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Polio Plus

Greetings Presidents,

It is incredible to note that your year is almost half over. After your first meeting in January, the time will fly, and soon you will have completed your year as President of your Rotary Club. Congratulations on the work you have been doing and on the succesful activities of your club. Having been President of my own club in 2009-2010, I know what a job it is and how much fun it is as well. Thanks for all you do.

I wanted to take this moment also to remind you of the district goals of raising $50 per member in each club in the district for Polio Eradication. In these tough economic times, that is a hard sell for you to make and a hard goal to reach.

There are a number of paths to take to make this happen. In our club, we have decided to take one of the fundraising activities (a football pool/Paul Harris Fellows) to raise this money for Polio Plus (see attached Fundraising ideas). I attended the Moorpark Polio Run on Sunday; that is one of their activities to raise these funds. Last year, they also did a Pounds for Polio fundraiser. Making the fundraising activities fun makes it all easier to accomplish. Already, in our club, we are over half way to our goal, and it has been relatively pleasant and stress-free.

I have attached a pdf file from Rotary International that shows each club's total contributions in our district, both since the beginning of the Gates Challenge in 2007, and for this Rotary year. You can take a look at your own club and see how you are doing. Some clubs donate a great deal; some clubs have contributed no money, and some clubs contribute at the end of each year. The important item is that each club tries their best to donate to Polio Plus as much as they can. Our District has an incredibly good reputation and we are currently number EIGHT in the world in terms of contributions to Polio Plus. Well done. We should all congratulate ourselves on this amazing accomplishment, and we should try to maintain our commitment to this worthy cause.

Personally, I have made a commitment to donate to Polio Plus. That is my own goal. Many of you know my circumstances regarding polio, that I am a polio survivor, and have a special commitment to eradicate polio in the world. I have told my family and extended family that we will give presents, and that we will also donate money to polio plus with Rotary International in lieu of presents. What better way to give the message to our relatives that this is important, that polio eradication is something we can accomplish, and that Rotary has made this a primary international goal since 1985? I think our relatives would be proud of us in making this commitment. To that end, I have also attached a sheet I have made available to our members noting that I am giving to Polio Plus this year instead of giving gifts. The sheet is subtle, not a direct sale, but it does show that money donated to Polio Plus via Rotary International helps save lives by vaccinating children: $5 will vaccinate over 80 children.

I wish you well and congratulate you each on having a successful year so far. In this holiday time of giving, I think it is critical to remember our commitment as Rotarians to world polio eradication. With your help, we can and will finish the job.

Thank you.

Larry Emrich
District 5240 Polio Eradication Chair
Member, The Rotary Club of Ventura