Greencastle Rotary Club plans brunch-to-go to end polio

Rotary members in Greencastle are taking action on World Polio Day to raise awareness, funds, and support to end polio, a vaccine-preventable disease that still threatens children in parts of the world today.

This year, the event will be brunch-to-go to end polio, a partnership with Almost Home that will provide a drive-through breakfast of cinnamon rolls and mimosas on World Polio Day, which is Saturday, Oct. 24.

Basket pick-up will be from 8-10 a.m. at Almost Home, 17 W. Franklin St., Greencastle.

For the cost of a $20 ticket, each participant will receive a jumbo cinnamon roll, a cup of fruit, a half bottle of champagne and a small bottle of orange juice to complete the mimosa.

Each participant will also be entered into a raffle for the chance to win more than $200 worth of gift baskets.

To purchase a ticket, reach out to any board member of Greencastle Rotary Club, including Jill Stott at sunset_admin@hchfi.org or 653-3143, Ginger Scott at gscott@wabashcapital.com or 655-2333 or Jared Jernagan at jjernagan@bannergraphic.com or 765-585-4856.

This event is among thousands to be held by Rotary clubs around the world on World Polio Day.

When Rotary and its partners launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988, there were 350,000 cases of polio in 125 countries every year.

The organization has made great progress against the disease since then. Today, polio cases have been reduced by 99.9 percent, and just two countries continue to report cases of wild poliovirus: Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Rotary remains committed to the end.

With polio nearly eradicated, Rotary and its partners must sustain this progress and continue to reach every child with the polio vaccine. Without full funding and political commitment, this paralyzing disease could return to polio-free countries, putting children everywhere at risk.

Rotary has committed to raising $50 million each year to support global polio eradication efforts.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged to match that 2-to-1, for a total yearly contribution of $150 million.

“End Polio Now is incredibly important for our club to support. What better way to help End Polio than to involve a locally loved business like Almost Home,” Greencastle Rotary President Brooke Trissel said. “The partnership for this years event is more important now than ever before and we are incredibly grateful for Gail’s help with this.”

Rotary has contributed more than $2.1 billion to ending polio since 1985, including $1,560 donated by the Rotary Club of Greencastle last year and countless volunteer hours to protect more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease.