A great gathering at 318/328 Wale Road, Colwood - The Holiday Inn and Suites/328 Taphouse + Grill – in celebration of World Polio Day.
8 of the 10 clubs of Area 6/7 were represented. 43 Rotarians, family and friends, all with purple painted pinkie fingernails, gathered at 6 pm for the light up. After taking many pictures with much conversation, everyone proceeded next door to 328 Taphouse + Grill.
Pizza (their specialty) and beer (or wine) for $25 was the menu for the evening. It was a buffet style – help yourself pizza! As fast as the pizzas arrived they were 'inhaled' – more were on the way!. Pizzas kept arriving until everyone had had sufficient! The tables were set with place mats created by PDG Joan Firkins – recycled from her clubs' lunch meeting. Jenn Raappana (Westshore Rotary Club) designed the tickets.
During the evening a donation bottle with 'Goodbye Polio, Thanks Rotary' was available for donations - $135.70 plus US$1 was collected. The restaurant has promised 50% of the $25 as their donation towards our efforts to eradicate polio. (to date no report from the restaurant).
Gerry Kelly and John Heraghty of IFGR presented a cheque of $8,000 for polio eradication to District 5020 Foundation Chair Judy Byron. These funds were raised at the 2017 IFGR held in August at Bear Mountain. Gerry Kelly was the Chair of this event.
One couple from Sooke joined us - Eleanor and John. They had seen the event write up in the T/C of Sunday October 22nd. In 1953, John, as a 16 year old living in Sooke, contracted polio, spending some time in an iron lung at the Royal Jubilee Hospital. A delightful couple. Thrilled they joined us.
Thank you to all who participated. Much fellowship, many new and renewed connections occurred during the evening.
PR Committee, Area 6/7