
On November 22, a team of Rotary Club members and Rotary International employees, including The Rotary Club of Naperville / Downtown member Naish Shah, (Positively Naperville Digital Editor Tim Penick will also be riding in the event) will be joining the Rotary International General Secretary John Hewko on a 104-mile bike ride to raise contributions help end Polio around the world. This “Miles To End Polio” initiative of Rotary International will occur during the El Tour De Tucson bike event in Arizona.
The 104 mile charity bike ride is November 22, in Tuscon, Arizona. All donations will be matched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
- $26: BRONZE (25 cents/mile) will be used for 50 posters promoting immunization days
- $52: SILVER (50 cents/mile) will be used for 100 vests for volunteers
- $104: GOLD ($1/mile) will equip 2 volunteers to vaccinate 175 children
Donate by check:
Make checks payable to Rotary Foundation and mail to:
Rotary Club of Naperville Downtown
PO Box 5336
Naperville, IL 60567
Donate Online:
www.rcndowntown.com
Naperville Connects to El Tour de Tucson

Rotary’s Miles to End Polio Bike Ride during El Tour de Tucson has a strong connection to Positively Naperville.
In fact, one of the cyclists, PN Digital Editor Tim Penick will be wearing a team jersey adorned with local connections when he rides the 104-mile perimeter route on Sat., Nov. 22, to see if any Naperville transplants in Arizona spot him among nearly 9,000 cyclists.
Tim is the grandson of Carol Crookston, who survived polio back in the 1950s. Penick’s mother served as a member of the Rotary Club of Naperville for nearly 12 years prior to helping to charter the Rotary Club of Naperville/Downtown in 2007.
Walter Fredenhagen owned the Cock Robin Ice Cream enterprise that began in Naperville. Walter was a charter member of the Rotary Club of Naperville in 1941 as well as the second president of the service organization. Walter’s daughter, Rita Harvard, served as the first woman president of the Rotary Club of Naperville in 1994. John Harvard, Rita’s husband, also is a survivor of polio in the late 1940s, which inspired Rita to embrace the Rotary Polio Plus initiative in 1988 to inoculate all children worldwide to eradicate the crippling disease.
Penick designed his team jersey to reflect and connect Naperville spirit with a desire to ride with the Rotary International staff team to raise awareness about eradicating polio.
If anyone is headed to Tucson for the big event this weekend, look for Penick as he represents Rotary, independent enterprise and Naperville.
He may even have a few copies of Positively Naperville so he can catch someone reading!
—PN
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