Pints for Polio annual event expanding reach, raising funds to help eradicate Polio

In 2020, COVID-19 caused a lot of things to be canceled, among them, the Greater Big Spring Rotary Club’s annual Pints for Polio event. Even this year, the event’s usual March schedule was still a bit close to the height of the pandemic, and the decision was made to move it to Oct. 9.

“This is the fifth annual Pints for Polio,” said Jeff Ward, Pints for Polio committee member with the GBSRC. “It’s going to be at the Howard County Fair Barn this Saturday from 7 to 11 p.m.”

The event serves as a fundraiser both for the local club and for the ongoing battle to eradicate polio worldwide.

“Half the money we raise stays in Big

Spring, in our community,” Ward said. “The other half is donated to the End Polio Now Foundation it’s matched two to one by The Gates Foundation. So if we raise $15,000, that’s $45,000 going to our initiative. So far, in the four years we’ve done Pints for Polio, we’ve been responsible for the equivalent of over 400,000 vaccinations in the money we’ve raised and donated. Now, our donations in relation to the two-to-one match as well. So it’s not just our donations, but it’s our donations plus the match by The Gates Foundation.”

As in previous years, Pints for Polio will feature a beer and wine tasting experience.

“We have over 50 different varieties of beer, ales and ciders,” Ward said. “Eight different varieties of wine, all to sample from. You have two tickets with your price of admission. You’re given two tickets to claim the two beers, or two drinks of your choice, that you want a full glass or a full drink of. You can sample all of the varieties that are there in a one to two ounce sampling. Once you decide which full drinks you want, you get tickets for those drinks.”

In addition to the drinks, the event will feature food trucks, live entertainment as well as games and activities for all in attendance.

“We’ll have The Band Big Spring opening for Mark McKinney performing,” Ward said. “We’ll have a cornhole tournament starting before the event, but when they are done, they’re leaving the cornhole board there for patrons of our event to play cornhole on.”