Earlsdon shoppers have been stopping in their tracks to view an emotive window display produced as part of the Rotary Clubs of Coventry initiative to end the war against polio.

Briant Curtaining have donated one of their windows for this campaing. Directors from Briant Peter & Warren, who are both members of Coventry Jubilee Rotary Club and Father & Son, have offered their window to the Rotary Clubs in Coventry so that they can deck them out to raise awareness that Polio does still exist and that Rotary is still battling to end the war on it.

The Rotary Clubs of Coventry with the help of Briant’s window Dresser have decked out the shop window on the corner of Albany Road & Spencer Avenue with posters and shocking statistics about the devastating effects of polio in a bid to get the public behind Rotary’s last push to stamp out polio from the world.

Members of the Rotary Clubs in Coventry are joining forces with over 55,000 other Rotarians across Great Britain and Ireland in a co-ordinated effort to finally win the battle with this most debilitating and, often terminal disease.

The Rotarians are aiming to generate over £1 million on one day by forging links with local residents and encouraging them to help raise funds towards the world-wide initiative to stamp out polio for good.

The partnerships will form part of Rotary’s national Thanks for Life campaign which will see hundreds of Rotary clubs across Great Britain and Ireland linking up with businesses, organizations, schools and individuals to hold a range of fund-raising events  to raise the £1 million target by Thanks For Life – Rotary Day, Tuesday, February 23 (Rotary’s 105^th birthday).

Polio is a crippling, and sometimes fatal, disease and still a very harrowing reality for children in parts of Africa and Asia and threatens children everywhere. It is highly virulent and only an air flight away from the UK

Every £1 raised in this campaign will purchase five doses of the special anti-polio vaccine. These children will be protected against polio – forever.

Dick Taylor, Rotary Club of Coventry Jubilee president said: “This is a wonderful opportunity for our children to learn about issues facing children in other parts of the world and to help those that are less fortunate than themselves.

“Rotary has been involved in this fight for 25 years and the world is so close to being free from polio for good thanks to the joint hard work of organisations and governments. How fantastic for a town, individual, business or organisation to join the fight and be able to say, ‘I helped to wipe out a disease for only the second time in history, after smallpox. I stopped children from dying – I help change the world’.”

The Rotary Clubs of Coventry have so far helped raise £30,000 towards polio eradication in the past three years alone.

Anyone interested in the campaign should contact Warren Offer, 024 7671 3334, youth@rotaryincoventry.org or visit www.ribi.org/thanks-for-life.

So what is Polio, and what are the Rotary Club continuing with this project today…

• Polio eradication has been Rotary’s top priority since 1985. Since then, polio cases have fallen from 350,000 a year to a recorded 1,600 last year. Thanks to Rotary’s help, two billion children have been protected from the disease, and the number of endemic countries has fallen from 125 to just four: Afghanistan, northern India, Nigeria and Pakistan.
• It is estimated that five million children have been spared from disability and 250,000 deaths have been averted.
• Rotary is the largest private sector contributor to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, with partners including the World Health Organisation and UNICEF, which battles against a number of difficulties including geographic isolation, armed conflict, cultural barriers, worker fatigue and poverty.
• Rotary members have so far raised US $700 million to fund polio immunization activities and every penny raised goes to the project. Rotarians all work on a purely voluntary basis so funds are not drained away in administration costs. Rotary clubs in Great Britain and Ireland have so far donated more than £10.5 million (US$20 million) to polio immunization initiatives.
• Money raised goes towards funding national immunisation drives for all children under age five in endemic and high risk countries, as well as tracking possible incidences of the disease, measures to control outbreaks and improving public health infrastructures.

Who & What is Rotary

Rotary International is a worldwide voluntary organisation of 1.2 million dedicated business professionals and community leaders. In Great Britain and Ireland there are over 55,000 men and women of all ages from all walks of life in Rotary clubs who share a passion and commitment to helping and improving communities both locally and across the world. Each member enjoys giving something back to those in need, as well as building business and social networking opportunities, learning new skills and having a huge amount of fun. For more information, visit www.ribi.org

To learn more about Rotary in Coventry please visit www.rotaryincoventry.org