Polio Eradication Fitness Challenge held in Mission

From the Mission City Record (March 4, 2019)

Eighteen teams of six paid an entrance fee and raised funds for the event. Those funds were matched, dollar for dollar, by Mission Rotary, the Government of Canada and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, so each dollar raised generated four dollars to assist in vaccinating kids in third world countries. Each team designated one person to compete in a truck pull, tire carry, 1K run, building block challenge, beer pong type game (no beer) and an egg carrying obstacle course, using a crutch, as many polio victims lose their ability to walk. Since 1985, Rotary has helped to vaccinate more than 2.5 billion people, and have nearly eradicated polio from the population. The organization warns that if the movement stopped, in 10 years there would be 200,000 new cases of polio.

Their slogan is “We Are This Close.”