Six million crocus corms ordered for Purple4Polio!

We are delighted to announce that Rotary clubs across Great Britain and Ireland ordered over six million purple crocus corms, smashing our five million corm target!

Thanks to your support and partnerships with the Royal Horticultural Society's Bloom Groups, communities will be covered in a carpet of purple next spring, with funds and awareness being raised for our campaign to finally rid the world of polio.

Submit Your Planting Event

Now that you’ve ordered your corms, it’s time to start planning your mass planting activities. Head to the Rotary website to submit your event and you will appear on our crocus planting map, which we want to see covered in mini purple crocuses!

By submitting your event, members of the public will be able to find planting activities in their area, giving you further chance to engage with your community and promote Rotary’s polio eradication campaign.

The more events we get registered, the bigger the impact!

Ambassador Donovan

Singer-songwriter Donovan, who contracted polio as a child, is acting as one of our Purple4Polio Ambassadors and is already stepping up his support for the campaign.

Speaking recently to the Daily Express, he said he believes that far from holding him back, the disease has helped shape his successful musical career: “I feel strongly that having a disability in one area makes you explore others instead. That was the case for me after having polio.”

Read Donovan’s full interview here.

Crocus Buttonholes

One way to keep the Rotary End Polio Now campaign in the public's eye is to wear one of the beautiful purple crocus buttonholes.

50,000 buttonholes have been ordered for delivery in September 2016 so please speak to your District Foundation Chair to check your district's supply. Further buttonholes can be ordered for delivery to districts in January 2017, with the closing date for orders being 14th September 2016.

Buttonholes cost just 39 GBP for a box of 100, which typically raise 100 GBP. With the 2:1 matched donations scheme from the Gates Foundation, that can become 300 GBP, so this is a simple way to raise funds!

Further details of how to order can be found in the specially prepared Rotary Club Briefing.

Crocus Schools Project

The crocus buttonhole team also run a scheme each year which is aimed at schools and youth groups in the UK. This is separate from the mass planting of crocus corms which you have been hearing lots about in the last few months and for which the ordering deadline has now passed for this year.

So, if you missed out on an order for the boxes of 5,000 crocus corms, or are looking for another idea to get the youngsters in your community involved, look no further than this Grow Your Own Crocus Project.

The order deadline for this project is 30th September 2016 and a self contained pack that includes everything for a group of 30 children costs just 60 GBP. Further details can be found in the specially prepared Rotary Club Briefing.

Rotary Polio Bear

Thank you to everyone who submitted name suggestions for our Rotary Polio Bear. We can reveal he is called Pinky! The name was selected at random from all those who entered across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and was first submitted by Helen Rogers from the Rotary Club of Four Marks & Medstead.

Pinky will be accompanying President Eve Conway throughout 2016/17, helping to promote Purple4Polio and celebrate The Rotary Foundation Centenary.

Polio in Nigeria

The news that two new cases of polio have been reported in Nigeria means that your ongoing support of the Purple4Polio campaign is more important than ever.

For more on this, watch a Q&A session with Dr Michel Zaffron, Director of Polio Eradication at the World Health Organization and check out Dr Tunji Funsho, head of Rotary's Nigeria PolioPlus Committee, discussing developments in the New York Times.

About this newsletter

This newsletter is sent to over 39,000 members, honorary members and Rotaract Club Presidents within Great Britain and Ireland who have a valid email address on the Rotary International (RI) database. If Club Secretaries are aware of members with an email address who are not on the RI database, please add their details.