Donations to End Polio Exceed Expectations

For several years now, Patrick and Carol Rothon have graciously held a garden party for our club in their lovely garden at Brook Lodge, raising hundreds of pounds in voluntary donations at these events.  Following the successful Barbecue and crazy Pétanque afternoon at President Roger’s house and garden in July, Saturday August 26 was set aside for this year’s Paella – with hopes that the weather would be kind and we’d all enjoy the ‘al fresco’ event.

Weather Permitting

An early start on Friday saw Patrick mowing the lawn (again) and president Roger, Patrick and Peter assembled at Brook Lodge to set up a gazebo for shade, or shelter from rain.  Would there be enough space?  The weather forecast suggested rain from 2 pm, so maybe more shelter might be needed.  
So off to Malcolm’s for a second large gazebo, extract it from the shed and bring it to Brook Lodge and set it up.  Six tables. forty chairs, and ……. fingers crossed for decent weather.
A final look at the weather forecast – a fine morning but now a high chance of thunderstorms from 3 pm, so a final adjustment to the plan - we start two hours earlier at 11 a.m., with food at 12.30 instead of 3 p.m..
Not long into the event, nearly 40 members and guests mingled happily on the terrace of the house – a sun trap sheltered (mainly) from most of the wind, and although it was a cooler than earlier that week, most were in summer clothes.  The weather was dry, the sun was out, and conversation flowed easily.

End Polio

As usual, Carol and Patrick provided the meal (Carol’s inestimable chicken paella). 

Patrick thanked everybody for coming along for this social event, and especially to help contribute to the club’s fundraising for End Polio Now – this year there have only been seven cases of Polio in the world – two in Pakistan and five in Afghanistan.  

Great Food and Fellowship

Apart from Paella, the drinks, and the champagne, other guests had helped by providing various desserts and cakes, so there was plenty of food for all.  Many thanks!

Carol worked hard, assisted by friend Pauline and Sarah Kettle in cooking her chicken and rice paella, and soon members were queueing up for the paella, and the salads on the nearby table.  It was delicious and most of the food was swiftly consumed.

Time for president Roger to thank Patrick and Carol for their hospitality and Carol in particular for her hard work in getting the food, preparing it and cooking it to perfection.  Everybody applauded loudly.

A British Summer

Unfortunately, and as feared, at about 3 o’clock, the weather turned colder and suddenly the skies opened, and the rain poured down.  Guests made a beeline for the seats in the gazebos.  But the rain didn’t lessen, and we called an end to highly enjoyable and successful event.
If you didn’t manage to go along, you missed out on great food and great fellowship.

(Global)Giving

We are hopefully in the last stages of the Polio disease, and we must continue to support Rotary’s efforts to rid the world of Polio so we asked tha any voluntary donations to be paid in the week of the 18-22 September.  This would be part of the GlobalGiving “Little by Little” campaign, where the first $50 of every donation would receive a 50% bonus.

We have just finished the “Little by Little” campaign and the response has been outstanding, not only from club members but also from guests - including PDG Terry Dean who is District End Polio co-ordinator and PDG Pauline Dean who both came along to show their support and made a donation too.

Campaign Success

Our campaign was just one of 6,945 projects.  Total donations were over $1,000,000 from 15,778 donations and pulling in matching bonuses of $266,371.

How did we do?  The total raised via GlobalGiving was $1010 which generated a matching bonus of $505, so we raised a total of $1515.  We were 108th out of the 6,945 projects.

Well done Billericay!

At the prevailing exchange rate at the end of the campaign on September 22 this $1515 was worth approximately £1236, but we will not know the final figure until the money is transferred to us next month at the prevailing exchange rate at that time.  There was an additional donation of £20 direct to our benevolent account so the total raised should exceed £1256, to which should be added Gift Aid of about £200 making a total raised of nearly £1500. 

With the tripling contribution of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, this is worth:  £4,500 or 

Up to 46,000 Polio vaccines.