Rotary Club of Redmond celebrated World Polio Day today with clubs and Rotary partners around the globe. At yesterday’s club meeting, Redmond Rotarians showed that they and others are “this close” to ending polio together. The club’s International Service Chair Tim Arnold leaves next week to help with immunizations in Ethiopia.

Rotary Club of Redmond is a longtime supporter of Rotary International’s efforts to eradicate polio worldwide. The club has donated more than $46,000 in the past decade to support efforts to end polio.

In order to encourage public support for its effort to eradicate polio, Rotary International has invited celebrities, major public figures and any who are interested into a public awareness campaign called “This Close.” The campaign is a unique way to promote Rotary’s End Polio Now campaign and its $200 Million Challenge (to match a $355 million polio eradication grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation).

According to Rotary, it is 99 percent toward its goal to eradicate this crippling childhood disease.