Rotary also later embraced a code of ethics, called The 4-Way Test, that has been translated into hundreds of languages. Usually such invocations are offered without reference to specific religious denominations or faiths. Rotary policy recognizes that throughout the world Rotarians represent many religious beliefs, ideas and creeds. The religious beliefs of each member are fully respected, and nothing in Rotary is intended to prevent each individual from being faithful to such convictions.
At international assemblies and conventions, it is traditional for a silent invocation to be given. In respect for all religious beliefs and in the spirit of tolerance for a wide variety of personal faiths, all persons are invited to seek divine guidance and peace "each in his own way. Usually all Rotary International board and committee meetings begin with a few moments of silent meditation. In this period of silence, Rotary demonstrates respect for the beliefs of all members who represent the religions of the world.
Since each Rotary club is autonomous, the practice of presenting a prayer or invocation at club meetings is left entirely to the traditions and customs of the individual club, with the understanding that these meeting rituals always be conducted in a manner which will respect the religious convictions and faiths of all members and visitors. Once a week the opportunity for Rotary fellowship occurs at each club meeting, but not all members hear it knocking. The weekly club meeting is a special privilege of Rotary membership.
It provides the occasion to visit with fellow members, to meet visitors you have not known before, and to share your personal friendship with other members. Rotary clubs which have a reputation of being "friendly clubs" usually follow a few simple steps: First, members are encouraged to sit in a different seat or at a different table each week.
Second, Rotarians are urged to sit with a member they may not know as well as their long-time personal friends. Third, members invite new members or visitors to join their table just by saying: "Come join us, we have an empty chair at this table. Fifth, Rotarians make a special point of trying to get acquainted with all members of the club by seeking out those they may not know. When Rotarians follow these five easy steps, an entirely new oppor1tunity for fellowship knocks each week.
Soon Rotarians realize that warm and personal friendship is the cornerstone of every great Rotary club. This type of membership is the highest distinction a Rotary club can confer and is exercised only in exceptional cases to recognize an individual for unusual service and contributions to Rotary and society.
Honorary members cannot propose new members to the club, do not hold office and are exempt from attendance requirements and club dues. Truly, those selected for honorary membership are those who have done much to further the ideals of Rotary. The district governors, who have been extensively trained at the worldwide International Assembly, provide the "quality control" for the 27, Rotary clubs of the world. They are responsible for maintaining high performance within the clubs of their district.
The district governor, who must make an official visit to each club in the district, is never regarded as an "inspector general. The governor has a wealth of knowledge about current Rotary programs, purposes, policies and goals and is a person of recognized high standing in his or her profession, community and Rotary club. The governor must supervise the organization of new clubs and strengthen existing ones. He or she performs a host of specific duties to assure that the quality of Rotary does not falter in the district, and is responsible to promote and implement all programs and activities of the Rotary International president and the RI Board of Directors.
The governor plans and directs a district conference and other special events. The annual district assembly is the major leadership training event in each Rotary district of the world.
The district assembly offers motivation, inspiration, Rotary information and new ideas for club officers, directors and key committee chairmen of each club. Some of the most experienced district leaders conduct informative discussions on all phases of Rotary administration and service projects.
The assembly gives all participants valuable new ideas to make their club more effective and interesting. Usually eight to ten delegates from each club are invited to attend the training session.
Another important feature of a district assembly is a review by the incoming district governor of the program theme and emphasis of the new RI president for the coming year. District goals and objects are also described and plans are developed for their implementation. The success of each Rotary club is frequently determined by the club's full representation and participation in the annual district assembly. They have not experienced one of the most enjoyable and rewarding privileges of Rotary membership.
A district conference is for all club members and their spouses, not just for club officers and committee members. The purpose of a district conference is for fellowship, good fun, inspirational speakers and discussion of matters which make one's Rotary membership more meaningful. Every person who attends a district conference finds that being a Rotarian becomes even more rewarding because of the new experiences, insights and acquaintances developed at the conference.
Those who attend a conference enjoy going back, year after year. Every one of Rotary's more than districts has a conference annually. These meetings are considered so important that the Rotary International president selects a knowledgeable Rotarian as his personal representative to attend and address each conference.
The program always includes several outstanding entertainment features, interesting discussions and inspirational programs. One of the unexpected benefits of attending a district conference is the opportunity to become better acquainted with members of one's own club in an informal setting.
Lasting friendships grow from the fellowship hours at the district conference. It began in with the Rotary Club of Nice, France. Since then the program has expanded around the world. In recent years more than 7, young people have participated annually in Rotary-sponsored exchange programs.
The values of Youth Exchange are experienced not only by the high school-age students involved but also by the host families, sponsoring clubs, receiving high schools and the entire community Youth Exchange participants usually provide their fellow students in their host schools with excellent opportunities to learn about customs, languages, traditions and family life in another country.
Youth Exchange offers young people interesting opportunities and rich experiences to see another part of the world. Students usually spend a full academic year abroad, although some clubs and districts sponsor short term exchanges of several weeks or months.
Approximately 36 percent of Rotary Youth Exchange students are hosted or sent by the clubs in the United States and Canada. European countries account for about 40 percent, and 12 percent come from Australia and New Zealand.
Asian clubs sponsor 5 percent, and 7 percent come from Latin American countries. Over 70 percent of all Rotary districts participate in Youth Exchange activities. Youth Exchange is a highly recommended program for all Rotary clubs as a practical activity for the enhancement of international understanding and goodwill. Serving young people has long been an important part of the Rotary program. Youth service projects take many forms around the world. Rotarians sponsor Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, athletic teams, handicapped children's centers, school safety patrols, summer camps, recreation areas, safe driving clinics, county fairs, child care centers and children's hospitals.
Many clubs provide vocational counseling, establish youth employment program and promote use of The 4 -Way Test. Increasingly, drug and alcohol abuse prevention projects are being supported by Rotarians.
In every instance, Rotarians have an opportunity to be role model for the young men and women of their community. One learns to serve by observing others. As our youth grow to become adult leaders, it is hoped each will achieve that same desire and spirit to serve future generations of children and youth.
The slogan accepted over 40 years ago is just as vital today. It is a very thoughtful challenge, "Every Rotarian an Example to Youth. Typically the aid goes to a developing community where the Rotary project will help raise the standard of living and the quality of life.
The ultimate object of World Community Service is to build goodwill and understanding among peoples of the world. One important way to find a club in some other part of the world which needs help on a worthy project is to use the WCS Projects Exchange, a list of dozens of worthy activities in developing areas.
The exchange list is maintained in the RI Secretariat in Evanston and is readily available upon request. It outlines projects, provides estimated costs and gives names of the appropriate contacts. Clubs which need assistance, or are seeking another club to help with a humanitarian project, such as building a clinic, school, hospital, community water well, library or other beneficial activity, may register their needs. Clubs seeking a desirable World Community Service project may easily review the list of needs registered in the Projects Exchange.
Thus, the exchange provides a practical way to link needs with resources. Every Rotary club is urged to undertake a new World Community Service project each year. The WCS Projects Exchange list is an excellent tool to find a real need, a project description and cooperating club in a developing area.
The job then is to "go to work" to complete the project, and at the same time build bridges of friendship and world understanding. Illiteracy of adults and children is global is a concern in both highly industrialized nations and in developing countries. The number of adult illiterates in the world is increasing by 25 million each year! In the United States, one quarter of the entire population is considered functionally illiterate.
The tragedy of illiteracy is that those who cannot read lose personal independence and become victims of unscrupulous manipulation, poverty and the loss of human feelings which give meaning to life. Illiteracy is demeaning. It is a major obstacle for economic, political, social and person development. Illiteracy is a barrier to international understanding, cooperation and peace in the world. Literacy education was considered a program priority by Rotary's original Health, Hunger and Humanity Committee in An early 3-H grant led to the preparation of an excellent source book on the issues of literacy in the world.
The Rotary-sponsored publication, The Right to Read, was edited by Rotarian Eve Malmquist, a past district governor from Linkoping, Sweden, and a recognized authority on reading and educational research. The book was the forerunner of a major Rotary program emphasis on literacy promotion. In the RI Planning and Research Committee proposed, and the RI board approved, that the Rotary clubs of the world conduct a ten-year emphasis on literacy education.
Many Rotary clubs are thoughtfully surveying the needs of their community for literacy training. Some clubs provide basic books for teaching reading. Others establish and support reading and language clinics, provide volunteer tutorial assistance and purchase reading materials.
Rotarians can play a vitally important part in their community and in developing countries by promoting projects to open opportunities which come from the ability to read.
The following year, the board called for an approach that stressed service "with" the elderly as well as "for" them. With the substantial upswing in the worldwide population of older persons, their needs for special attention have greatly multiplied. As citizen grow older, it becomes increasingly important for them to retain their personal independence and to remain in control of their own lives to the extent this is possible.
Many Rotary clubs are seeking ways to serve the older persons of their community who face problems of deteriorating health, loneliness, poor nutrition, transportation difficulties, inability to do customary chores, loss of family associations, reduced recreational opportunities, inadequate housing and limited information about available social agencies for emergency assistance.
Some clubs have initiated a valuable community service to assist older persons in retirement planning and adjustment by organizing and sharing the wealth of information available within the club's membership.
Other clubs have developed foster grandparent programs and other intergenerational activities that allow seniors to use their experience and knowledge to help young people. Rotarians often can provide services which seniors can no longer do for themselves.
The greatest need of aging individuals is frequently a mere expression of real caring and concern by thoughtful friends. All Rotarians should seriously consider how they and their clubs may actively participate in programs for the aging. It is one area of community service in which there is a growing possibility that each of us may some day be on the receiving end. The planning process usually begins about four or five years in advance. The RI board determines a general location and invites cities to make proposals.
The conventions are truly international events which 20, to 40, Rotarians and guests attend. All members should plan to participate in a Rotary International convention to discover the real internationality of Rotary. It is an experience you'll never forget. Yet, among the more than one million Rotarians worldwide, an amateur-radio enthusiast or a chess player is bound to find others who share the same passions.
But Recreational Fellowship members share more than just their common interest in sport diving or Esperanto; they share an interest in fellowship and service and in promoting world understanding. As such, it's no wonder that the International Skiing Fellowship of Rotarians donates the profits from ski events to The Rotary Foundation or that the Flying Rotarians help ferry medical personnel and supplies.
One has only to look at the types of Vocational Fellowships to recognize how they differ from their recreational counterparts. Members exchange technical information and seek opportunities to employ their expertise in service not just to their own communities and countries, but to their professions as well. For example, the Ophthalmology International Vocational Fellowship organized a professional seminar on the subject of eye surgery in developing countries.
This activity, originally recommended by the New Horizons Committee in , is intended to encourage Rotarians and spouses to visit with Rotarian families in other parts of the world. It may be conducted on a club-to-club or district-to-district basis. The idea is for several Rotarian couples to travel to another country on the Rotary Friendship Exchange. Later the hospitality is reversed when the visit is exchanged.
After a successful pilot experiment, the Rotary Friendship Exchange has become a permanent program of Rotary. The Rotary Friendship Exchange is frequently compared to the Group Study Exchange program of The Rotary Foundation, except that it involves Rotarian couples who personally pay for all expenses of their inter-country experience. Doors of friendship are opened in a way which could not be duplicated except in Rotary. Rotarians seeking an unusual vacation and fellowship experience should learn more about the Rotary Friendship Exchange.
Some unusual Rotary adventures are awaiting you! The Rotarians of Brisbane, who hosted the participants, were impressed with the quality of the young leaders.
It was decided to bring youth leaders together each year for a week of social, cultural and educational activities. Rotary still actively participates in UN conferences by sending observers to major meetings and promoting the United Nations in Rotary publications.
Attended by ministers of education and observers from around the world, and chaired by a past president of RI, the conference was an impetus to the establishment of UNESCO in Interact clubs provide opportunities for boys and girls of secondary school age to work together in a world fellowship of service and international understanding.
The term, Interact, is derived from "inter" for international, and "act" for action. Every Interact club must be sponsored and supervised by a Rotary club and must plan annual projects of service to its school, community and in the world. Today there are over 7, Interact clubs with more than , members in 88 countries. A major goal of Interact is to provide opportunities for young people to create greater understanding and goodwill with youth throughout the world.
The new organization was designed to promote responsible citizenship and leadership potential in clubs of young men and women, aged 18 to In there were more than , members in more than 6, Rotaract clubs in countries.
Rotaract clubs emphasize the importance of individual responsibility as the basis of personal success and community involvement. Each club sponsors an annual project to promote high ethical standards in one's business and professional life.
Rotaract also provides opportunities leading to greater international understanding and goodwill. Rotaractors enjoy many social activities as well as programs to improve their community.
A Rotaract club can exist only when continuously sponsored, guided and counseled by a Rotary club. The programs of Rotaract are built around the motto "Fellowship Through Service. Since a Rotary float has been entered 18 times including every year since The famous Pasadena, California, parade is seen by an estimated million people via worldwide television.
Funds for the construction of the Rotary parade entry are voluntarily given by Rotarians and clubs in the U. A multi-district Rotary committee in Southern California coordinates planning of the Rotary float and provides hundreds of volunteer hours of service. The Rotary float must portray the annual parade theme, usually depicting one of the worldwide service programs of Rotary International. Each New Year's Day, Rotarians take pride in seeing their attractive float and realize they have shared in its construction by contributing a dollar or two to this beautiful public relations project.
The Rotary Foundation had that sort of modest beginning. In RI President Arch Klumph told the delegates to the Atlanta Convention that "it seems eminently proper that we should accept endowments for the purpose of doing good in the world. In , upon the death of Paul Harris, a new era opened for the Rotary Foundation as memorial gifts poured in to honor the founder of Rotary. From that time, The Rotary Foundation has been achieving its noble objective of furthering "understanding and friendly relations between peoples of different nations.
In , 18 "Rotary Fellows" from 11 countries were selected to serve as ambassadors of goodwill while studying in another country for one academic year. The purpose of the Scholarships Program is to further international understanding and friendly relations among people of different countries. Scholars are expected to be outstanding ambassadors of goodwill to the people of the host country through both informal and formal appearances before Rotary and non-Rotary groups.
Beginning with the program year, The Rotary Foundation offers two new types of scholarships in addition to the Academic-Year Ambassadorial Scholarship offered since The Multi-Year Ambassadorial Scholarship is awarded for two or three years of specific degree-oriented study abroad. The Cultural Ambassadorial Scholarship provides three or six months of funding for intensive language study and cultural immersion in a language other than their native language. Rotarians know that Rotary Foundation scholarships are very worthwhile investments in the future and one important step in seeking greater understanding and goodwill in the world.
Since the first exchange between districts in California and Japan in , the program has provided educational experiences for about 25, business and professional men and women who have served on about 5, teams. The GSE program pairs Rotary districts to send and receive study teams. One of the attractive features of GSE is the opportunity for the visiting team members to meet, talk and live with Rotarians and their families in a warm spirit of friendship and hospitality.
Although the original Group Study Exchanges were male only, in recent years teams include both men and women. In addition to learning about another country as the team visits farms, schools, industrial plants, professional offices and governmental establishments the GSE teams serve as ambassadors of goodwill. They interpret their home nation to host Rotarians and others in the communities in which they visit.
Many of the personal contacts blossom into lasting friendships. Truly, the Group Study Exchange program has provided Rotarians with one of its most enjoyable, practical and meaningful ways to promote world understanding. The 3-H Program is designed to undertake large-scale service projects beyond the capacity of individual Rotary clubs or groups of clubs.
The objective of these projects is to improve health, alleviate hunger and enhance human, cultural and social development among peoples of the world. The ultimate goal is to advance international understanding, goodwill and peace. The first 3-H project was the immunization of 6 million children in the Philippines against polio. As 3-H progressed, new programs were added to help people in developing areas of the world.
Now, in addition to the mass polio immunization of over million children in various countries, 3-H has promoted nutrition programs, vocational education, and improved irrigation to increase food production, polio victim rehabilitation and other activities which benefit large numbers of people in developing countries. All 3-H projects are supported by the voluntary contributions of Rotarians through The Rotary Foundation. In years to come the 3-H Program may well be considered Rotary's finest service activity, showing how Rotarians care and are concerned about people in need, wherever they may be.
A club or district must contribute an amount at least as large as that requested from The Rotary Foundation with at least half the funds that the Foundation will match coming from a country outside of the country where the project will take place. Grants have been made to improve hospitals, develop school programs, drill water wells, assist the handicapped or persons requiring special medical attention, provide resources for orphanages, create sanitation facilities, distribute food and medical supplies and many other forms of international community service in needy areas of the world.
Matching Grants are not approved to purchase land or build buildings, and they may not be used for programs already underway or completed. Personal participation by Rotarians is required and the benefits should extend beyond the recipients. The Matching Grants program is a very significant part of The Rotary Foundation and provides an important incentive for clubs to undertake worthwhile international service projects in another part of the world.
They certainly foster goodwill and understanding, which is in keeping with the objectives of The Rotary Foundation. It is part of a global effort to protect the children from five other deadly diseases as well as the "plus" in PolioPlus. Rotary is an international membership organization made up of people who share a passion for and commitment to enhancing communities and improving lives across the world.
Rotary clubs exist in almost every country. Being a member is an opportunity to take action and make a difference, and it brings personal rewards and lifelong friendships in the process.
Rotary was founded on principles that remain at the heart of the organization today. These principles reflect our core values — integrity, diversity, service, leadership, and fellowship, or friendship. Our core values emerge as themes in our guiding principles.
Harris wanted to bring together a group of professionals with different backgrounds and skills as a way to exchange ideas and form meaningful acquaintances. In , Rotary expanded to a few more countries, and by July , Rotary clubs existed on six continents. Today, there are more than 35, clubs, in almost every country in the world. Harris, circa Although Rotary clubs develop autonomous service programs, all Rotarians worldwide are united in a campaign for the global eradication of polio.
In addition, Rotary has provided an army of volunteers to promote and assist at national immunization days in polio-endemic countries around the world. Find out more about Rotary by visiting the Rotary International web site.
Your potential to do good in your community as a Rotarian is far greater than it was before you joined. There are over 35, Rotary clubs in more than countries and geographical areas. Rotary clubs are autonomous, so the member experience varies from club to club.
However, they all operate somewhat similarly. For example, all clubs have presidents, secretaries, and treasurers and committees that help them run smoothly.
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