Joining Rotary
What's it all about?
Rotary is short for Rotary
International - a worldwide association of local clubs
for men and women in business or the professions
who
provide humanitarian
service to the community at local, national and
international level
encourage high ethical
standards in all vocations
work for goodwill and peace
in the world
Rotary was founded in 1905 and now has
1.18 million members in more than 28,000 clubs in 155
countries and 35 geographical regions. There are 1,834
clubs in Great Britain and
Ireland with over 59,000
members.
Each club operates independently within
a common constitution. Membership is drawn from the
business and professional community. To ensure the club
represents the community there are limitations on
membership from each profession or type of business. But
Clubs are always pleased to hear from those interested in
joining them.
Clubs meet weekly for breakfast, lunch
or dinner. Business often includes a talk on a subject of
general interest by an outside
speaker.
Every Rotarian has the right to attend
the meeting of any other club and Rotarians may invite
non-Rotarian guests to their own club meetings.
Weekly meetings promote acquaintance
and fellowship. Through this fellowship Rotarians find
the inspiration to serve the community.
Service to the community requires
Rotarians to devote their time, energy and professional
skills to particular projects. Although funds are often
raised for charity this is not a Rotary club's first aim.
The emphasis is on service by each individual Rotarian.
Community service is the traditional
and well-known face of Rotary. It covers help and advice
to the aged, the handicapped, the infirm, young people
and all those in need, either directly or through local
charitable organisations. Environmental projects are part
of community service.
As jobs are key elements in determining
Rotary membership, vocational service draws on the
ethical standards, experience and expertise that
Rotarians apply in their work.
Vocational projects support training
and job development, provide mock interviews, encourage
the development of skills in employment and foster the
highest standards in business and the professions.
International service promotes
worldwide goodwill. It includes emergency boxes, eye
camps, vocational training schools, text books, tools,
water filtration units and many other items for areas of
need. Rotarians of different race, creed and custom, when
brought together in fellowship, play an important part in
breaking down prejudice and developing true international
understanding. Many Rotarians volunteer their free time
to projects in third world countries to bridge the gap of
world understanding.
More about Rotary
The Rotary Foundation, Rotary's
corporate charity, is dedicated to furthering
international understanding, goodwill and peace. The
Foundation administers many programmes to aid the needy
and deserving. One of these programmes is the 3-H fund
which seeks to alleviate problems of the disadvantaged
throughout the world under the headings of Health, Hunger
and Humanity. The projects supported under this programme
are usually beyond the capability of a single club or
group of clubs to support.
The Foundation's most ambitious project
so far has been PolioPlus, a campaign to help the World
Health Organisation and UNICEF immunise the world's
children against polio, measles, diphtheria, whooping
cough, tetanus and tuberculosis. PolioPlus raised over
$400 million of which Rotary clubs in Great Britain and
Ireland contributed £8 million.The fund also provides
grants, educational scholarships and opportunities for
young people, but not Rotarians or their close relatives,
to visit and study in other
countries.
Rotary Intenational has created for
young people two organisations dedicated to service and
international understanding. Though closely associated
with Rotary, their clubs are independant and
self-governing.
Interact, a combination of the words
international and action, is for young people between 14
and 18. Rotaract, a contraction of 'Rotary' and 'action'
is for men and women between 18 and 30.These clubs serve
the community. Through fellowship they run a range of
local, national and international service projects with
the energy and enthusiasm of
youth.
Rotary International in Great Britain
and Ireland (RIBI), with its own governing body and
constitution, is a territorial unit of Rotary
International, the association of Rotary clubs worldwide.
It administers 29 Rotary districts in England, Scotland,
Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The
Rotary ideal of fellowship and international
understanding is exemplified by the fact that a single
Rotary district covers the whole of Ireland. This
district, with its single organisation is a working model
of the Rotary spirit in
action.
Rotary, the magazine of Rotary
International in Great Britain and Ireland, is one of
several regional journals published around the world in
various languages. It carries articles and news about
Rotary, written by Rotarians for Rotarians. A copy is
sent to each of the 60,000 Rotarians in Great Britain and
Ireland and to many overseas subscribers. It is available
from RIBI, Kinwarton Road, Alcester, Warwickshire, B49
6PB.
Rotary is the oldest magazine serving
the association after The Rotarian, the magazine of
Rotary International, having been published continually
since 1915.
And that's Rotary in brief. So please
contact
us now to find out more about the organisation
in your area.
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