Help Polio Near the Finish Line - Join the Race of the Runways Feb. 27, 2016

PALM COAST, Fla. - Jan. 24, 2016 - PRLog -- The Rotary Club of Flagler Beach, the Flagler County Airport and Realty Exchange 445-DAVE will be hosting the Race of the Runways at the Flagler County Airport, Saturday, February 27, 2016, 8:30am, to continue to further their goal of Polio eradication.

They said it couldn’t be done. But the program that was launched in 1985 has worked. Rotary, along with their global partners, have reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent worldwide since the first initiative to immunize children from this disease. It started when Rotary lead a program with UNICEF to vaccinate 6M children in the Philippines in 1979. At the time, the Philippines had the highest caseload of Polio victims in the Western Pacific, with the disease paralyzing 350k children a year in more than 120 counties. In 1985, the Rotary and UNICEF created the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. With the Rotary spearheading the project, it has become the most successful public private partnership on record. Rotary has invested $1.5 billion to the eradication of Polio worldwide. In October, 2015 on World Polio Day, Rotary committed to contribute an additional $40M to UNICEF and the World Health Organization so every last child can be reached. We are closely approaching a world where no child has to suffer from this completely preventable disease again, wiping Polio from the face of the planet.

Events like Race of the Runways help further the mission to immunize children around the globe. The ‘Run to End Polio’ is part of the Palm Coast Race Series with a 5k run event for adults and a youth 5k timed event, sponsored by Florida Hospital Flagler (for only $10). The Rotary Club of Flagler Beach is also offering 1 mile, 2 mile and 5K walk options, as well as a Kiddie Dash for youth (1– 9y). Register online at www.flaglerbeachrotary.org.

This event is sponsored by Florida Hospital Flagler, Curley Tail Designs, Alliance Financial Partners, pcBike, Gerling Travel, C&S Engineering, Sun Trust Hammock, and Intracoastal Bank, to name a few.

Participants are being offered a hot breakfast buffet at Highjackers Restaurant with scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausage, bagels, and orange juice for $5.

Runners can pick-up participation packets on February 26, 2016 from 4-6PM at the Airport Administration Building at the Airport across from HighJackers Restaurant. Day of event registration begins at 7:00 AM at the Airport with a suggested donation of $30 for 5K runners ($25 online registration), couples are $45, a youth 5k timed event, sponsored by Florida Hospital Flagler (for only $10), all walk events are $20 and Kiddie Dash is FREE. Custom awards will be presented to the top three finishers in the male and female age groups (5yr categories) as well as Best Overall Male and Best Overall Female, Masters Male and Masters Female (over 40). and Grand Masters Male and Grand Masters Female (over 50). The runner with the best time will be presented withBIB#1 for our next event, along with free registration.

The funds raised from this event help support the Rotary Club of Flagler Beach projects. These include: End Polio Now (world-wide), Scholarships for adults and students, Project Share which provides holiday gifts and monthly food for local families and the sports fields in Bunnell, and the Flagler County Education Foundation.

Contact information for this press release Kim Carney at 386-846-5493 or by email at kcarney123@gmail.com.

About the Rotary Club of Flagler Beach:  The Rotary Club of Flagler Beach was chartered in November 1991 and currently has 32 members and are part of Rotary District 6970.
The membership is a group of local business and community leaders from the fields of business, law, education, real estate, and government; including those who have retired from successful pursuits in these fields. Weekly program speakers typically address a variety of interesting and important topics.