Polio Survivor a Hero in His Community!

Harold Wochholz knows what it’s like to battle polio. Paralyzed by the disease at age 24, he could only move his hands at first. Now a retired engineer, and mobile in a wheelchair, he speaks to schoolchildren in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, about the disease and what they can do to help eradicate it.

Wochholz, a member of the Rotary Club of Sun Lakes, Arizona, and chair of Rotary District 5510’s PolioPlus Subcommittee, worked with the Chandler public school district to establish PolioPlus as the single fundraiser for the district’s 43 schools during the 2010-11 year. He briefed student council representatives about the program, and approximately 400 students helped raise funds, using PolioPlus collection boxes and classroom presentations on the importance of eradicating the disease. The effort netted more than $23,000 for PolioPlus in support of Rotary’s US$200 Million Challenge.

One school’s fifth and sixth grade classes took on a fundraiser as part of an extra credit project. Wochholz provided 100 copies each of Rotary’s Amazing Stories of Polio! illustrated history of the disease and the September 2010 issue of The Rotarian , which featured coverage of polio survivors, for students’ use in the project.

“The [students] shared in reading those two documents and briefed the other grade levels about polio and their intent to conduct a polio fundraiser at their school’s annual fall picnic,” he says. “They had an excellent awareness of Rotary’s commitment to coordinate the world’s health resources toward polio eradication. I was most pleased with their comments and certainly with the $1,800 they raised.”

World Polio Day is October 24.  Show your support at each and every Rotary meeting or show your support by donating online today!