Newtown Rotary Joins Fight To Eliminate Polio From World

 Newtown Rotary Club members were at the recent Marcus Dairy Motorbike Rally to begin their raffle of a Harley Davidson Special 100 Edition Motorcycle. The proceeds of the raffle will go toward the elimination of the polio virus from the world by the year 2005, the 100th anniversary of the founding of Rotary International, the first service club of its kind in the world.

Harley Davidson is celebrating its 100th year this year and has produced the Special 100 Edition motorcycle to commemorate the anniversary.

In 1985, Rotary International announced the start of its Polio Plus Immunization Campaign. Rotary was joined immediately by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Atlanta Center for Disease Control (CDC), Pan America Health and many others. At that time, as many at 400,000 cases of polio were reported annually in the world. More than 2 billion children have been immunized since then. Fewer than 1,000 cases of polio were reported worldwide in 2001.

There are, however, still seven countries that have not been certified polio free and until 100 percent of the virus are eliminated, the threat of polio remains.

Approximately $300 million is needed to complete this task. Rotary Clubs throughout the world are trying to raise the money.

Newtown Rotarians will be selling raffle tickets throughout the area in the next few months. Anyone who buys a ticket not only has a chance of winning a new Harley Davidson but also helping to eradicate polio from the world. Tickets are available by calling 270-9760.