The Traveling Trunk Project is an educational component of the group's mission: a resource trunk with hands-on activities targeting students at about the 5th grade level. The project's goal is to help students recognize the fears, isolation, and life-changing effects of polio. Students will discover the importance of immunizations and that polio is not a dead disease (it still exists in the world). The trunk is available for use in public or private school settings and contains appropriate curriculum that accompanies the trunk and activities.

Funding for the trunk was provided by a grant from the Rice County Community Health Foundation.  It will be available to 5th grade classes of Rice County beginning in the fall of 2010. Members of our polio support group will be available to share their own experiences with the students.  Our hope is to receive funding through a grant and/or donations with Reno County connections to provide a similar educational trunk for the schools of Reno County.

The resource trunk is a companion to the book Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio by well-known children's author Peg Kehret. It is her personal story of having polio in the 1950's at age thirteen. 

Peg Kehret's Personal Web Page: www.pegkehret.com