(Photo above: Group of 20 from the Rotary Club of Jefferson County, Rotarian Daryl Booren & recruited friends | by Todd Carey)
In support of an international Rotary effort to eradicate polio, The Greater Bend Rotary Club coordinated Pints for Polio. The event, held on Saturday, March 5 in downtown Bend, was a “pub crawl” type event where attendees received a sampling of local beers from downtown pubs and restaurants.
Over 200 people attended the fun event raising approximately $8,000 with the help of 15 participating pubs and breweries.
All the proceeds from the event go into the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which funds children’s vaccinations all over the world. Attendees received a commemorative End Polio Now pint glass and a punch card good for a six ounce beer at each of the 11 downtown pubs on the day of the event.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is committed to achieving a polio-free world. Rotary is a spearheading partner in the GPEI, along with the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The goal of the initiative is the global certification of polio eradication.
Through the work of the GPEI, more than five million people, mainly in the developing world, who would otherwise have been paralyzed, are walking because they have been immunized against polio, and more than 500,000 cases of polio are prevented each year due to the efforts of governments and the GPEI partnership. Transmission of the polio virus has been stopped in all but two countries – Afghanistan, and Pakistan – and the virus is being contained within increasingly smaller geographic areas within those countries.
www.PintsForPolio.org
