🌍 Global Health Leaders Gather in White Rock to Secure a Polio-Free Future 🌍

The roadmap to a world permanently free of polio took a significant step forward this week as the Global Certification Commission Containment Working Group (GCC-CWG) concluded its quarterly face-to-face meeting in White Rock, British Columbia. During the visit, GCC-CWG members joined local Rotarians at the Rotary Club of White Rock for their weekly meeting, witnessing firsthand the grassroots advocacy and fundraising that have fueled the global movement since 1985. Rotary International is a a foundational partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).

Miss Vicky is back from a very successful trip to Edmonton with Club visits and presentations in Lloydminster, Camrose, Airdrie and Calgary. We're just $2,536 shy of matching and release of the Canadian 25k Challenge Check! Many highlights along the 2500 mile journey but none greater than meeting Rotarian and polio-survivor Sue Brazeau, a member of the Lloydminster Border City (Sunrise) Rotary Club. Sue is true inspiration and strong supporter of PolioPlus. Many additional thanks to District 5360 Governor Manon Mitchell for her support and well wishes.
Kind regards to all and let's keep those matching donations rolling in!

We're on our way! Look at those numbers, half way to unlocking our third $25k, the "Canadian Challenge Check!" Thanks to all! Miss Vicky is heading back to Washington for a minor repair requiring some welding. Nothing serious but needs tending to prior to next month's journey to Edmonton, Lloydminster and Calgary!! Off to Grand Prairie in April, then Whitehorse for the 5370 District Conference in May. Fair Warning: Lloydminister and Calgary Rotary Clubs in our sites for next week's journey home. Miss Vicky's an amazing vehicle, 96 years young!

The "Ascent to Mount" Edmonton was a success, with Arlington Rotarian, Wally Thomas, joining the Miss Vicky driving team. Encountering some winter weather at Rogers Pass, MV arrived in good shape. Three presentations were well received and Miss Vicky stood tall at the Oil Kings hockey game, defeating the Americans /Tri-Cities team. Rotarian Maelle Toews and her husband shepherded the Ford to the coziness of a heated hangar provided by Ms. Jeanette at Villeneuve Airport. Thanks to all for many courtesies. Over $7,000 toward Miss Vicky's third $25k challenge check!

Off for the second ascent of "Mount" Edmonton, District 5370. Growing up in Florida, I'm told it will be chilly this time of year. Miss Vicky and her rebuilt engine is ready to go with new snow tires, (courtesy of Canadian Tire Scott Road), block and battery heaters. Looking forward to attending "Oil Kings Hockey game for PolioPlus" and spreading the word at club presentations.
Nearly $5k matched toward the Canadian Challenge check of $25,000. Thanks to all!

The fight against polio is a race we refuse to lose.
From labs that detect the virus before it spreads, to vaccines that protect the world’s most vulnerable—every step keeps us one step ahead.

Rotary has already helped reduce polio cases by 99.9%, but the final stretch matters the most. Your contribution to the Polio Fund helps reach every last child, strengthen surveillance, and safeguard countries from future outbreaks.

Together, we innovate. We adapt. We evolve.
Let’s finish the race and End Polio Now.

A momentous Holiday Greetings to all! With today’s $3,500 from John and Rose Block from the Rotary Club of Semiahmoo AND a donation from Miss Vicky’s home Rotary Club of Arlington, The Miss Vicky 2026 Challenge tops $75k! This “unlocks” the second of four, (did I say four?) $25k challenge checks. Yes! Just in time for the Christmas and Holiday celebrations, Miss Vicky has locked in her “Treasure Chest” a fourth “Canadian Challenge” check for $25,000! How about that? When next our matching goal reaches $125k, the Canadian Challenge Check will be unleashed for a total of $150k to PolioPlus! Then, it’s off to the Gates Foundation for their 2:1 match: $450,000! Thanks to all for your support and December Holiday Greetings to all, Winston and Lee

Miss Vicky thanks you for continued support while she receives a major motor rebuild. Just short of $7,500 shy of completing the second $25k Challenge Check. Winston and I remain willing and able to present the latest on PolioPlus. Kindly Invite us to your club for a timely update! Thanks to all, Team Ms. Vicky!

Wow... and the donations keep flowing in from our recent Alberta tour! Thanks to all for such a rousing success and show of support. Sadly, Miss Vicky damaged a piston and will require a lot of intensive care (engine rebuild). "No Hill for a Stepper," she'll be back on the road first of the new year. Thanks to all for the rousing success as we close in on the second $25,000 Challenge Check locked in the MV Treasure Chest.

From ASTOUNDING to ASTONISHING! Generous donations from Rotarians of District 5370
best the $25,000 matching threshold by $2,242.00! Creaking and squeaking sounds were heard at the lifting of the rusty Treasure Chest lid, where the first of three Challenge Checks was released and its $25,000.00 added to the MV Challenge total. Congratulations on 2025 World Polio Day where just 36 WPV cases exist in just two remaining countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan. Thanks in advance for donations yet to arrive! (Visit Old Posts by clicking on the button below and left.)

THREE CHEERS for the donation by ROTARY CLUB OF WHITEHORSE-RENDEZVOUS of $16,812.13. This generous donation takes the Miss Vicky matching total to an astounding $31,764. This is well over the $25k threshold to unlock the first of three checks locked in the Miss Vicky Treasure Chest! What an amazing accomplishment so early in the campaign. Thanks to all for making World Polio Day so tantalizingly special! (Visit older updates by pressing the button to the left and below!)

Even with Miss Vicky ailing, we've had a glorious and productive four days visiting seven
"Albertan" clubs, with two clubs to go tomorrow. Matching donations now top $14,000 toward the $25k challenge on the eve of World PolioPlus Day. Will we achieve opening the Miss Vicky
Treasure Chest by tomorrow evening's "Light Up the Bridge PURPLE" celebration?
Thanks to all. Visit prior updates by tapping the "older updates" button, below left!

If it were easy... anybody would do it! Once again, Miss Vicky gives her all en route to the Canadian adventure via White Rock to Jasper and Edmonton. Success was not to be when she suffered a blown head gasket just south of the Canadian border. At 94 years young, anything can indeed happen! Lee hoofed it to a successful White Rock Luncheon for PolioPlus, walking back and forth across the border! Miss Vicky unceremoniously rode back to Camano for repairs. Click the Donate Now button and help provide the first $25,000 match. More to follow!

Winston, Miss Vicky and I are off for Edmonton, Alberta Canada, tomorrow. En route, we'll be speaking or "meet-and-greeting" some 12 Rotary Clubs. Thanks to Canadian Tire (Scott Road) for donating a magnificent (and burley) set of snow/ice tires for the adventure!
We're driving Miss Vicky over the snow-clad Rocky Mountains to prove that difficult things are possible... even eradicating polio from the world! Thanks for your contributions!

Miss Vicky’s on the move again for PolioPlus! Snow tires, a mountain or two and off to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada!DG Dave’s surprise KeyNote speaker at his District Conference was none other than Ramesh Ferris, now District Governor of 5370. Ramesh’s presence and his story of polio survival was nothing short of spectacular. Following his address, Dave presented a check for $50,000.00 from the Miss Vicky PolioPlus campaign. Using a new “challenge/match” fundraising paradigm, by the time of the Calgary International Convention, that check had increased to just over $109,000. Winston Conyers, Polio Champion from White Rock Rotary, then drove Miss Vicky to Calgary to make the ceremonial check presentation at the Pancakes for Polio event. From that experience was hatched a plan to capitalize on Miss Vicky’s notoriety by expanding the effort to Ramesh's District 5370. With an ambitious $100,000.00 as the new goal, when the efforts of both districts achieve the $100,000 dollar match, the combined effort would garner a whopping $200,000.00… to be matched by the Gates Foundation 2:1 or… $600,000.00 to TRF/PolioPlus!The project is well underway. Additional “challengers” are being sought to add to the $50,000 “treasure chest” already on board the 1931 Model A Ford Victoria. A route to Edmonton has been plotted and members of District 5370 are readying themselves for programs, fireside visits and accommodations for all three visitors: Winston, Lee and Miss Vicky. They will depart October 19th, following Winston’s annual Luncheon for PolioPlus in White Rock, B.C.. The route will once again be daunting for the 94 year old vehicle, which has already nearly circled the globe in its effort to promote awareness and fundraising for Rotary’s 41 year signature project, PolioPlus. With 13 clubs in Edmonton, there will be plenty of opportunity to spread the Miss Vicky story before its Grand Finale on World Polio Day: Glendora Rotary’s High Level Bridge project “Light It Up Purple!"While Winston and Lee fly home to continue their work in district 5050, Miss Vicky will remain in Edmonton to be “campaigned” by District 5370 PolioPlus Champions in further fundraising activities. Winston, Lee and Miss Vicky will reunite in the Spring with plans to present a ceremonial check to DG Isabelle at her District Conference, May 1-3, in Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia. Miss Vicky will then trek northward to repeat the presentation for DG Ramesh’s conference in Whitehorse, the Yukon Territory, May 15-17, 2026. That’s quite a challenge and effort for Miss Vicky and members of both Rotary Districts. "Why do it," you ask? Simple: To prove once again that difficult things are achievable… even once and for all, ridding the world of polio!

Winston Conyers has the honour of presenting a cheque for $109,486 raised by the Lee Harman and Winston Conyers Miss Vicky Challenge campaign 2024/25 to Mike McGowen, Chair of the Global Polioplus Program! 'Chinook Country Line Dancers'' where on hand to entertain at the Polioplus Pancake Breakfast, a large group from Taipei was on hand to promote next year's convention and Past President Anthony Manning and Keith Becker enjoyed the event too.

Miss Vicky Rides Again! Locked inside this 1931 Model A Ford are three, soon to be four, pledges to contribute $25,000.00 to PolioPlus WHEN ROTARIANS RAISE A MATCHING $25,000 toward each one. Simple as that. Mr. Gates further matches each dollar with two of his own. $25 thousand becomes $50k which becomes $150,000. When the next pledge is matched, $50k becomes $100k, which Mr. Gates turns into $300k. With four matched challenge grants, our goal of raising $100k becomes $200k, again matched two for one! That would mean a whopping $600,000,00 toward Rotary's $50 Million annual commitment to PolioPlus.
Thanks to four anonymous PolioPlus donors, we Rotarians have been given the opportunity to once again, rise to the occasion. Your gift to this "challenge grant" is fully tax deductible, moves you toward Major Donor status and comes with matching TRF points to use as you desire. Rise to the challenge! Contribute generously to the 2026 Miss Vicky Challenge for PolioPlus. Let's make this match happen! Thanks to all, Winston and Lee