How to resolve AdBlock issue? SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Springs Rotary Club is conducting its ninth annual fundraiser to support the eradication of polio, a crippling and sometimes fatal disease that can be prevented when children receive the polio vaccine.
Through May 31, local residents are invited to order a dozen long-stem roses for $20, half of which goes to Rotary International’s “End Polio Now” campaign.
“Without our help, thousands of children in the world will succumb to polio’s life-changing forces,” notes Rotarian Dennis Wilson, who leads the fundraising project. “While Americans don’t think of polio as a health problem any longer due to our immunization practices, for many of the world’s poorest citizens, polio still cripples dreams. Until it is eradicated, it threatens us all.”
The local club’s efforts are part of a global campaign to rid the world of polio. Rotary International has been working to eliminate polio since 1985. Only three countries still have the wild poliovirus—Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan—though 60 countries are considered high-risk.
Since Rotary started the effort, more than one million worldwide Rotarians have donated $1.6 billion, helping to reduce polio cases 99.9 percent and immunizing over 2.5 billion children in 122 countries.
Local residents and businesses can join Rotarians in this historic effort to eliminate polio by ordering roses for $20 per dozen. Orders must be picked up at Longfellows restaurant at 500 Union Avenue on Wednesday, June 14, between noon and 2 p.m.
Roses can be ordered by calling Dennis Wilson at 518-650-5242. More information is available at the website www.endpolio.org.
