Rotary Club of Fort Macleod president Jim Monteith presented banners to Ralph Zuke and his driver Kevin. The club also donated $1,000 to Zuke’s fund-raising effort to eliminate polio.
Ralph Zuke attracts his share of attention as he cycles through the countryside, hauling a rickshaw.
And attention is exactly what Zuke wants given his mission to raise awareness of Rotary International’s drive to eradicate polio world-wide.
Zuke stopped in Fort Macleod on his third version of Ralph’s Rickshaw Ride for Polio, heading for the Rotary International Convention in Calgary.
“It’s something people look at, and they just want to know more,” Zuke said.
Zuke seizes those opportunities to give people short rides and talk to them about polio, and Rotary’s efforts to rid the world of the problem.
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a paralyzing and potentially deadly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of five.
The virus spreads from person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can then attack the nervous system.
Rotary has worked for more than 35 years to eradicate polio, with member clubs such as Fort Macleod raising $2.1-billion and volunteering countless hours to protect children.
“It’s an amazing story,” Zuke said.
Zuke, who had lunch with Fort Macleod Rotarians on June 16 at Stockman’s Grill, explained the rickshaw project started in 2017.
Zuke was then about to bgin his year as president of the Fairview Heights Rotary Club in Illinois.
Outgoing club president Richard Erdman asked Zuke what his pet project was going to be for his year as president.
Zuke suggested he would ride his bike to Toronto where the Rotary International Convention was being held, but Erdman said a long-distance bike ride had been done before.
Zuke decided to add a twist by putting a Barcalounger on wheels and haul it to Toronto as a hook to reel people in to educate them about Rotary and its mission to end polio.
Ralph’s Rickshaw Ride for Polio lasted about three weeks.
Then in 2021, Zuke resurrected the ride and headed to Houston.
Since polio persists in a few countries Zuke, who is district governor elect for Rotary District 6060, decided to continue his fund-raising and awareness efforts by cycling to Calgary for this year’s international convention.
Zuke is hauling a brand-new rickshaw that is 80 pounds lighter than the first, and friends drive a support vehicle.
Zuke told the Fort Macleod Rotarians he has experienced every kind of weather along hs trip from St. Louis.
One of the benefits of a cycling trip, he said, is that the slow progress provides time to look at his surroundings.
“You get to see it all,” Zuke said. “You get to see things you never see from afar.”
Things like a 30-foot steel palm tree in Wyoming, which Zuke speculates is there to attract other palm trees.
Another benefit is meeting people along the way as he stops for breaks or to overnight.
“You end up giving people rides in the rickshaw,” Zuke said, adding that experience never fails to draw a smile from the rider.
Rotary Clubs host Zuke along the way, arranging accommodations and usually having him speak to the members.
The Fort Macleod club made a $1,000 donation to the cause, which will be matched two to one by The Gates Foundation.
Anyone interested in making a donation can do so at endpolio.org. Full protection costs about $3 per child.
It is Zuke’s hope that polio will at last be eradicated, and this will be his last ride.
“It has really been an amazing adventure,” Zuke said.
