On September 21, Transforming President (TP) Guia Lopez de Leon of the Rotary Club of San Pedro South (RCSPS) joined the “Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio 2020”
Initiated by the Department of Health (Philippines) (DOH), World Health Organization (WHO), and United Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the “Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio” is a campaign to combat the poliovirus outbreak in the Philippines. Polio is highly infectious, but a vaccine-preventable disease.
TP Guia was just asked by the Knights of Columbus of the Santo Nino de Cebu Niño Emmanuel Council No.12041, via personal message in Facebook, to join the volunteers of Barangay San Francisco Health Officers and Juana Homeowners Officers.
As a Rotarian, she immediately and joyfully responded. And together with District Interact Representative Jazel Espino Jovenes and Transforming President Jiro Pineda Lizarda of the INTERACT CLUB ADELINA 1 NHS, they went to the Juana 6 Basketball Court, Binan to assist.
Aside from taking part in the giving of oral vaccines, the RC San Pedro South team also gave boxes of Vitamin C, Iron and Calcium supplements per family. More than 100 families came as beneficiaries.
The Vitamin C tablets were given by District Governor Renato Sarmiento Atienza and Alagang Kalusugan Founder Yhet Basas Abelgas; the Iron supplements were provided by TP Eva Beltran of the Rotary Club of Lipa South R.I. District 3820; and the numerous Calcium boxes were supported by San Pedro City Vice Mayor Art Mercado and Serbisyong May Puso Founder Bernard Herrera.
Meanwhile, TP Guia was so elated to meet new faces of health heroes. She had a new set of friends, a cheerful bunch, while rendering true service above self. By the way, TP Guia was able to treat those who volunteered with burger meals and masks.
To sum it up, everybody was just so happy to serve. Mr. Ramon Penalosa even asked TP Guia to always have joint projects with the Knights of Columbus. In his own words, “Kung kailangan ninyo ng katulong lalo na po kung para sa community, mag-joint projects po tayo palagi.” (If you need help especially for the community, let’s always have joint projects.)
WHO and UNICEF are among the partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a public-private partnership led by national governments. Other GPEI partners are the Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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