Rotary Club Sponsors Pints for Polio Event on October 23
Every October the Rotary Club of San Marcos raises money for polio vaccinations. This year the fundraiser will be on Friday, October 23 from 5-7:30 p.m. at Thirsty Planet Brewing, 110 E. Martin Luther King Drive, San Marcos. Attendees are asked to donate a minimum of $25, and receive 2 pints of craft beer and snacks. Whatever is raised at the event will be matched 2 to 1 by the Gates Foundation.
Polio is a paralyzing and potentially deadly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of 5. The virus spreads from person to person, typically through contaminated water, and can cause serious paralysis.
Rotary worldwide has been working to eradicate polio for more than 45 years. Rotary's first polio project was in the Philippines in 1979. More recently, Rotary delivered one billion doses of oral vaccine a year ago and vaccinated 270 million that year. Over the years Rotary has contributed more than $2.9 billion to fight polio and has vaccinated more than three billion children in 122 countries.
San Marcos Rotary has a goal of raising at least $2,000 for polio eradication this year, which will be matched with $4,000 by the Gates Foundation. This will buy 40,000 does of oral polio vaccine for children. When polio is eradicated worldwide, it will join smallpox as the second human disease eradicated worldwide.
Peter Baen, chair of Rotary's polio fundraising committee, said that San Marcos Rotary has raised many thousands of dollars over the years to help end polio. "Rotary clubs," he said, "tackle many local problems but polio eradication is a goal shared by 45,000 Rotary clubs in 200 countries around the world."
Rotary is nonprofit, nonpolitical and nonreligious. The San Marcos Rotary Club is 105 years old.
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