Purple Pinkie Project Returns to Honesdale (Honesdale, December 4, 2019)… Honesdale High School’s Interact Club is helping more than just the community of Honesdale this holiday season. They’re revitalizing the Purple Pinkie Project, a fun and—pun intended-- colorful campaign to help Rotary International’s End Polio Now crusade. Since the 1980s, Rotarians around the world have been vaccinating young children against polio and dying their pinkies pink to show they have been immunized. Starting December 9th, Interact with the help of their middle school counterparts in the newly-formed Early Act Club, will collect $1 from students during lunch for the opportunity to stamp a purple pinkie on a big canvas. The canvas will be prominently displayed in the Wayne Highlands High School-Middle School complex.
“We’ll also be visiting businesses throughout Honesdale to collect $1 and a photo for our social media page,” said Interact member Sophia Goyette, “We want to bring a greater awareness of polio eradication to the community and we think meeting face to face and creating a social media buzz in town is a great way to go.”
Interact members say the awareness is crucial. While Rotary International and its partners, The World Health Organization and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, have vaccinated more than 2.5 billion adults and helped decrease polio worldwide by 99%-- the battle isn’t over. Their literature says if all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could spread and paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.
“Help us not let that happen,” Sophia said, “join our efforts. We hope to raise $1,000 for the End Polio Now campaign.”
The Interact Club has had several Purple Pinkie Projects over the years, most notably one at Honesdale Roots & Rhythm Music & Arts Festival in 2011. To learn more about Rotary or how students can join the Middle School Early Act or High School Interact clubs, contact Fulp at bfulp@himalayaninstitute.org or by phone 570-309-7860.