Club stages ‘End Polio Walk’ with Rotaract, RCC

RC Makati joined hands with our two club-sponsored partners—the Rotaract Club of Makati (RAC Makati) and Rotary Community Corps Bukluran (RCC Bukluran) for an End Polio Walk through Camia and Amapola Streets on October 27.The activity aims to raise public awareness and knowledge of Rotary’s most sweeping health initiative: End Polio Now, RI’s global program to eradicate polio from the face of the earth. By happy coincidence, it was in the Club’s premises in Guadalupe Viejo, where our clubhouse currently stands, that the seed of Rotary’s polio program was sown in September 1979. This historic event took place when then RI Pres. James Bomar administered an oral polio vaccine to a Filipino boy during an immunization activity of the Club, effectively birthing the PolioPlus program. As the program progressed and gained more traction, effecting the eradication of the disease in one country after another, it eventually evolved into End Polio Now. This year’s End Polio activities constitute a push leading to next year’s celebration of the 40th anniversary of the birth of the program. Today, only two nations stand in the way of total success for End Polio—Pakistan and Afghanistan. To inject fun to the occasion, the Club threw in a second activity, Trick or Treat for some 70 children in the Guadalupe Viejo neighborhood, under the guidance of RCC Bukluran. The Walk ended at the RCM Clubhouse grounds, where a brief program was held. IPP Jun Jun Dayrit spoke briefly about the End Polio Now campaign, from its inception 39 years ago to its dramatic progress through the years. Also in attendance was VP/Dir. Louie Aseoche. The children, properly costumed, enjoyed burgers from Jollibee and received loot bags with the usual treats: assorted candies. Adding more fun and excitement was a contest where four children won cash prizes for wearing the best costumes. Present were RAC Makati members Mark Gil Cato, president; Prame Cato, Rey Buyco, Jazel Villanueva, Rosanne Arado, Roi Cloma, Jamaica Isla, Daisylyn Paquiao; and RCC Bukluran members headed by their president, Frisco Guarin.