Sauk Valley’s Rotarians donate to worldwide polio eradication efforts

ROCK FALLS – The ninth annual End Polio Now Walk was sponsored this year by Rotary clubs of the Sauk Valley area, including the Dixon, Morrison, Rock Falls, Sterling Noon and Twin Cities Sunrise clubs.

Twenty-five Rotarians and guests walked the Hennepin Canal site to the Rock River and back Oct. 12 in an awareness of the need to eradicate polio.

Since 1988, the Rotary, along with the World Health Organization, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other entities, has been involved in the eradication of polio.

In 1988, more than 250,000 people worldwide were diagnosed with polio, and for many it was a death sentence. In 2024, only a handful of polio virus cases were detected.

Rotarians are asked to donate to the Rotary Foundation program Polio Plus, which is the source of Rotary funding used in the worldwide effort. All sponsoring club donations to Polio Plus from July 1 through the end of October were encouraged to support the eradication effort, which culminated on World Polio Day on Oct. 24.

The total donation of the members of the five sponsoring Rotary clubs was $4,300, which will be tripled by the Gates Foundation for a total of $12,900.

The public always is invited to join in the walk. The 10th annual End Polio Now Walk is scheduled for 9 a.m. Oct. 11, 2025, at Centennial Park in Rock Falls.