|
Polio Eradication World-wide
Rotary/Bill Gates have now joined Rotary for a
total of $355,000,000 Final
Push to eradicate.
 This is a
historic day for Rotary. It is our great pleasure to inform you of a new
partnership between Rotary International and the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation that will provide a much needed US$255 million (in addition to
$100,000,000 previously donated) in support of our
top goal of a polio-free world.
(Remember these hideous
machines? Carl looking at an Iron Lung that people who became
totally paralyzed had to live in for the rest of their lives.)
The Gates Foundation has awarded The Rotary
Foundation a challenge grant of $100 million, which Rotary will match,
dollar for dollar, over three years. This is the largest single grant ever
given to a volunteer service organization and represents a tremendous
validation of the approach and success of our PolioPlus program.
This partnership comes at a critical juncture for
the polio eradication initiative, which needs an infusion of funds to reach
the eradication goal. For this reason, the initial $100 million will be
distributed by The Rotary Foundation through grants to the World Health
Organization and UNICEF in direct support of polio immunization activities
in 2008.
Your participation in this effort is crucial to
making it a success. The Rotary International Board of Directors and the
Trustees of The Rotary Foundation have unanimously agreed to accept this
challenge grant to ensure the success of the PolioPlus program. We feel
confident that this extraordinary commitment from the Gates Foundation and
Rotary will serve as a catalyst for further donations from others to help us
realize the dream of a polio-free world.
In 1985, we promised every child a world free from
the threat of polio, and we are almost there. This funding agreement between
Rotary and the Gates Foundation is a huge step forward, bringing us even
closer to our goal. Success is our only option.
Wilfrid J. Wilkinson Robert S. Scott
Rotary International, President 2007-08 The Rotary
Foundation, Chairman 2007-08
 Bill Gates' hat
Bill Gates wore this hat while he was travelling to the Far East to
see what progress had been made in Polio Eradication, and meeting with the
appropriate Rotary District Governors. Bill wore the hat at the
2009 Rotary International Assembly in San Diego where he announced a
new US$255 million challenge grant to Rotary which brings a total of
$355,000,000 that he has challenged us to match. The hat netted $17,600
in an eBay auction to support eradicating polio.
Rotary Images/Monika Lozinska-Lee
See
another photo of Bill Gates wearing the End Polio hat as he addresses
the International Assembly audience in San Diego, California, USA. In
addition, Gates recently wore the hat in India while he was immunizing
children against polio.
Take this opportunity to be a part of Rotary's history.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
has
awarded US$255 million to Rotary International in the global effort
to eradicate polio, bringing the total committed by Rotary and the Gates
Foundation to $555 million.
Shortly after meeting with incoming district governors from the four
countries where the wild poliovirus is endemic -- Afghanistan, India,
Nigeria, and Pakistan -- Bill Gates announced the new grant on Wednesday
morning at the International Assembly in San Diego, California, USA.
“Rotarians, government leaders, and health professionals have made a
phenomenal commitment to get us to a point at which polio afflicts only a
small number of the world’s children,” Gates said. “However, complete
elimination of the poliovirus is difficult and will continue to be difficult
for a number of years. Rotary in particular has inspired my own personal
commitment to get deeply involved in achieving eradication.”
"We are going to end polio now," affirmed Robert S. Scott,
chair of RI's International PolioPlus Committee.
In response to the new $255 million Gates Foundation grant, Rotary will
raise $100 million in matching funds. In November 2007, RI received a $100
million Gates Foundation grant, which Rotary committed to match by raising
$100 million.
The two Gates Foundation challenge grants
now total
$355 million. Rotary International’s matching effort in response is
called Rotary’s US$200 Million Challenge, which must be completed by 30
June 2012.
The $255 million grant is one of the largest challenge grants ever given
by the Gates Foundation and the largest received by Rotary in its 104-year
history. Rotary will spend the grant in direct support of immunization
activities carried out by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which is
spearheaded by RI
and its partners , the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, and UNICEF. Rotary will distribute the funds
through grants to WHO and UNICEF.
The participation of Rotary clubs and individual Rotarians in Rotary’s
US$200 Million Challenge remains crucial to its success. Rotary has raised
nearly $73 million toward this amount: $62 million in contributions and $11
million in commitments. Each club is being challenged to organize a public fundraiser
annually for the next three years. In October, The Rotary Foundation
Trustees approved special Paul Harris Fellow Recognition, which begins 1
July, featuring a certificate with the End Polio Now logo.
Polio eradication has been Rotary’s top priority since 1985, with more
than $1.2 billion contributed to the effort. Gates praised Rotary for
providing the volunteers, advocates, and donors who have helped bring about
a 99 percent decline in the number of polio cases. “The world would not be
where it is without Rotary, and it won’t get where it needs to go without
Rotary,” he said.
The final hurdle still is ahead, said RI President-elect John Kenny. This
grant shows that the Gates Foundation is just as committed as Rotary to
ridding the world of this disease, he said.
You can help in the fight to End Polio Now,
by donating through our
Rotary Club by contacting Carl Cardey at 951-929-4941, or directly to Rotary
International at www.rotary.org/endpolio. Any
donation will receive IRS Credit as a Donation.
--------------- -------------
|
