In a joint resolution, the Massachusetts General Court recognized and praised Rotary International for their work on the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and recognized October 24th, 2012 as "Purple Pinkie Day" in the Commonwealth. In the joint resolution, the Senate and House praised Rotary and its global partners including the World Health Organizations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, noting the substantial financial and volunteer contributions made by Rotary to eliminate this disease. "More than 2.5 billion children have received the oral polio vaccine from Rotary International and its Global Partners, preventing an estimated 8 million cases of paralysis and hundreds of thousands of pediatric deaths," the resolutions states.

In addition, His Excellency Deval L. Patrick, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, issued a proclamation from the Executive Chambers of the Statehouse, noting the important and lifesaving contributions made by Rotary International and its Global Partners on this important initiative. "Because there is no cure for polio, the best protection is prevention through vaccination," the Governor's Proclamation read, and further states, "To date, Rotary has exceeded $1.2billion and provided countless volunteers hours to the protection of more than two billion children in 122 countries, reducing the number of polio cases worldwide by 99%..."

The Joint Resolution of the House and Senate was offered to recognize the efforts of all the Rotarians working in each District of the Commonwealth on the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and to provide additional public awareness of the importance of the project. Senator Jennifer Flanagan and Representative Richard Bastien were the sponsors of this Resolution.

A copy of the original Resolutions may be found in the download section of this website.