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Planting One On Polio
On Friday October 1st 2010 London's Trafalgar Square was handed over
to
Thanks for Life
for a day.
Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland (RIBI), the
Eden Project
and the
International Flower Bulb Centre
(IFBC) have joined forces to launch the
Big Bulb Plant
in conjunction with Thanks for Life.
A massive stage was set up in Trafalgar Square to officially launch
the campaign which will see hundreds of volunteers get local
communities involved with planting crocuses and raising funds to
help
End Polio Now.
People needing some help to become fully fledged, green fingered
gardeners, had nothing to fear, as a number of experts were on hand
at Trafalgar Square to give advice on how to plant bulbs and care
for plants. Toby Buckland and The Eden Project horticultural team
answered gardening questions, and Blue Peter gardener Chris Collins
provided inspiration for young horticulturalists. Blue Peter is the
long-running BBC television
program for children with
the
famous Blue Peter
Garden located adjacent to BBC Television Centre
Over 4.6 million crocus bulbs are ready to be planted throughout the
coming weeks in all sorts of places. Volunteers are also aiming to
break the
Guinness World Record
for the most number of people simultaneously planting bulbs.
Since 1985, Rotarians across the whole world have been raising
funds, raising awareness and helping administer the polio vaccine in
endemic countries. Millions of young children have been spared from
the curse of this crippling and potentially fatal disease thanks to
the hard work of Rotary members working alongside UNICEF, WHO and
other health organisations. Once, there were 129 endemic countries
with 350,000 children being infected every year. Now, 25 years on,
there are only 4 endemic countries and new cases have declined to
around 1,000 per year. |
