The Hausa people of northern Nigeria have a saying, "Allah ya ce, tashi in taimake ka!", which translates roughly to "God helps those who help themselves".

The big push is on to eradicate polio and Rotarians are busy raising $200 Million to match a challenge grant from the Gates Foundation. Rotarians have now put in nearly $800 Million for this effort, which has brought the number of cases per year down from nearly 350,000 in 1988 to less than 2,000 last year. Twenty years ago, polio was endemic in 125 countries, now only four nations remain polio endemic: India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. However, these four countries each present unique challenges and the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the US Centers for Disease Control and Rotary International are pulling out all of the stops to get the job done now.

The Gates Foundation has just announced (Bill Gates, Jr., the RI President and Chair of the Foundation Trustees) in a press conference and to the International Assembly (with our own DGE Newell Krogmann in attendance) that they will give another $255 Million to Rotary International to support this effort. In exchange, Rotary International has agreed to raise an additional $100 Million in response to this challenge, bringing the total of the current challenge grant to $200 Million from Rotarians and their communities around the world.

There's more good news, including gifts from Great Britain and Germany! Please go to this link below to read the whole story. Lots of work still to be done, but a very strong shot in the arm for the work that means so much to all of us. Questions: email Charlie Cogan, District PolioPlus/Gates Challenge Chair 2008-10. ccogan@carleton.edu

http://www.rotary.org/en/ServiceAndFellowship/Polio/Announcements/Pages/jointletter_polio_ia09_annc21jan09.aspx

POLIOPLUS FUND GIVING 2009-10

 The $100 Million Gates Foundation Challenge

As you will all have read in various Rotary publications, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced several months ago that they would be making a gift of $100 Million to The Rotary Foundation as a challenge grant to lend their support to the fight to eradicate polio. They chose Rotary International to be the recipient of this grant and challenged Rotarians around the world to match their contribution and finish the job of eradicating polio in the four remaining polio endemic countries: Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and India.

The PolioPlus program of Rotary International is requesting that zone, district, and club leaders encourage NEW MEMBERS to contribute and become a part of Rotary’s number one goal of global polio eradication.  New Members are those who have joined your club since the 3 year Polio Eradication project ended in 2005.   We also have Clubs that were CHARTERED after July 1, 2003.  These clubs are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to become involved by having a fundraiser for PolioPlus.  The publicity in newspapers about these fundraisers is great for membership recruitment too.

If you are a club that hasn’t yet reported your PolioPlus Goal for 2008-09, please send that information to Jingle at the District Office as soon as possible. The goal is a minimum of $1,000 per year per club for the next three years, in order to reach our goal of matching the Gates Foundation challenge grant of $100 Million. Larger clubs should think bigger. Smaller clubs should be able to meet this goal if they dedicate at least one fund raiser to this effort or convince one club member to dedicate a Paul Harris Fellowship to PolioPlus this year.

The Gates Foundation was so confident in our ability to rise to the challenge that the entire $100 Million has already been given to The Rotary Foundation and the first $40 Million have already been sent off by Rotary for polio eradication work.

You can monitor progress in this effort in each month’s Rotarian magazine or check out www.polioeradication.org for updates on a regular basis. This website is maintained by the major partners in the Global Polio Eradication effort: Rotary International, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Action Plan:
We would encourage every club to have a program on Polio Eradication.  Want help raising money for Polio Eradication? We have two groups of speakers willing to help.

Be creative! Rotarians have reached into their pockets to fund polio eradication many times over the past 25 years. Feel free to ask new Rotarians to lend a hand, as well as long-time members with a special interest in polio eradication. PolioPlus donations count toward Paul Harris giving, but don’t forget that we’re also asking Rotarians to go into their pockets each year to support many other efforts, including our giving to the Annual Programs Fund.

Why not try out a community fund raiser with polio eradication as the beneficiary? Last year, Northfield dedicated the proceeds from our annual Turkey Trot to polio eradication. We had our biggest turnout ever and the event raised over $6,000 for PolioPlus, enough to vaccinate 10,000 children, without even counting the Gates Foundation funds that it helped to match. Many runners said that fighting polio, which has kept so many children from ever knowing the joy of running, really made the event more meaningful for them.

1. One of our District 5960 Rotarians is a polio survivor who has written a book about life with polio.  Richard Maus is willing to speak to your club and will give a book to anyone who will donate $20, the majority of which will go to PolioPlus Partners.

Contact  Richard Maus to arrange a date and clarify the donation arrangements.
Richard Maus                          
Rotary Club of Northfield
119 Sunny View Drive
Northfield, MN 55057
(H) 507-663-7237                   
(E) Richard        

2. If Richard already came to your club last year or if you’ve met them and spoken with them at various district conferences and club events and already brought copies of his book back to your club, we also have many Rotarians in our district who have participated in National Immunization Days around the world and see the impact of Rotary involvement firsthand. Many of us would be willing to give a Polio Presentation this year. Instead of putting a list of speakers up on the website, I’d rather take requests centrally and then work to match speakers with interested clubs. We have prepared a very brief, informative power point presentation to be used for club presentations. You’ll find it above, along with a link to a new Rotary International PolioPlus website that is also quite informative. Each presenter can tailor the presentation and add her or his own photos, etc.

The District PolioPlus Committee would highly recommend that each club name a volunteer to head up a club PolioPlus committee.  It is helpful to have a point person to assist with fundraising ideas, informational speaker programs, materials and reporting questions.   

Because the PolioPlus Program needs the contributions to start coming in immediately, please discuss options for PolioPlus fund raising with your club’s board as soon as possible!  You can click on the links above to find the forms to fill out when you send in your contributions. Credit for Paul Harris Fellow awards can be given either to individuals or to the club, depending on whether the funds come from a club fundraiser or are contributed by an individual club member. 

Please give as generously as you can - -

NOW, MORE THAN EVER:  STOP POLIO FOREVER

All of the credit rests with your clubs and your members. Nothing gets done in Rotary if it’s not supported at the club level! Please let me know if I can help in any way as the year progresses.

Charlie Cogan, Chair 2008-09
District 5960 PolioPlus/Gates Foundation Challenge
507-645-9341 (H)
507-222-4508 (W)
ccogan@carleton.edu
Rotary Club of Northfield, MN