Purple Pinkie Project spreads awareness of effort to end polio

Presque Isle Rotary Club members Rachel Rice (from left), Matt Bouchard and Jen Deschene, of UMPI's University Credit Union, "paint" the pinkies of Pine Street Elementary School students during the seventh annual Purple Pinkie Project on Wednesday, Feb. 7. The Purple Pinkie Project is hosted by the Presque Isle Rotary Club and UMPI to raise awareness and funds to vaccinate children against polio and eradicate the disease worldwide. (Melissa Lizotte)

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Soon after the first school bells rang at Pine Street Elementary School in Presque Isle on Wednesday, Feb. 7, children in pre-K through grade two lined up excitedly to have their pinkies painted purple and to learn how their participation would help save the lives of numerous children in developing countries in need of a vaccine to prevent polio.

The seventh annual Purple Pinkie Project, presented by the Presque Isle Rotary Club and University of Maine at Presque Isle, visited numerous schools and businesses throughout Aroostook County in an effort to raise awareness to the cause.

The potentially fatal and crippling disease causes paralysis and spreads from person to person, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

Jen Deschene, of UMPI’s University Credit Union, “paints” first-grader Brick McAtee’s pinkie purple as part of the Presque Isle Rotary Club and UMPI’s seventh annual Purple Pinkie Project on Feb. 7. Deschene was one of 20 community volunteers who assisted Presque Isle Rotarians with the project, which aims to raise awareness and funds for the total elimination of polio across the world. (Melissa Lizotte)

“Because polio has no cure, vaccination is the best way to protect people and is the only way to stop the disease from spreading,” the CDC reports on its web site.

The site indicates that the number of polio cases worldwide has dropped from about 350,000 in 1988 to 407 in 2013—a decline of more than 99 percent in reported cases. The U.S. has been polio free since 1979, but three countries — Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan — still are considered at risk, with 22 cases reported last year.

Since 1985, Rotary International has worked in collaboration with the World Health Organization and other groups to eradicate polio through various fundraisers and by making the polio vaccine available to all children in developing countries throughout the world.

Presque Isle Rotary Club began their Purple Pinkie Project events seven years ago after becoming aware of a rotary club in Florida that conducted a similar fundraiser. Participants donate $1 to have a volunteer “paint” their pinkie purple with a marker. The practice is one that rotary club volunteers use when they vaccinate children for polio to prevent double dosages.

“An event like this helps us connect with children in the schools and talk with them about how they’re helping to save a child’s life when they have their pinkie painted,” Rachel Rice, Presque Isle Rotarian and UMPI director of community and media relations, said Wednesday.

Around 40 Rotarians and 20 community volunteers helped put on the Purple Pinkie Project at elementary and high schools in Presque Isle, Mapleton and Easton as well as UMPI, the Houlton Higher Education Center, Northern Maine Community College, Presque Isle Middle School, The Aroostook Medical Center and the Mark and Emily Turner Memorial Library.

Rice helped coordinate the 2018 and past Purple Pinkie Project events. She was at Pine Street Elementary School with several Rotarians, all of whom relished the opportunity to connect local students with the rewards of community service.

“We want to show children that no matter where you are in the world you can make a difference in people’s lives,” Rice said.

Throughout the morning, Pine Street students who had passed in permission forms signed by their parents were allowed to participate in the Purple Pinkie Project. The children were all smiles as they stood in two lines behind the Rotarians’ tables and watched them “paint” their pinkies purple.

All children received a sticker that said, “Ask me why my pinkie is painted purple.” First graders Nevaeh Colon, 7, and Brick McAtee, 6, showed off their newly-painted pinkies and explained why their contributions would help other children in the world.

“I saved a life from polio,” Colon said.

Her classmate McAtee agreed. “It gives children medicine for polio,” he said.

Although the total amount of donations raised from the 2018 Purple Pinkie Project have yet to be announced, last year’s event reached a record of $4,400. Rice said that she and fellow Rotarians are grateful for the continued support from the community as the Purple Pinkie Project has grown from a small college campus event to a County-wide effort to eliminate polio.

“All of us at Rotary consider part of our mission to educate children and the community and it has been really nice to see more folks in the community step up and say, ‘How can I help?’” Rice said.