The 10th annual 2020 Yvette M. Palmer Purple Pinkie Race to ZERO was a success! We are very thankful to all Rotary District 7430 Rotarians, their family, friends, contacts and donors as well as our corporate and club sponsors and the district leadership including the district Polio Plus Purple Pinkie Committee. Over $42,000 has been raised to date!
This year we had planned a race with different options including running, walking, cycling and after an Oktoberfest celebration. Unfortunately due to the pandemic we were unable to meet in this manner this year.
When we realized we wouldn’t be able to have a traditional race. The committee met and considered when the race would happen, what would be permitted with the rules in place and would we be able to come together at all? Facing uncertainty in the in person race we opted for a Virtual race.
For the 2020 virtual race we had over 106 virtual participants with over 18 family teams! In addition we had 47 club or community teams and 34 club sponsors as well as 186 individual online donations! We had a special celebration with special speakers, pictures of the participants running, walking, cycling, race day prizes and it was on World Polio day! We celebrated our success and hear story’s of our impact! The recording is available on Facebook and YouTube.
As of today we raise over $42,000 for Polio! More importantly we raise awareness in our District for Polio, we did this with Carol Ferguson’s talks over many different clubs and our virtual presentations about why to sponsor and be a part of the Purple Pinkie. As well as social media, email messaging and custom logo wear including a special Race to Zero Face Mask.
The 2020 Virtual Purple Pinkie Race to Zero will go down in history as a really special year in the races history. Looking forward to seeing you out running, waking, cycling, swimming or rolling! See you next year at our 11th annual race!
John Scott
Allentown West Rotary Club
Race Director