The Rotary Club recently raised $2,000, to be matched two to one by the Gates Foundation, at the Pints for Polio event to support global eradication. The club also welcomed guest speaker John Hutcherson, former Fredericksburg Morning Rotary president and past District 5840 governor, on Nov. 12 to share insights on Rotary’s efforts to vaccinate children in developing countries.
Hutcherson supports Rotary’s global polio eradication efforts, volunteering with his wife Judy to administer vaccines to children in India and Pakistan. He’s also an avid cyclist, completing 100-mile rides to raise funds and awareness to end polio.
“Polio is the signature program for Rotary International and has been the signature program for Rotary International since 1985,” Hutcherson said. “At that time, in 1985, 350,000 new cases of polio were happening annually around the world. Right now, we have 38 new cases of polio in the world, or the wild polio virus in the world. Six of those cases are in Afghanistan, and the balance are in Pakistan. And these cases of polio are confined to areas that are very remote and very difficult to get to.”
