Some of Bristol’s biggest businesses have joined forces with seven Rotary Clubs across the city to support a campaign to immunise 125,000 children against polio.
The 11 firms are backing Rotary’s End Polio Now campaign, part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) which is looking to eradicate polio worldwide by 2018.
Taking part are law firms Thrings and Bevan Brittan, accountants Deloitte and Burton Sweet, 3PB Barristers, Yankee Candle, Extra Mile Printing, Rydon, Gleeds, Hydes of Bristol and Meadowcare Home. 
They have signalled their support for End Polio Now’s Bristol Polio ‘Mileitis’ Challenge by attaching small change to a foot-long cardboard strip. Each strip holds £2.90 which will then be trebled by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to pay for 24 children to be vaccinated.
The fundraising challenge, launched in October, will culminate at The Mall, Cribbs Causeway on February 21 when all 5,280 strips will be laid out in a mile of coins. The £15,000 on the strips will be trebled to £45,000 – enough to pay for 125,000 vaccinations.
The previous evening the Rotary Club of Bristol Bridge, a dynamic group of young professional Rotarians, will host a fundraising dinner at The Bristol Hotel to ensure the challenge is not only met, but exceeded.
Sponsored by Thrings, the event will feature a number of leading figures from the Bristol business community as well as Mayor of Bristol George Ferguson, who suffered from polio as a child. 
Thrings solicitor and Rotary Club of Bristol Bridge member Hayley Price said: “Rotary started its campaign to eradicate polio in 1985, and has to date raised and donated more than $1.2bn.
“As a result of the great work of GPEI, End Polio Now and all of its partners, there are now just three countries in the world with endemic polio – Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. The work needs to continue, and every penny counts in the fight to eliminate the world of this truly dreadful disease.
“Sadly there is no cure for polio, only immunisation, yet it costs just 36p to immunise a child for life. We are extremely grateful to those businesses in Bristol that have agreed to support the fundraising initiative and help GPEI continue its work in reducing the number of cases of polio.”
Polio is a highly-contagious viral infection affecting the nervous system, often leading to paralysis, breathing difficulties and even death. The disease, which is spread in areas with poor sanitation via contaminated water or food, is specific to humans, with infants and young children most at risk. 
Tickets for the Rotary Club of Bristol Bridge’s fundraising dinner are still available. For more information, please contact Hayley Price on hprice@thrings.com or phone 0117 930 9549.
For further information and to donate to the Bristol Polio ‘Mileitis’ Challenge, go to www.bristolpoliomile.org.uk
