Kerrville Rotary serves up pies to fight polio Oct. 22

Polio hasn’t been seen in the U.S. in years, and that’s exactly why the Rotary Club of Kerrville wants people to remember it.

The club will host Pints, Pumpkins & Pies for Polio from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, at the Dietert Center. The event comes two days before World Polio Day on Oct. 24, when Rotary clubs around the world raise money to end the disease.

“We’re just trying to raise money and awareness that it’s not gone,” event chair Kristy Vandenberg said on Friday’s episode of The Lead Live.

What to know

• When: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22
• Where: Dietert Center
• Tickets: $25, including a grilled chicken dinner with all the fixings
• Raffle: $10 tickets for a wines and spirits cooler
• About 20 homemade pies will be auctioned.
• Contact: kerrvillerotary@gmail.com

The evening’s PolioPlus speaker has lived with polio since he was about 4 years old and went on to a career as a dentist.

“This is a story of overcoming things,” Vandenberg said.

A long fight

Rotary launched PolioPlus in 1985 and became a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988. Since then, global polio cases have dropped by 99.9%, according to the club. Rotary has contributed more than $2.9 billion to the effort and raises $50 million a year for it, with donations matched 2-to-1 by the Gates Foundation.

Wild poliovirus remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Vandenberg said people can carry the virus without showing symptoms, so it could return to the U.S.

“Polio anywhere is a threat everywhere,” Vandenberg said in a news release announcing the event.

There’s no cure. Vandenberg said some people who had polio as children are now dealing with post-polio syndrome, which brings new weakness in their limbs decades later.

“Once you have it, you got it,” she said.

Those who can’t attend can donate online at poliocampaign.rotary.org or mail a check payable to The Rotary Foundation – PolioPlus to Rotary Club of Kerrville, P.O. Box 295335, Kerrville, TX 78029.

Vandenberg, who also leads the Ultimate Gift of Life, said her next project is already underway: Trees of Hope, about 50 decorated and lighted Christmas trees, returns the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Watch the conversation from Friday’s episode of The Lead Live on Facebook and YouTube.