A Lacombe native opera singer is set to perform a charity fundraising concert in Red Deer tonight.

Anna Maria Kaufmann will be singing at the CrossRoads Church, held by the Lacombe Rotary Daybreak Club in an effort to raise money for polio.

Member Dave Jardine says, for decades their number one mission has been to eradicate polio worldwide “right now they are down to 3 countries basically where it’s left and those are countries in the middle east that are very hard to get to and people take their lives into their own hands just going to vaccinate children with polio or ones trying to prevent it”.

Kaufmann says she looks forward to singing in front of a home crowd “this a full circle as I as a child received a polio vaccination and I still have a mark on my arm from that, a small little mark.  Anyway, now I am fine and I can remember not knowing that the Rotary are behind this.  It’s really tremendous what they have done this Rotary Club and I am happy to support it with our concert”.

Jardine adds the concert starts at 7:30 and tickets can be purchased at the door for $65 with all proceeds being matched by Bill Gates.

According to the World Health Organization, polio invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours.