Hawai'i's 2,000 Rotary Club members have contributed thousands of dollars and taken dozens of trips to developing countries in an attempt to eradicate polio worldwide.

The state's 44 Rotary clubs have worked with the Rotary International and other international agencies to rid the world of the disease. On Wednesday, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced it would donate $255 million to the Rotary International toward this effort.

The international has matched more than half of a $100 million challenge grant that the Gates Foundation donated in 2007 and is being asked to match another $100 million of the new grant.

Linda Coble, past District 5000 governor and member of the Rotary Club of Honolulu, said the state's 44 clubs are each tasked with raising at least $1,000 as part of the challenge. Many, she said, have exceeded their annual goal.

Coble said at least 50 local members have paid their own way to deliver polio vaccines to children in such places as Ethiopia, India and Nigeria. She said a trip can cost $3,000, and that doesn't include the time away from a job.

"We've been going overseas since 2000 to do our best to get the vaccine to the kids, to stomp through the neighborhoods, to alert folks that we're coming with the vaccine," Coble said.

Polio is a water-borne disease that can cause paralysis and sometimes death. It mostly strikes children under age 5.

Polio has dropped by more than 99 percent since the World Health Organization and partners such as the Rotary International launched their initiative to eradicate the disease in 1988. But the numbers of cases — fewer than 2,000 annually — has remained virtually constant since 2000.

Coble said the worldwide effort to eradicate polio is "remarkable."

"I'm so proud of Hawai'i, because they have been involved in this eradication effort since its beginning and have contributed with resources since 2000 (and) with their time," she said.

Anyone interested in donating to the fund can visit www.rotary.org/endpolio.