Flash Mob Descends on Rochester!

Adorned in distinctive red End Polio Now ponchos, hundreds of conference attendees lined Main Street and at the sound of multiple air horns struck “the pose” for two minutes. The pose of course, is forming the two fingers of one hand into a small gap indicating that “We Are This Close” to eradicating Polio.

Attendees were asked by numerous passersby what this was all about, and the ever ready Rotarians were most happy to explain to them, that we were bringing awareness to anyone who will notice, of the continuing fight in the world of eradicating the dreadful disease Polio.

Older generations in Michigan, including some observing our flash mob yesterday, remember quite vividly when polio was sweeping the nation (and the world). They remember not being able to mix with other children, enjoy public facilities, and seeing relatives and friends crippled by this dreadful disease.

For more than 25 years Rotary International has taken the initiative, and with its partners around the world, has reduced new polio cases to just a handful per year from hundreds of thousands annually when the immunizations of children were commenced.

Today, most countries have been cleared of the disease and we are down to just three. That’s why Rotararians have the slogan and the pose,  that “we are this close”.