Purple for Polio

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Purple for Polio

The Rotary Club of Reading
4 November 2021
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May we invite your school to go purple for Polio in February 2022.

Our Rotary Club would like to offer you a box of purple crocus bulbs to plant in your school grounds as part of Rotary’s global campaign to rid the world of Polio.

Our Club has been supporting Rotary's End Polio Now campaign for many years and this year, we are again inviting schools to help us in our efforts to raise much needed funding to help finish the job. We would like to donate to your school a box of purple crocus corms to plant in the school grounds.

In February/March when the crocuses come into flower, the sea of purple will help remind you of the children who are having to be vaccinated in the three Polio endemic countries.

Perhaps you could help us to raise money by having a 'purple' day - encouraging children to wear something of that colour and each donate £1 (the cost of immunising FIVE children)?

Many Rotary members have been out to endemic countries to take part in a vaccination days when millions of children under 5 are offered the two drops of life saving vaccine. We would love to come and tell you about it in class talk or assembly and explain why the left-hand little finger of each vaccinated child is painted purple!

Polio has been eradicated from the UK, But it’s only a plane ride away.
For over 30 years, Rotary has been working hard to rid the world of polio – a terrible disease that can kill or severely disable children.

Polio has no cure, which means immunisation programmes are essential to prevent children from contracting this disease.
Until polio is eradicated, children everywhere are at risk.

It costs just 20p to immunise a child, plus with the 2-to-1 donation matching scheme from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, your £1 will become £3, meaning 15 children can be protected for life. Your local

We would be delighted to have your support for the Purple4Polio campaign and would love to work with you to end Polio now.

Update
Reading Rotary Club has ordered and received 4000 crocus bulbs. The 1500 allocated to the Youth Team have now been delivered to three Reading Primary Schools – Moorlands in Tilehurst and St Annes and St Martins both in Caversham. These are for the children to plant now and enjoy next Spring. The lead teachers have also been provided with educational aids to show the pupils the connection between the purple of the crocuses and the purple dye used on the little fingers to identify the children who have received the polio vaccine through the Rotary International campaign.
The other 2500 bulbs are being used by Community Services team for a civic planting hopefully in the Forbury Gardens.


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