Rotary projects around the globe – October 2026
Learn how Rotary clubs are taking action in Bolivia, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, Italy, and Australia.
by Brad Webber
7 Oct 2026Rotary members come together each World Polio Day on 24 October to recognize progress in the fight to end the disease. Here are some of the ways members are taking action to make history and eradicate polio. Register your club’s participation for a chance to see it featured in Rotary magazine next year.
Bolivia
The Rotaract Club of La Paz, in collaboration with local Interactors, hosted Paws Against Polio, a lively community fair and dog show dedicated to raising funds and awareness for polio eradication. Visitors enjoyed educational carnival-style games about polio eradication, a bake sale, a dog adoption booth in partnership with a local animal shelter, and raffle drawings that awarded Rotaract merchandise and souvenirs. “The highlight was the dog parade,” says Cristhofer Mamani Quispe, the club’s president, “where registered furry participants competed for prizes — including veterinary consultations and dog-friendly cakes — for the cutest outfits and best tricks.” Throughout the day, volunteers shared information about Rotary’s global efforts to eradicate polio and encouraged attendees to support the campaign.
Canada
In an attention-grabbing effort to introduce new members to Rotary’s polio push, the Rotary Club of Southampton, Ontario, scheduled a dinner packed with purple. A club member concocted a menu that included meatballs in grape jelly sauce, red cabbage, roasted beet and carrot salad, purple sweet potato, and blueberry crumble, with grape punch to wash it down. “We have many new members and we wanted a fun way to introduce them to the campaign,” says Susan Macdonald, a past club president. The club showed a video on the history of PolioPlus, and a member spoke about her polio vaccination service trip. Many of the roughly 60 attendees dressed in purple. “I was blown away by the dedication and commitment to this project,” says Jim Stark, a new member.
2017
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Cases of polio in Canada in 1953 during the disease’s peakLoading component...
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Record price for a car sold at auction
Australia
For the first three weeks of December, the Rotary Club of Darwin Sunrise sells tinned Christmas cakes to raise money for the End Polio Now campaign. The sales have been an annual effort since the club was chartered nearly 40 years ago. The club fulfills orders from local businesses, civic organizations, and the Northern Territory government, which since 2020 has purchased the cakes as gifts for older adults living in public housing. Club members set up their booth outside a local gourmet shop in a market district of the city, attempting to tap into the shop’s customer base. “Maybe that group of people nearing our table will stop and buy a Christmas cake. No, they’re on the way to Parap Fine Foods, never mind,” says club member Brian Devlin. “There is always the next person. We always do well for PolioPlus.”
This story originally appeared in the October 2026 issue of Rotary magazine.
