A Worldwide Swim to End Polio Now!
by Today I want to tell you all about an extraordinary new charity event on 25th February 2012 being organised by my Rotary Club.
On one day all around the world, many thousands of swimmers will swim at the exact same hour, to break a world record and to raise funds to help finally eradicate the terrible and crippling disease of Polio, which tragically still exists in four countries.
You can find all the details at http://rotaryglobalswimarathon.org.
It seems a very appropriate time, today being 41st birthday to make a return to writing on this site and to share with you some very exciting news.
After 15 long but successful years in the IT industry, after much careful consideration I’ve decided to pursue a completely new career in the charity sector. As you may have seen from my previous articles I’ve been looking for ways that I could make a difference. Now I’m very certain I’ve found it!
Since January 2010, I’ve been a proud member of my local Rotary Club in Grantham, Lincolnshire, and this has truly opened my eyes to an incredible range of local and International Charity projects. Rotary International has an incredible 33,000 clubs and 1.2 million members worldwide, made up of professional and business people from all walks of life all dedicated to putting service to others above self.
One shining example of that is our club’s annual Swimarathon event. Over 3 days, each February (thanks to support from local business sponsors) we manage to book up every lane of our local swimming pool. Teams of 6 swim for an hour and are sponsored, and all of the money raised goes directly to local charities. Last year alone we raised an amazing £46,000 and over the full 22 years the event has been run we have raised over £500,000. http://www.rotaryswimarathon.org
As 2012 is Olympic year, being hosted right here in the UK, we wanted to do something very special. So we came up with the Rotary Global Swimarathon. Basically, we’ve invited the whole world to join us on 25th February 2012 (closest Saturday to Rotary’s 107th anniversary) to raise money for our global EndPolionow campaign http://www.rotary.org/endpolio .
Since 1985, where there were more than 350,000 cases of Polio recorded, Rotarians have worked tirelessly to raise many millions of dollars for and support immunization programs. Through these efforts, the number of cases of Polio has dropped to less than 2,000 and from 104 countries it now remains in just 4 countries – Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Nigeria. We are 99% of the way there http://www.thisclose.net and have an unprecedented opportunity to make Polio only the second disease (after Smallpox) ever to be completely eradicated.
As the most IT literate member of the club, I’ve spent the last few months running a social media campaign on facebook http://www.facebook.com/rotaryglobalswimarathon and twitter http://www.twitter.com/rotaryglobeswim to get the event known across the world. Very proud to say the project has grown far beyond even our wildest initial dreams. We now have not one but two global event ambassadors. The incredible Penny Palfrey http://www.pennypalfreyproject.org an Australian Open Water Ultra Marathon Swimming world record holder, and UK Paralympic and World Champion Swimmer Fran Willamson http://www.fran-williamson.co.uk .
With just less than 3 months to go , we already have more than 30 clubs across all 6 continents of the world signed up to join us http://www.rotaryglobalswimarathon.org and are fully expecting the figure to rise to over 100 with more than 30 countries being represented. The amazing thing is that the world record requires every one to swim at 12:00 – 13:00pm G.M.T, which means that in New Zealand for example they are swimmming at 1am on 26th February, and in the East coast of the US there are open water swimmers taking part at 4 in the morning.
From starting out as a distant dream, by a small local Rotary club, we have managed to create an event that has captured the imagination of people all around the world, and we hope to make it a permanent fixture on the charity calendar.
Finally i’d just like to share with you a couple of videos all about the event. Remember you don’t have to be a Rotarian to take part – we can help you with all the details. Come on in the water’s lovely.
Penny Palfrey Australian event ambassador http://youtu.be/s387zfH2VIQ
Fran Williamson UK Event ambassador http://youtu.be/13Lm8sOAF4I
Swimarathon chair Roger Graves http://youtu.be/FQwNj76znQk
Goes without saying, all earnings from this article will go direct to Rotary International End Polio Now campaign. Thanks for reading!!
Liked it
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Post CommentYvhes P.
On December 7, 2011 at 6:30 am
Very nice article. Thanks for sharing =)
pattiann
On December 7, 2011 at 8:20 am
Glad you are back as I have missed you! I am glad you found a cause. It is a very good cause. I hope you make tons of money. I used to sponsor my Uncle on bicycle rides for 10 dollars overall. I don not know if he stopped doing it or did not want me pay hom every time since I do not have a lot of money.
That swim is going to be cold! We are putting our pool up on time this year, but not in February!
Good Luck!
SharifaMcFarlane
On December 7, 2011 at 11:03 am
This career switch comes as no surprise. All the best!
SharifaMcFarlane
On December 7, 2011 at 11:12 am
That career switch is no surprise. Welcome back!
Shirley Shuler
On December 10, 2011 at 2:19 pm
It’s good to see you back. Great article and I wish you lots of luck
.
Inna Tysoe
On December 10, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Good to see you back and wonderful to hear that you are doing something that makes a difference and you so enjoy. All the best of luck.
Inna
sheilanewton
On December 12, 2011 at 12:48 pm
Wow! Well done you. This is an inspiring article. You certainly did your bit for a great charity.
I’m adding you as a friend on Triond. I’ll visit your posts and comment as often as I can. Do the same for me? That would be great.
Eunice Tan
On December 12, 2011 at 10:36 pm
Great activity
Lady Sunshine
On December 12, 2011 at 10:57 pm
Great cause. Nice write-up.
FX777222999
On December 14, 2011 at 6:28 am
Good to know that there is an org for this health subject,
papaleng
On December 14, 2011 at 8:06 am
Welcome back and what a very interesting article you’ve shared. Good to know that an organization is busy promoting this cause about eradicating polio.
Val Mills
On December 17, 2011 at 7:23 am
I think I’ll give it a miss being one of those 1 a.m ers in New Zealand! However, apart from all having to do it at the same time, this is one fantastic idea. Best of luck with it.
rotarin arun scahdeva
On December 29, 2011 at 6:41 am
a great idea to swim in support of POLIOERADICATION . we will join from RID 3040