EVANS CITY — The Evans City Rotary Club is looking for residents who are willing to get wet for a good cause.

Lee Dyer, club president, said a swimathon will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. Feb. 22 at the Rose E. Schneider YMCA in Cranberry Township to benefit the worldwide Rotary polio eradication project.

He said anyone can sign up for the event, which will have swimmers gather lap sponsorships before diving in and swimming as many laps as they can in one hour.

He hopes to get 15 swimmers from Evans City, and 300 swimmers among the Evans City, Zelienople, and two Cranberry Township Rotary clubs.

Corporate sponsorships also are being sought.

The swimathon will mark the first time the Rotary district will participate, and Dyer hopes corporations and swimmers turn out for the fundraiser.

He said a single club in England a few years ago had a swimathon, and it was expanded this year to include that entire country.

Rotary International decided to include all its clubs worldwide in swimathons for 2014.

Dyer said the warm waters of the Schneider YMCA’s pool should come as a welcome contrast to typical February weather.

“You get to jump into the pool and swim, and you get to support a very, very worthy cause at the same time,” Dyer said,

He said only Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan still see cases of polio. Dyer added that only one disease, smallpox, has been eradicated from the planet.

“We want to make polio number two,” he said.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, polio/myelitis is a contagious, potentially fatal disease that cripples its victims. While there is no cure, safe and effective vaccines can prevent the spread of polio.

Dyer said swimmers, who need not be Rotary members, can get more information or sign-up forms by contacting him at oleedyerjr@aol.com.

Corporations considering a sponsorship, which begins at $100, can also e-mail Dyer at that address.

“It should be a fun thing to do with your friends,” Dyer said.