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

In that year, over 250,000 people worldwide would be diagnosed with polio and for many it was a death sentence. In 2024, only a handful of wild polio virus cases were detected.

Rotarians are asked to donate to the Rotary Foundation program of Polio Plus, which is the source of Rotary funding used in this 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 culminates on World Polio Day on Oct. 24.

At this time the total donation of the members of the five sponsoring Rotary clubs is $4,300, which will be tripled by the Gates Foundation matching monies for a total of $12,900.

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