A Woodend resident will walk 100 kilometres this month in an effort to raise funds towards eradicating polio.
Woodend Rotary member Grant Hocking is taking on the challenge as part of this month’s Rotary Walk With Us event, where participants walk, run, or roll a set amount of kilometres throughout the month to raise funds towards further distributing polio vaccines.
He aims to raise 1000 dollars before the end of October.
“The reason we chose polio is obviously that it’s still around … a lot of people aren’t aware, we’ve had a vaccine for over 50 to 60 years now, but there’s still wild polio endemic in some parts of the world,” Mr Hocking said.
“Our goal is obviously to eradicate it.”
He said that the month-long challenge started in 2020 when larger group walk fundraisers on World Polio Day on October 24 were not possible due to COVID restrictions.
“Apart from just the benefit of fundraising for a good cause, to end polio, it had mental health and general health benefits, so we’ve done it every year since … in the past four years, the Walk With Us campaign has raised about $400,000.”
Mr Hocking said that each year, Rotary International aims to raise 50 million dollars towards eradicating polio, with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation also donating two dollars to each dollar raised by Rotary.
Donations can be made on Mr Hocking’s Rotary Walk With Us fundraiser page.
Details: www.rotarywalkwithus.org/fundraisers/granthocking/rotary-walk-with-us
Oscar Parry
