ST. GEORGE — Three members of the St. George Rotary Club voluntarily jumped out of an airplane last Saturday, and it was for a good cause.
Dale Desmond, Dave Prisbrey and former Rotarian president Ken Sizemore all took part in the bucket list moment, parachuting out of a plane from 14,000 feet above the Hurricane Municipal Airport.
Desmond, a two-time former Rotary Club president, originally came up with the idea as a way to draw attention to Rotary International’s nearly 40-year effort to eradicate polio from the earth.
The idea occurred to Desmond on Oct. 24, 2022, World Polio Day. But circumstances delayed his flight for almost the next two years.
The actual moment arrived last Saturday after Prisbrey, who will be named as St. George Rotary Club’s 94th president on July 1, decided to make the jump along with Desmond.
The trio was completed by Sizemore, who celebrated his 70th birthday on the occasion.
“Their family members were not as enthusiastic about their husband or father’s choice to jump out of an airplane,” Linda Sappington, a former Utah Rotary Governor and District Public Image Chair, said in a press release.
“But these three Rotarians showed up at SkyDive Zion on time and ready to suit up,” she added.
According to the press release, in the mid-1950s, polio was the most feared disease in the world when more than 350,000 cases – mostly children ages newborn to 5 years of age – were diagnosed every year.
But, due to the Salk and Sabin vaccines, the United States was declared polio-free in 1979, Central and South America in 1994, and in 2019, the entire continent of Africa was designated as free from this threat to its children.
Since 1985, when Rotary International introduced the PolioPlus Program – the world’s first initiative to tackle polio by vaccinating children on a massive scale – there has been a 99.5% decline in new cases.
But the virus which causes polio still exists, as exemplified by the 11 cases (5 in Pakistan and 6 in Afghanistan) in the world in 2024, including 1 death in Afghanistan. Rotarians and health professionals everywhere know this fight isn’t over till it’s over.
Even after skydivers Desmond, Prisbrey and Sizemore landed safely but exhilarated last Saturday morning, they know there is still work to be done and money to be raised.
The information for this report came from a press release written by Linda Sappington. She encourages anyone who wants to get involved with Washington County’s five Rotary Clubs to call 435-669-8020.
Photo Gallery
St. George Rotarian Ken Sizemore (right) gets geared up for the Polio Plunge, Hurricane, Utah, June 22, 2024 | Photo courtesy Linda Sappington for St. George News
L-R: St. George Rotarians Dave Prisbrey, Dale Desmond and Ken Sizemore before they took the Polio Plunge, Hurricane, Utah, June 22, 2024 | Photo courtesy Linda Sappington for St. George News
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