Look for this sign, give Friday

The Wilmington High School Interact Club will continue their tradition of asking for donations to eradicate polio before and through the first half of the Wilmington vs. Manteno football game on Friday, Oct. 13th.
Since this event began, thousands of dollars have been raised and sent to Rotary International to help in the goal of eradicating polio worldwide.
Polio is a paralyzing and potentially fatal disease that still threatens children in some parts of the world. It invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in hours.
Polio can strike people of any age but mainly affects children under five. Polio can be prevented by vaccines, but it is not curable. Unlike most diseases, polio can be eradicated.
Rotary members have contributed more than $2.2 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease.
When Rotary and its partners formed an alliance in 1998, there were 350,000 cases of polio in 125 countries every year. Today the polio virus has been reduced by 99.9% and just two countries continue to report cases of wild polio virus: Afghanistan and Pakistan. The infrastructure we helped build to end polio is also being used to treat and prevent other diseases, including COVID-19, and create lasting impact on other areas of public health.
There are five reasons we must eradicate polio. First, lives are improved. Today 20 million people who would otherwise be paralyzed by polio are walking and 1.5 million people who would otherwise have died are alive.
Second, your gift will invest in the future. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyz as many as 200,000 people each year.
Third, your gift will improve child health. Polio surveillance networks and vaccination campaigns also monitor children for other health problems like vitamin deficiency and measles, so we can address them sooner.
Fourth, your gift will lower healthcare costs. The global effort to eradicate polio has already saved more than $27 billion in health care costs since 1988 and expects to save $14 billion more by 2050.
Finally, your gift will make history. Polio eradication will be one of history's greatest public health achievements with polio following smallpox to become only the second human disease eradicated from the world.
As they have in the past, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will match your donation dollar with two. As you're headed to your seats on Oct. 13 to watch the Wildcats and Panthers, take a moment and look for the Rotary tent to make your donation.