The Yvette M. Palmer Purple Pinkie 5K Run and Fun Walk took place Oct. 24 at Lehigh Carbon Community College, Schnecksville, to benefit worldwide polio eradication.

About 90 runners and walkers participated on what was a beautiful, sunny morning.

This was the first Purple Pinkie planned and implemented by the Allentown West Rotary Club and several other Rotary volunteers.

There were 15 Rotary club partners and seven corporate sponsors for the event.

The winner of the race was Lisa Miller who finished in a time of 19:58.

There was plenty of food and a fun time for all who participated. Every dollar raised was matched by $2 from the Gates Foundation.

Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal disease that still threatens children in parts of the world.

Fortunately, although incurable, polio is easy to prevent. Through one of the world’s biggest immunization programs, polio has been 99 percent eradicated.

Now, Rotary is in the last push to destroy the disease for good.

The race is named Purple Pinkie because, as a bribe to get children to line up for their vaccine drops, many times bits of candy and small toys were given to them.

But when the same faces appeared in line again, they began marking the pinkies of each child with a purple dye. That is still done today.

Immediately following the race, several Interact clubs from different high schools met for a roundup to share ideas on how to build and improve their clubs.

Rotary looks forward to continuing the tradition in future years.