Barrington Rotary does Indoor Ride to End Polio

Barrington Breakfast Rotary Club, in collaboration with Advocate Good Shepherd Health & Fitness Center, celebrates the more than $2,000 raised in the first Indoor Ride to End Polio on Nov. 11.

Thanks to this event, 10,000 children will receive the life saving polio immunization drops as a result of the 30-minute indoor ride on stationary bicycles at the Fitness Center and the generous local citizens who opened their hearts to pledge support.

The Indoor Ride is part of the El Tour de Tucson held in Tucson, Arizona, for the past 37 years on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

About 8,000 cyclists from around the world gather to ride for their favorite charity. Ten years ago, Rotarians joined El Tour to raise money for the eradication of polio. Rotary cyclists have raised more than $45 million in donations toward that goal with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation match.

Eighteen indoor rides around the U.S. and Canada and Mongolia support the Ride to End polio in their local communities.

Every dollar raised by the cyclists is matched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 2:1, so that every dollar donated becomes $3. One immunization costs 60 cents, and with the magic of the matching funds, $1 immunizes five children.

Polio eradication is Rotary International's signature project. Polio cases per year have been reduced from 350,000 in 1955 to 22 in 2017. The world is 99.9 percent polio free, but as long as one case remains, all children in the world are at risk.

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