Have you seen the lovely splash of purple at the corner of the Recreation Ground? Rotary clubs help to plant millions of purple crocuses every year to raise awareness of their efforts to End Polio Now.
Faversham Rotary has supported this campaign for several years and thousands of purple crocus have been planted in and around Faversham, including at the Rec.
Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal disease which Rotary and it’s partners have been working hard to eradicate since 1985. Then it was endemic in 125 countries, now it is just two, Pakistan & Afghanistan.
Although there are relatively few cases each year, over 400million children worldwide still need doses of polio vaccine to prevent the return of this crippling disease.
When a child receives their life-saving polio drops on mass immunisation days, their little finger is painted with purple dye so it is clear that they have received their polio vaccine, hence Purple4Polio.
Every £1 raised is matched with £2 from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A single dose of polio vaccine costs just 20 pence so every contribution makes a difference.