On Eradicating Polio Day, the Rotary Club of Ely held a stall at Ely market and was to give away 4,000 purple crocus bulbs for people to take home, plant and support the Rotary’s mission to eradicate polio from the world.
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a paralyzing and potentially deadly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of 5.
The virus spreads from person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can then attack the nervous system.
Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years. The goal of ridding the world of this disease is closer than ever.
As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Rotary has helped to reduce polio cases by 99.9 percent since its first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979.
Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease.
Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
But Rotary believes its crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free.
They belief that if all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.
New members are always welcome to the Rotary Club of Ely. Contact info@rotaryclubofely.co.uk or Facebook: Rotary Club of Ely
Ely Rotarians also heard a talk later in the day about Caring Together
On Thursday 24th October, in Ely Bowling Club,
Caring Together is a relatively new charity which supports unpaid carers, many of whom are young children and it helped about 27,000 people in 2023.
More than 3 in 5 of us will become an unpaid carer. There are approx. 6.5 million unpaid carers in the UK at the moment, saving the economy around £132,000 per annum.
Help is offered from Caring Together by way of counselling, advice, short respite to enable carers a few hours to themselves and trips out.
There is a Carer Hub in Ely currently at the Paradise Centre meeting on Thursdays for 2 hours each week.
The next meeting will be on Thursday 7th November contact: hello@caringtogether.org There are about 20 attendees at the moment.
Caring Together’s helpline is readily available on 03452410954
