Description

The Gloucester Rotary Club and Castle Manor Inn are taking action on World Polio Day to raise awareness, funds, and support to end polio, a vaccine-preventable disease that still threatens children in parts of the world today.

There will be a Dining Fundraiser at the Sea Glass Restaurant at the Castle Manor Inn, located at 141 Essex Avenue (Rt 133) in Gloucester on Thursday, October 24, 2019, from 5pm to 9pm. The Castle Manor Inn will donate 10% of all dining proceeds from this event to the Gloucester Rotary Club’s #EndPolioNow fundraising Campaign. Reservations are recommended—978-515-7386. For more information about the Sea Glass Restaurant, visit their website at www.castlemanorinn.com.

When Rotary and its partners launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative more than three decades ago, polio paralyzed 1,000 children every day. We’ve made great progress against the disease since then. Polio cases have dropped by 99.9 percent, from 350,000 cases in 1988 in 125 countries to 33 cases of wild poliovirus in 2018 in just two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan. And we remain committed to the end.

With polio nearly eradicated, Rotary and its partners must sustain this progress and continue to reach every child with the polio vaccine. Without full funding and political commitment, this paralyzing disease could return to polio-free countries, putting children everywhere at risk. Rotary has committed to raising US$50 million each year to support global polio eradication efforts. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged to match that 2-to-1, for a total yearly contribution of $150 million.

For more information about Rotary's End Polio Now campaign, visit www.endpolio.org.