About Rotary
Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders united
worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical
standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the
world. In more than 160 countries worldwide, approximately 1.3 million
Rotarians belong to more than 30,000 Rotary clubs.
Rotary club membership
represents a
cross-section of the community's business and professional
men and women. The world's Rotary clubs meet weekly and are
nonpolitical, nonreligious, and open to all cultures, races, and creeds.
The main objective of Rotary is service — in the community, in the
workplace, and throughout the world. Rotarians develop community service
projects that address many of today's most critical issues, such as
children at risk, poverty and hunger, the environment, illiteracy, and
violence. They also support programs for youth, educational
opportunities and international exchanges for students, teachers, and
other professionals, and vocational and career development. The Rotary
motto is Service Above Self.
Although Rotary clubs develop autonomous service programs, all
Rotarians worldwide have been united in a campaign for the global eradication
of polio. In the 1980s, Rotarians raised US$240 million to immunize all the
at-risk children of the world by 2005, Rotary's centenary year, and the target
date for the certification of a polio-free world. This program has
saved an estimated 500,000 children per year from the disease. The
follow-on PolioPlus
program in combination with the governmental and non-governmental
organizations that it stimulated into action has raised over $1.5
Billion to "mop-up" the remaining areas of infection.
Rotary through the PolioPlus program continues to provide an army of volunteers to promote and assist at
national immunization days in polio-endemic countries around the world.
The Rotary
Foundation of Rotary International is a not-for-profit corporation
that promotes world understanding through international humanitarian
service programs and educational and cultural exchanges. It is supported
solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and others who share
its vision of a better world. Since 1947, the Foundation has awarded
more than US$1.1 billion in humanitarian and educational grants, which
are initiated and administered by local Rotary clubs and districts.
Why should I consider joining a Rotary Club?
Each person considering becoming a Rotarian has their own
specific reasons and goals, among them are: Friendship,
Business, Ethics, and Social Skill Development, Personal Growth,
Leadership, Citizenship, Education, Fun Public Speaking, Travel,
Entertainment, Family, Cultural Awareness, Prestige and
World Peace through Good Deeds.
Can
You Meet The 4 Way Test, The Promise of Rotary?
