Northbridge residents made a generous contribution to a Rotary bucket appeal at Northbridge Plaza in February.
The appeal was held by Rotary Club of Northbridge as part of Rotary’s worldwide efforts to end polio in the world.
In all, the club collected more than AUD$3500 during the appeal. This amount was matched by Rotary District 9685 (representing more than 2000 Rotarians in northern Sydney), and augmented by grants from Rotary International and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, so that the total attributed to Northbridge was a very substantial US$19,875.
42 other clubs in the Rotary District also participated in the “End Polio Challenge” and a massive total of AUD$1.15 million was attributed to the district. Rotary’s District Governor Bruce Lakin said: “The amount was probably the largest donation from any District in this part of the Rotary World.”
Rotary worldwide launched its “End Polio Now” program in 1985 in partnership with World Health Organisation, UNICEF and, more recently, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Since then, Rotary has raised $1.6 billion for the cause, helping to immunize more than 2.5 million children in 122 countries. In 2015 less than 75 cases of polio were confirmed worldwide, a remarkable reduction of 99.9% since the Rotary program commenced.
