End Polio Now With Beaverton Rotary 5100

BEAVERTON, OR- Rotary clubs exist in many countries around the world; they are community organizations that typically play a leading role in neighborhood and international involvement.

Beaverton Rotary has 90 members who are all community leaders, business leaders or people for whom service is an important aspect of their day to day lives. Beaverton Rotary raises funds to fight polio, through a program called PolioPlus.

"Polio eradication has been Rotary’s corporate goal for over 30 years. There were over 300,000 cases a year in the 1980s," said Doug Taylor, former President of Beaverton Rotary from 2008-2009. In 2016 there have only been 26 cases worldwide. "Polio will be the second disease ever to be eradicated, smallpox being the first. It's really emotional for me, we will see the last case of polio on the Earth," said Taylor.

PolioPlus helps to send volunteers into developing nations to inoculate children against polio, but in addition to that, they will also provide other vaccines as needed, depending on what diseases are affecting the area most. Program partners include the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the CDC and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

One fundraiser that supports PolioPlus at Beaverton Rotary is the 'civil war score grid' for the football rivalry that exists between OSU and University of Oregon. Club members can write their names in for $10 per square. This game alone raises $1,000 for PolioPlus each year.

Curious about polio? Learn more about polio eradication and what you can do to help fight the disease.

Image via Doug Taylor, Beaverton Rotary