. RI General Secretary John Hewko, another avid cyclist, offered a video message of support. Prompted by news coverage of his ride, donors contributed $140,000. Miyazaki continues to pedal strong: In late April, he finished the Osaka-to-Tokyo challenge just three hours shy of the 30-hour goal en route to more fundraising for polio.
This story originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of Rotary magazine.