And the winners are…the children of our world, and the campaign to End Polio Now!
As you remember, we have been holding a district-wide contest to promote the PolioPlus campaign, leading up to October 24 and World Polio Day.
I’m proud to report on behalf of our Foundation Committee that this effort has been successful in many ways.
From July 1 to the end of September, 170 gifts to PolioPlus were received from 147 Rotarians (some Rotarians gave more than once). The total of District 7780 gifts to PolioPlus in the first quarter of this Rotary year reached $17,394. With the generous 2:1 matching fund of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, this adds $52,182 to the fight against polio. Wow! To put that in perspective, in the same period last year our District had raised $6,602 toward polio eradication.
The names of all 2017-18 PolioPlus donors were put in a hat (well, it was a basket but it looked quite like a hat to me). The winning ticket and a first runner-up were drawn at Sanford-Springvale’s weekly meeting yesterday, October 5.
The first name drawn was that of David Longo, Rotarian from the Hampton Club. David was surprised and pleased, but he was unable to clear his calendar of work and family obligations, and so turned down the opportunity. We thank him for his donation and his dedication to Rotary. The first runner up, Roland Gagne of the Biddeford-Saco Club and Paula Gagne will therefore be heading to Seattle and the World Polio Day festivities, to represent our district as the events are telecast live round the world from the headquarters of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on October 24.
Travel arrangements have been donated by a generous (anonymous) Rotarian, and we are all grateful for that contribution.