Rotary lights up Camana Bay with key message

(CNS): The new Ogier Building at Camana Bay joined Italy’s Trevi Fountain, India’s Charminar monument and the New York Stock Exchange last night when it was lit up with a key message by local Rotarians. A message was emblazoning on the building and many others around the world to promote the final push in the goal to eradicate polio from the face of the earth. The "End Polio Now" illumination campaign will last for two weeks and start on Rotary International’s 106th birthday of humanitarian service. “These global illuminations carry Rotary’s pledge to end polio—saying to the world that we will fight this crippling disease to the end,” said Carl-Wilhelm Stenhammar, Chair of The Rotary Foundation. (Photo Dennie WarrenJr)

“It is our hope that people worldwide will see this visible pledge and join Rotary and its partners in this historic effort to rid the world of polio forever.”

Other iconic landmarks that have carried the pledge in recent years include the Sydney Opera House, London’s Tower Bridge, the Roman Coliseum, Egypt’s Pyramid of Khafre, Chicago’s Wrigley Building, the Obelisk in Argentina and the San Francisco Ferry Building.

Polio eradication has been Rotary’s top priority for more than two decades. The international humanitarian service organization is a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, along with the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and UNICEF.

Rotary has pledged to raise US$200 million to match $355 million in challenge grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The entire $555 million will be spent in support of eradication activities.
Great progress has been made: The number of cases of polio infection has plunged from about 350,000 in 1988 to fewer than 2,000 in 2009. More than two billion children have been immunized in 122 countries, preventing five million cases of paralysis and 250,000 paediatric deaths.

Rotary club members worldwide have contributed more than $900 million and countless volunteer hours to the effort and are now working aggressively to raise the $200 million needed to match the Gates Foundation grants. The money is needed to ensure that the progress made over more than two decades will continue. To learn more about polio eradication, including how to participate in this historic effort, visit www.rotary.org/endpolio today.

If you would like to make a donation, please visit any of the participating merchants at Camana Bay, approach any local Rotarian, or call the Rotary Sunrise PolioPlus Chair Tony Catalanotto at 926-7368.