Plunge to End Polio

The following article was written by Amanda Estevez and Mariette Scheele.

Last Saturday on Feb. 12, the Winchester Interact Club joined with Winchester Rotary to take a plunge to end Polio.

Eighteen brave members from the Winchester clubs met at Long Beach in Gloucester to freeze for a reason by running into the icy water. Some of  the Interact members  stayed in the icy water for more than five minutes because they found a sponsor who would pay them by the minute.   

The Winchester Interact Club took the initiative to join the Gloucester Rotary and many other Rotary Clubs from district 7930 to raise money for the ‘Polio Plunge.’

The Rotary Foundation is raising $200 million to match the $355 million received from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to end polio. All the money raised goes directly to support immunization in countries where polio continues to threaten children’s lives.

Although polio has been eradicated in most countries it continues to infect children in Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan. Polio has been eliminated from so many countries, however as long as it continues to infect one child, children everywhere remain at risk.

The rotary will not stop until polio has been eradicated forever. For this reason Winchester Interact and Rotary members lined up on the beach in Gloucester, getting ready to run into the freezing water.

Among the members taking the plunge, were Rotary’s past president Donna Denio, current president Bob Lord and president-elect Carla Suijkerbuijk. There were also 15 high school students from the Winchester Interact Club who participated as well as two very brave WHS teachers.

The Winchester Interact Club and the Winchester Rotary were able to collect over $3,000.

Special thanks goes out to , , , Mass Diving, many Winchester Rotarians, Winchester residents and Winchester High school teachers for their much appreciated sponsorships.

Winchester Interact Club started in 2004 and has grown dramatically since then.

Since September 2010 President Mariette Scheele and vice-president Per Edstrom informed many WHS students about Interact and within a month the club had more than 30 members.

Interact is a world-wide organization made up of almost 200,000 young adults that are ready to serve the global community. The club’s objective is to complete at least two major projects in a year, one of which promotes international understanding and develops leadership, respect for others and individual responsibility among others. Keeping this in mind, the Winchester Interact Club decided to participate in the global effort to end polio.

The Polio Plunge committee chair, Amanda Esteves, worked very hard to achieve the goal of raising $ 2,000, which was reached long before the deadline. There is still money coming in so the final amount will be annouced soon.