TTRC Climbs Kili

On Tuesday March 15th, four members of the Toronto Twilight Rotary Club (TTRC) will begin their five day climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro as a fundraiser for End Polio Now— Rotary’s $200 million challenge to eradicate polio.

Mt. Kilimanjaro is the highest point in Africa and the highest freestanding mountain in the world at 19,340 ft above sea level. The climb will take the team through 105km of challenging terrain including forests, moorland and desert. As the climbing team expects to reach summit on March 19th, the TTRC will be walking 105km as a club on that day.

If polio isn’t eradicated, the world will continue to live under the threat of the disease. More than 10 million children will be paralyzed in the next 40 years if the world fails to eradicate polio. One of the challenges of eradicating polio is halting the spread of the poliovirus in the four remaining endemic countries (Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan), which continue to export it to polio-free areas.

All proceeds from TTRC’s fundraiser will go to Rotary’s End Polio Now campaign. The contributions will help Rotary raise $200 million to match $355 million in challenge grants received from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The resulting $555 million will directly support immunization campaigns in developing countries, where polio continues to infect and paralyze children.

Tax receipts will be issued from The Rotary Foundation (Canada) for all donations over $20).  To make a donation by cheque, please mail to: 28 Bonacres Ave. Toronto ON M1C 1P7. Please make cheques payable to "The Rotary Foundation (Canada)". We appreciate your support in helping us achieve a polio-free world!

Rotary is a worldwide organization of more than 1.2 million business, professional, and community leaders. Members of Rotary clubs, known as Rotarians, provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.

The Toronto Twilight Rotary Club is one of the newest clubs in Toronto, Canada.   Formed in 2009, it has been a very active group in the Toronto community, and was officially chartered on February 18, 2010.