Local Rotary Clubs and Doc Burnstein’s Partner to Fight Polio

Doc’s will be donating a portion of the proceeds from all ice cream sold between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. that night to Rotary International to help eradicate polio worldwide. They be helped by several “celebrity scoopers,” including Burnardo’z Founder and Doc Burnstein’s inspiration, Chuck Burns, San Luis Obispo Sheriff Ian Parkinson, San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Public Information Office Tony Cipolla, actor Lou Ferrigno (also known as The Incredible Hulk), and several other very special guests.

This fundraiser comes at an important time in the fight to eradicate polio. The number of cases of the disease has never been lower, and only three countries (Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan) still remain active for polio. However, a funding gap means immunization campaigns are being cut in high-risk countries, leaving children more vulnerable to polio.

Rotary, a humanitarian service organization with nearly 34,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas, made polio eradication its top priority in 1985. Rotary has since contributed a total of $1.2 billion, and its members have logged countless volunteer hours to help immunize more than two billion children in 122 countries. Remarkable progress has been made; since 1988, the number of polio cases has been reduced from 350,000 a year to fewer than 250 cases in 2012.

There is no cure for polio, but for as little as 60 cents worth of oral vaccine, a child can be protected from the disease for life.

Rotary International is the volunteer fundraising arm of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative—a public-private partnership that also includes the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UNICEF, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. For further information, visit www.endpolionow.org or call Deborah Linden at (805) 598-5349.