Concert To Raise Money For Polio Immunizations

Rotary clubs around the world are committed to raising $100 million to erase the number of polio-endemic countries.

The number more than 20 years ago was at 250. Today, it is four. That's where it remains stuck.

The movement to provide vaccines to the children of those four countries led to a $100 million "challenge grant" from none other than Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

The Rotary must match it. Every club around the world is responsible for $1,000 for each of the next three years.

Hernando County Rotarians are moving toward their goal by sponsoring a classical concert.

"We got together and determined we wanted to do something for polio," said Gretchen Pingley, president of the Brooksville Rotary Club. "A concert? That's easy. We can do that."

The concert, named "Music for Life," will take place at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5. All three of the Rotary Clubs of Hernando County are sponsors and the show will feature local talent.

The concert will take place at Nativity Lutheran Church of Weeki Wachee, located at 6363 Commercial Way.

There will be a $10 ticket cost. The proceeds will benefit the Rotary PolioPlus program.

The musical director will be Dr. Roberta Moger. Many of her voice students will perform, including local soprano Stephanie Barnett Sager.

Pingley said the suggestion to organize a concert came from Spring Hill Rotary Club President Janet Coit, whose daughter, Sara, is another local opera singer.

The polio vaccine was introduced to the world in 1955. Even still, in the 1980s, more than 1,000 children were infected by the disease each day in 125 countries, according to the Rotary Web site.

The PolioPlus program began in 1985.

Today, the four countries with a polio endemic are India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria, Pingley said.

The overall number of cases has declined 99 percent in the last 25 years, according to Rotary statistics. Fewer than 2,000 cases were reported in 2006.