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On Tuesday, June 6, our lunch speaker will be our own club member Cort Vaughn, giving us an update on Rotary’s efforts to eradicate polio.
In 1988, Polio paralyzed over 350,000 people per year in 125 countries, mostly children under the age of 5. Rotary stepped in to lead the effort to vaccinate every child and create a Polio free world. There have only been 3 cases of Polio this year in just 2 countries. That is the good news. The bad news is that we had case of Polio in New York last year, so Polio is only a plane flight away! Signup for lunch here. |
About Cort
Cort Vaughan is a Polio survivor. He and his wife Tonya have two sons and two grandsons.
Cort joined the Rotary Club of Greater Bend to help eradicate Polio. He founded the Pints for Polio fundraiser in 2012 to raise money for global Polio eradication and to increase local awareness regarding the need to vaccinate all children according to CDC guidelines. Pints for Polio has raised nearly $210,000 for the PolioPlus Fund including matching funds from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Cort is Past District 5110 PolioPlus Chair and past Zone 27 End Polio Now Coordinator covering 10 Districts and nearly 800 Rotary Clubs. Zone 27 includes most of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Northern California, and British Columbia.
Cort Vaughan contracted Polio in 1954 during a global pandemic that crippled over 35,000 people each year in the United States, mostly children under the age of 5. Polio paralyzed Cort’s right leg.
Cort and Tonya spent 3 weeks in India in January 2020 on a NID to vaccinate children against polio. They also met with WHO and UNICEF, visited a polio rehabilitation clinic and toured several Rotary projects. Join us in hearing Cort’s inspiring story of growing up with Polio, learning about polio eradication in India, and Rotary’s efforts to wipe out Polio.
This meeting will both in-person at the Riverhouse (restaurant side, Deschutes North), and virtual.
Join the Zoom Meeting here: RCGB Zoom Link
You can also call in to the meeting at (669) 900-9128 and enter meeting ID: 692 491 9146. If you’re asked, the passcode is 5110.
We will record the presentation for others who aren’t able to attend at noon.