In 1979, Rotary International made a five-year commitment to provide the polio vaccine to six million children in the Philippines. As the program progressed, the goals of the program did as well.

Why polio? Poliomyelitis, known as polio, was one of the 20th century's most dreaded childhood diseases. Polio was highly contagious and left many children permanently paralyzed or dead.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was one of the few adults who contracted polio and suffered paralysis as a result.

Rotary members had seen the effects of polio on children and decided to do their part to stop the suffering. While polio was being vaccinated against in the United States, other parts of the world still had the disease.

If something was not done, there was a high chance that polio could return to the United States.

PolioPlus was launched in 1985 by Rotary International with the goal to rid the world of the polio virus. Rotary International works with an array of other nonprofit groups and agencies, such as the World Health Organization, to achieve this goal.

Rotary International made an initial pledge of $120 million, which shocked the medical community. Three years later, the pledge had more than doubled to $247 million.

When the goal of ridding the world of polio is reached, the total contribution of Rotary International is estimated to be at $600 million.

When the project started, Rotary International was involved only in donating funds for the vaccine and volunteer support. More recently, the organization has sponsored transportation and other operational costs related to delivering the vaccine.

Three people from District 7280, which is the Rotary district that includes Butler County, have been involved first-hand with PolioPlus. Hank Anna from Slippery Rock participated first-hand in vaccinating children, and as all volunteers, he used his own money for travel and other expenses.

Near the start of the program, District 7280 raised just under $1 million for PolioPlus.

"It's amazing how much people are willing to give for the right cause," said Pinkerton.

He also mentions an instance when two groups of people in another country who had been at war for a long time called a cease-fire for 24 hours to allow Rotarians to vaccinate children from both sides.

The Western Hemisphere was declared Polio free in 1994. Today, Rotary International has achieved a 99 percent reduction rate in the number of polio cases worldwide, from nearly 350,000 in 1988 to fewer than 1,000 in 2003.

Rotary International hopes to rid the world of polio by the end of this year.

Despite the enormous efforts and success that Rotary has had with PolioPlus, the organization is often not given credit.

"That's OK," says Pinkerton, "Rotary isn't in it for the publicity. We're in it to help."