On the Trail to End Polio - Oct 15th

Organizers: Lehigh Valley Passport Club in Collaboration with the Pottstown Club and others TBA

District 7430’s annual Purple Pinkie Event, which focuses our efforts on Rotary International’s goal of eradicating polio, will be held on Saturday, October 15 at Berks Nature in Reading, PA from 9am -2pm. The central venue for the event is The Nature Place at Berks Nature, which sits among nearly 100 acres in Reading’s Angelica Creek Park adjacent to Alvernia University. This reimagined event –called ‘On the Trail to End Polio’– will carry on the legacy of the Yvette M. Palmer Race to ZERO! “Purple Pinkie” event that was held in the past in and around the Lehigh Valley. The organizing club, the Lehigh Valley Passport Club, desires to broaden the participation in the event by providing many active ways to engage. 

This marks the first year of moving the event from the Lehigh Valley to the western part of District 7430. At this October 15th event, we will have multiple opportunities to serve and participate including: a short 1.5-2 mile guided walk around the grounds, an informal 5K walk/run on a local trail, a 10 and 20 mile bike ride along the Schuylkill Valley River Rail Trail, service projects at the facility, an ‘all for fun’ dog parade and contest (coordinated by the Pottstown club), and to end the event, an onsite lunch for us to gather with our fellow participants.

In addition, an associated event will be held on Saturday, October 8 for interested participants in our District: a 62 mile/100km out and back ‘Metric Century’ bike ride starting from the Reading area along the Schuylkill River Rail Trail. Participants who would like to sign up for this event on October 8th will be contacted for details. Your registration for the October 8th event will also include any events including lunch for the October 15th main event as well.

The objective for this District-wide event is to focus our attention and fundraising efforts on ending Polio. This critical goal remains important and relevant as polio has unfortunately been in the recent news, reminding us that while we are nearing an end, we are not there yet.

The Lehigh Valley Passport Club has already approached club presidents about committing to the cause and supporting this event through financial sponsorship as well as getting the word to their members. In addition, we have opened registration for participants to purchase registration to the event which will include our social luncheon.

All participants and service volunteers are encouraged to participate in as many of the event’s functions as they desire and as time/schedule allows. Additionally, participants are encouraged to seek their own personal sponsors for the various activities to raise even more funds for this important cause. One can set up a Fundraising team to raise funds for your participation during the registration process or afterwards. The opportunity to donate even more to the cause is also offered prior to completing registration.

We look forward to a great event for District 7430!

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