Members of the Bloomfield Rotary Club are reaching out to help children in countries around the world in a global fight against polio.

The club is currently raising money for Rotary Club International's Polio Plus Fund.

The goal is to eradicate the world of polio and to accomplish the task financial assistance is needed.

A contribution will help Rotary match a $100 million challenge grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The resulting $200 million will directly support immunization campaigns in developing countries, where polio continues to rob children of their futures and compound the hardships faced by their families.

Bloomfield Rotary Club president Sandra Mead said the club began raising funds in January.

The club's 29 members have been chipping in $1 each week since January and each has been given a ticket. The tickets are being placed in a pot for a special prize that will be drawn in August.

Mead wants to have the local fundraising effort wrapped up by Aug. 12 when the new Rotary District 6580 Governor Bill Ryall, of Evansville, comes to visit the club's weekly meeting.

On that day, Ryall will do the drawing and be presented with all the money that has been donated by the club and community members for the Polio Plus Fund.

"All that money that we've put in is going to go to Polio Plus," Mead said.

Rotary International's $100 Million Challenge, a three-year fundraising commitment, is the Rotary Foundation's response to the $100 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Every dollar given to PolioPlus during the next three years will be counted toward the $100 million match.

PolioPlus Partners allows individuals, Rotary clubs, and districts to support urgent social mobilization and surveillance projects submitted by Rotarians in polio-endemic, importation, and high-risk countries.

In 2006-07, the Trustees of The Rotary Foundation allocated $1 million to match, on a first-come, first-served basis, cash contributions to PolioPlus Partners at a level of 50 cents for each $1 contributed.

Cash and DDF donations to PolioPlus Partners, effective Dec. 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008, will be counted toward matching the Gates Foundation Challenge Grant. Rotary International has led the fight against polio for more than 20 years.

With nearly 33,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas, Rotary reaches out to national governments worldwide to generate crucial financial and technical support for polio eradication. Since 1995, the advocacy efforts of Rotary and its partners have helped raise more than $3 billion in vital funding from donor governments.

Rotary clubs also provide "sweat equity" on the ground in polio-affected communities, which helps ensure that leaders at all levels remain focused on the eradication goal. Over the years, Rotary Club members have volunteered their time and personal resources to reach more than 2 billion children in 122 countries with the oral polio vaccine.

In the 1980s, 1,000 children were infected by the disease every day in 125 countries.

When Rotary began its eradication work, polio infected more than 350,000 children annually. In 2007, fewer than 2,000 cases were reported worldwide.

Two billion children have been immunized, five million have been spared disability, and over 250,000 deaths from polio have been prevented, according to information on Rotary's Web site.

Mead said the money donated to the Poilio Fund will be put to good use.

* A contribution of $135 will buy a bicycle to distribute vaccine to villages

* A contribution of $250 will buy T-shirts to make health workers highly visible during a National Immunization Day.

* A contribution of $200 will buy 10,000 pamphlets to inform the public about an upcoming immunization campaign.

* A contribution of $1,000 will buy 700 vaccine carriers to ensure the oral polio vaccine is maintained at the correct temperature.

Mead is excited about the project and would like to see the whole county become involved in this humanitarian effort by contributing to this fund.

"If half of Greene County contributed a dollar each we would supersede our $1,000 goal," she said. "I'm going to be proud to say that I had a part of eradicating polio."

Helping others and community service is a major goal of the local Rotary clubs.

"As a Rotarian you are just really passionate. We do our community service through our scholarship program for our community, but also to be in Rotary you need to be active in the international projects and this is the largest one. And, you can seriously make a difference," Mead said.

To make a donation, simply send a check to Mead's attention at Bloomfield State Bank, P.O. Box 407, Bloomfield, Ind., 47424.

For more information, call 384-4431 ext 195.

The Bloomfield Rotary Club meets at noon every Tuesday at the First Presbyterian Church in Bloomfield.