The funds raised seem to diminish year on year... I suspect the fact that a) younger people no longer carry cash, and b) have never come anywhere near a Polio affected human being and thus it wouldn't even register on their radar. But still, it was a very happy experience to see a little toddler grabbing the gold coin from his mum to put it into the bucket with a shy smile... But it isn't just the funds raised, the public awareness factor is just as important. Even people who certainly have seen Polio in the past seem to be astonished that it still exists. We heard a very elegant elderly lady exclaim "... but I thought Polio had been finished ages ago!" She proudly announced that she was immunized in the late 50's, whilst being stationed with her Navy husband on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.
We manned the station for three days from Wednesday to Friday last week. A big thank you to the volunteers: Organizer Gerald East (6 sessions), Geoff Croad (5), John Chirio (3), Franz Huber (3), Larry Murray, Andy Bell, Karen Holland, Darrell Brown, Paul Seymour (1 session each).
I also believe, there were less people through the doors of the centre, "Real" shopping has a lot of opposition these days. The older generation still shop and use cash, and some are most generous. This had a bearing on us doing Wednesday instead of Saturday. Takings this year were Wednesday $195-70, Thursday $257.50, Friday $265.80 making a total of $719.00 or $15.00 per man hour spent. However, there is a very bright side to this. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation match this $2 for $1 making our total in real terms $2157.00 or $45.00 per hour
Photo: Geoff Croad (left) and John Chirio (right) with one of the many generous elderly ladies who donated not just once on Wednesday, but came again on Thursday! 