Tuesday, January 31, 2006

What is Rotary?

What is Rotary ?

Rotary, the world's first service club organization, can be described in many ways. Functionally, Rotary is an association of local clubs gathered into a larger organization called "Rotary International." The individual Rotarian - the heart and soul of Rotary - is a member of the local club; all clubs are members of Rotary International at Evanston, Illinois, USA.

Officially, Rotary is defined as "an organization of business and professional men and women united world-wide, who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world." Specifically, a Rotary club is composed of business and professional people in a community who have accepted the Ideal of Service as a basis for attaining fulfilment in their personal, vocational, and community life. In fact, the Ideal of Service, exemplified in the motto "Service Above Self," is the thread that runs around the Rotary world and unites like-minded people in thought and action, no matter what part of the world they live in. Nowadays, more than 1,200,000 service-minded men and women belong to over 28,000 Rotary clubs in 186 lands. Clubs meet weekly, usually for lunch or dinner, so that all members may enjoy each other's friendship before they get down to the business of running the club and discussing its service goals. Membership is by invitation only, and is based on choosing one representative of each business, profession, and institution in the community. The purpose of this "classification" system is to ensure that the members of each club comprise a true cross section of their community's business and professional life or endeavour.

No comments: