Interact Club Raises $102 from Purple Pinkie

Scarborough Interactors  know about polio, but they didn't know exactly where the term "purple pinkie" came from. Then they were invited to a Rotary club meeting where Past District Governor Marty Helman was the guest speaker. She was there to raise awareness of the work The Rotary Foundation does, but when she started talking about her own experience on a National Immunization Days trip to Nigeria, the leadership team of the Scarborough High School Interact Club was all ears. PDG Marty explained to them how hard it is to make sure every child in a remote village has received the vaccine, which they try to get to everyone all at once. The way they keep track is to mark each child's pinkie finger with a purple sharpie. A "purple pinkie" has thus become a symbol of the war on polio.

 

The High School Interact Club held a mock "purple pinkie" fundraiser in the school cafeteria. For a small donation, students and their teachers could have their pinkie finger marked with a purple sharpie. They raised $102, which turned into $306 on the ground thanks to Bill and Melinda Gates' 2:1 match. One dose of the polio vaccine costs about 60 cents, so by the end of lunch the students raised enough money to immunize 500 children.