Purple Pinkie Project Gets Thumbs Up

The University of Maine at Presque Isle and the Presque Isle Rotary Club have given their 8th Annual Purple Pinkie Project a big success.

With the help of the Rotary Clubs in Caribou, Fort Fairfield, Limestone, Mars Hill, and Washburn, nearly $3,000 was raised to go toward Rotary International’s efforts to eradicate polio worldwide. The Purple Pinkie Project was held on World Polio Day.

Various PPP activities helped area Rotary Clubs increase awareness for Rotary International’s worldwide fight to end polio and to raise funding, $1 at a time, to ensure that thousands of children receive their polio immunizations. The estimated cost to immunize one child from polio is $1, and when each child gets immunized, Rotarians mark their pinkies with purple ink to prevent double dosages. Rotarians across central Aroostook County wore purple polo “polio” shirts on World Polio Day, October 24, to spread awareness of Rotary’s End Polio Now efforts.

The first annual World Polio Day and Purple Pinkie Project event, held in October 2012, saw an estimated 1,000 people in the community participate and initially raised $1,250. An anonymous donation of $1,000, however, pushed the fundraising total to well above $2,000. Last year’s event raised nearly $3,000 and saw an even greater number of community members participate. In total since 2012, the efforts have raised more than $22,600.