City of Twin Falls, Idaho
World Polio Day Proclamation
 
WHEREAS, Rotary International, founded on February 23, 1905 in Chicago, Illinois USA, is the world’s first and one of the largest non-profit service organizations; and
 
WHEREAS, Rotary in 1985 launched PolioPlus, spearheading the Global Polio Eradication Initiative with the World Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and UNICEF to immunize the children of the world against polio; and
 
WHEREAS, polio cases have dropped by 99 percent since 1988 to put the world on the threshold of eradicating the disease; and
 
WHEREAS, to date, Rotarians have contributed more than US$1 billion and countless volunteer hours to the protection of more than two billion children in 122 countries; and
 
WHEREAS, the first $35 million donated annually to The Rotary Foundation for polio eradication will be matched 2:1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through 2018; and
 
WHEREAS, these efforts are providing much needed vaccine, operational support, medical personnel, laboratory equipment and educational materials for health workers and families; and
 
WHEREAS, no child in the world is safe from the wild polio virus as long as it continues to exist in the three endemic countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria; and
 
WHEREAS, the Rotary Clubs of Twin Falls, Blue Lakes-Twin Falls and Twin Falls-After Hours have as their mission the promotion of world understanding, goodwill and peace through service projects that address such critical issues as poverty, health, hunger and illiteracy, in the local community and abroad, including the eradication of polio.
 
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Don Hall, Mayor of the City of Twin Falls, Idaho, do hereby join Rotary International in proclaiming October 24, 2014 as
 
“World Polio Day”
 
in Twin Falls, encouraging all citizens to join Rotary International and me in the fight for a polio-free world.