World Polio Day

World Polio Day October - Invite to Tea, Coffee and Cake

World Polio Day will soon be here, and Rotary Clubs around the world will be raising awareness of this dreadful disease and raising funds to help eradicate it.  Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years and our goal of ridding the world of Polio closer than ever. 

But what is Polio?- Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a paralyzing and potentially deadly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of 5. The virus spreads from person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can then attack the nervous system. 

More than $2.1 billion has been raised and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease.  When a child receives their life-saving polio drops on mass polio immunisation days, their little finger is painted with a purple dye to show they have received their polio vaccine. 

The Purple4Polio campaign is to aise awareness of the disease and help raise funds to continue the fight to eradicate the disease.

The Rotary Club of Rye & Winchelsea raised awareness locally by planting purple crocus in and around the ‘tank traps’ at the new Community Wellbeing Centre for Rye – the Hub on the Hill, at the entrance to Valley Park and in East Guldeford. 

Private and Public buildings will also be turned purple to mark the day.  We are very pleased to see that The Hub on Rye Hill, Ypres Tower in Rye and The Church of Saint Mary in Rye turn their buildings purple to mark the event.

The Rotary Club of Rye & Winchelsea President Venetia Sanders said “A very big thank you to evryoe who is supporting our activities this year, and would like to invite you to Tea, Coffee and Cake at the Rye Community Centre on October 25”.

The end of Polio is in sight, and today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.