Over the month of October, District 9800 Rotarians again took to the parks, pavements and walking machines to raise money towards ending Polio in the world. A huge thank you to everyone who participated; walking and raising money during October for our End Polio Campaign. Sixty-five individual walkers in 18 teams raised just over $47,000, with Robert Fisher from Rotary Melbourne topping the individual fundraising leaderboard and the DG Team topping the teams’ category.
As the month went on and more participants joined, the number of kilometres climbed with one walker clocking up more than 330kms and a few more passing the 250kms mark.The Paws for Polio walk catered to our four legged friends with many dogs, accompanied by their humans, enjoying a walk in Elsternwick Park, some dog treats and some were lucky to snag a sausage as well. The dogs looked very smart with their red End Polio bandanas on.
The kilometre count spread to Bendigo with an in person walk around Lake Weeroona. Many circuits of the lake needed to be completed to achieve a reasonable total, as the lake is only 1.4kms in circumference. Rotary Bendigo South provided a sausage sizzle on the lakeshore catering for both the walkers and the general public.
The final in-person walk started at Studley Park Boathouse, crossed Kane’s Bridge and followed the Yarra River to Dight’s Falls. Some walkers then continued in a loop while others retraced their steps. Coffee featured heavily at the end of the walk!Sabina, our mascot, attracted great attention any time she appeared and was a great conversation starter. People wanted to know who she was and what she was publicising. Her friends and followers could be relied upon to advise members of the public her purpose in life.
The https://www.rotarywalkwithus.org/ website will remain open for donations until the end of November and so there is still time for you to give.
Meanwhile, you may put away your walking shoes until October next year when we will be back, covering more kms and raising funds towards ending Polio – “We are THIS close”.
Leaderboard 2023: Congratulations to the Top 10 Individuals and Teams.
