Six Sauk Valley Rotary Clubs – Dixon, Rock Falls, Sterling Noon, Rotaract of SVCC, Twin Cities Sunrise, and Walnut joined together to sponsor the Seventh Annual End Polio Now Walk on October 8. The walk which was open to the public began at Centennial Park in Rock Falls and continued along the Hennepin Canal to Rock River at which it turned to return through the downtown Rock Falls along First Avenue until back to East 11th Street and Centennial Park. The walk is an awareness of Rotary’s goal to eradicate polio from our world through donations to vaccinate children around the world. In 2020 all of Africa was declared polio –free. Just 9 cases of wild polio have been reported worldwide in 2022 in just Pakistan and Afghanistan. Progress is being made!
Prior to the walk a short update on polio was given by the Foundation Chairs or Presidents of each sponsoring club; those speaking included Jeff Gray and Mike Albert of Rock Falls, Jennifer Heintzelman of Dixon, Peyton Ward and Mackenzie Sisson of Rotaract of SVCC, Nick Lareau of Sterling Noon, and Jan Pistole of Walnut. Forth-three persons were in attendance at the beginning of the walk for a photo.
Donations were accepted that day from the public and all six Rotary club members were encouraged to donate to Polio Plus in the next six weeks to the Rotary Foundation through their local club. The totals are now in. Total amount raised from our efforts of the Seventh Annual End Polio Now Walk was a total of $2,604.37. The Gates Foundation will triple that amount in matching funds so the actual amount in total from this walk to eradicate polio is $7,813.11.
Thank you to Alex Paschal of Shaw Media, T. J. Henry of Coloma Park District, Tom Katz of WSDR, and Sauk Valley Food Bank for their support of our event.
Prior to the walk a short update on polio was given by the Foundation Chairs or Presidents of each sponsoring club; those speaking included Jeff Gray and Mike Albert of Rock Falls, Jennifer Heintzelman of Dixon, Peyton Ward and Mackenzie Sisson of Rotaract of SVCC, Nick Lareau of Sterling Noon, and Jan Pistole of Walnut. Forth-three persons were in attendance at the beginning of the walk for a photo.
Donations were accepted that day from the public and all six Rotary club members were encouraged to donate to Polio Plus in the next six weeks to the Rotary Foundation through their local club. The totals are now in. Total amount raised from our efforts of the Seventh Annual End Polio Now Walk was a total of $2,604.37. The Gates Foundation will triple that amount in matching funds so the actual amount in total from this walk to eradicate polio is $7,813.11.
Thank you to Alex Paschal of Shaw Media, T. J. Henry of Coloma Park District, Tom Katz of WSDR, and Sauk Valley Food Bank for their support of our event.
