Planting Purple Crocuses - Purple4polio

Spring each year sees a beautiful purple carpet of crocus blooming in many communities across Great Britain and Ireland thanks to the Purple Crocus Corm planting to raise awareness of the Rotary fight for a polio free world.

Planting the purple crocus corms by Rotary and many community groups is a great way of getting active, having fun and talking to lots of different people about the need to eradicate the life threatening and disabling polio virus.

Purple4polio

The Purple4Polio activities suggested by Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland are to raise funds and awareness for End Polio Now, Rotary’s global campaign to eradicate polio across the world.

When a child receives their life-saving polio drops on mass polio immunisation days, their little finger is painted with a purple dye so it is clear they have received their polio vaccine.

Rotary’s pledge for a polio free world was made in 1985 when there were 125 polio endemic countries and hundreds of new cases every single day. In the past few years, only two countries have reported cases of polio caused by the wild poliovirus but no child anywhere is safe until every child has been fully vaccinated.

Each year the two Rotary clubs of Stamford light up the churches in purple light to raise awareness of the on-going campaign to end polio across the world.