Nancy Edmonds Hanson

When F-M Rotarians wrap up their 2024 Recital with a Cause, they’ll achieve a goal almost unimaginable a decade ago: By showcasing the talents of the area’s teen-age virtuosos over more than a
dozen years, they will have generated in excess of $800,000 for the children of the world.

The event’s name tells the whole story. On April 11, seven of the region’s leading high-school classical instrumentalists will be in the spotlight at First Lutheran Church – the “recital” in the name. An equally important mission, though, will be present just off the stage – Rotary International’s Polio Plus, the 36-year-old project of Rotary International that has nearly wiped poliomyelitis from the face of the earth.

The concert, which spotlights award-winning high school instrumentalists from across the area, takes place at 7 p.m. It’s free and open to the public.

Since 1985 Rotary International has been working to eradicate the crippling disease of Polio. Thanks to Jonas Salk and polio vaccines, the United States saw its last case of polio in 1979. But around the world in the 1980s, polio paralyzed 1,000 children every day. Today that number has fallen 99.99%, and the wild polio virus is nearly eliminated.

Rotary was the first organization to push for a polio-free world. For the past 38 years Rotarians have played a major role in fund-raising, on-site vaccinations, and international advocacy efforts. In 2021 only two countries reported new cases of polio: one in Pakistan and four in Afghanistan. So far in 2024, there have been none. Nevertheless, with a growing population, it is necessary to continue to vaccinate close to 40,000,000 children each year.

In April, the Fargo concert audience will include members of the world’s original service club from throughout the Upper Midwest, here to attend their annual district conference. In addition to financial contributions from the five local clubs, many of the others – arrayed from Nipigon, Ontario, on the apex of Lake Superior to the western border of North Dakota – have also pitched in to reach District 5580’s goal of $100,000 to support the global project.

John Andreasen of Moorhead came up with the idea in 2010. “I was in the shower, where some of my best ideas occur to me,” the Lutheran minister confides. As president of Moorhead Rotary at the time, he had heard the international service club’s call to step up their support of the polio campaign. The organization was winning, but needed more support to carry the Salk vaccine to every corner of the planet.

Andreasen was uniquely qualified to blend the interests of young virtuosos with support for Polio Plus. His daughter, Karin Andreasen Gambell, had found her passion for the violin at the age of three, inspired by an appearance of polio survivor Itzhak Perlman on “Sesame Street.” He recognized the challenges faced by families of young players, from lessons and travel to the sky-high cost of professional-quality instruments, and longed for a larger stage where others could appreciate their talents.

He brought the idea to the five local Rotary clubs – Fargo Downtown, West and AM clubs, along with their Moorhead counterpart. (A fifth club, FM PM Rotary, has since formed and joined the group.) Working with the F-M Symphony Orchestra and Fargo- Moorhead Area Youth Symphonies, they put together a program of half a dozen musicians, many of them winners of the FMSO’s Young Artists Solo Competition.

Representatives of the five clubs work together to plan the annual event. The foundation was laid by Andreasen, Gary Nolte, Sam Wai and Russ Hanson This year’s team, along with John, includes Ken Retzer, Tom Riley, Mark Hulbert and Mary Gessele, along with other volunteers.

That first concert generated $8,000 from donations and ticket sales, netting $6,000 for the polio campaign. It continued to grow for the next 10 years, skipping over the pandemic years. In 2023, the total reached $47,160, with $38,500 earmarked for Polio Plus and $5,000 divided between the two youth symphony programs. In total, local recitals have raised $262,000 – $196,000 for Polio Plus and $39,000 for the musical organizations after expenses.

So how have those local fundraising efforts reached into the high six figures? All Rotary support is tripled by a two-to-one match by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which joined the Rotary International polio initiative shortly after its inception. Together, the FM Rotary project has provided full immunity to 564,000 children and prevented 11,280 of them from suffering moderate to severe effects from the disease.

And the partnership between the service organization and the Gates Foundation, along with the World Health Organization, has changed the global picture. In 1988, when they began, 350,000 cases of the three polio strains were reported around the planet. In 2021, there were just five, limited to Pakistan and Afghanistan. (Last year, a few cases also unexpectedly popped up in the United Kingdom and U.S.)

Two of the three wild polio strains have been eradicated so far. World health agencies declared the Type 3 pathogen extinct in 2019; Type 2 had been wiped out by 2015. That can be said of only one other disease in human history – smallpox.

But Andreasen points out the battle is not yet won. “We have to continue vaccinations to insure the remaining virus doesn’t make a comeback,” he points out. “And Rotary’s efforts have had so much impact beyond giving vaccine. The same teams help prevent other diseases through things like distributing malaria nets and providing other medical vaccines. Polio Plus has created jobs, improved health care – especially in the Third World — and supported clean water.” That’s critical because the polio virus is spread through water.

“We can look forward to a day when polio will be remembered only in textbooks, and when every
child will thrive in a polio-free world,” he suggests. That’s beautiful music to Rotarians’ ears.

For more information on the Recital with a Cause and to donate, go to www.FMRotaryFoundation.
org.