What is Rotary
What
is Rotary
Object
of Rotary
Definition
of Rotary
A
brief history
Derivation
of Rotary
Mottos
Emblems
Becoming
a Rotarian
The
Membership Process
Responsibilities
of Membership
Classifications
Membership
Inquiry
Declaration
of Rotarians in Business and Professions
What
is Rotary
Rotary is a worldwide organization
of business and professional leaders that provides humanitarian service, encourages
high ethical standards in all vocations, and helps build goodwill and peace
in the world. Approximately 1.2 million Rotarians belong to more than 31,000
Rotary clubs located in 166 countries.
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 are united in a campaign
for the global eradication of polio. In the 1980s, Rotarians raised US$240 million
to immunize the children of the world; by 2005, Rotary's centenary year and
the target date for the certification of a polio-free world, the PolioPlus program
will have contributed US$500 million to this cause. In addition, Rotary has
provided 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.
The
Object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis
of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster:
FIRST.
The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;
SECOND.
High ethical standards in business and professions, the recognition of the worthiness
of all useful occupations, and the dignifying of each Rotarian's occupation
as an opportunity to serve society;
THIRD.
The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian's personal, business
and community life;
FOURTH.
The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through
a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal
of service.
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. There
are approximately 1.2 million Rotarian members and more than 31,000 Rotary clubs
in 166 countries.
Rotary's first day
and the years that followed... February 23, 1905. The airplane had yet to stay
aloft more than a few minutes. The first motion picture theater had not yet opened.
Norway and Sweden were peacefully terminating their union. On this particular
day, a Chicago lawyer, Paul P. Harris, called three friends to a meeting. What
he had in mind was a club that would kindle fellowship among members of the business
community. It was an idea that grew from his desire to find within the large city
the kind of friendly spirit that he knew in the villages where he had grown up.
The
four businessmen didn't decide then and there to call themselves a Rotary club,
but their get-together was, in fact, the first meeting of the world's first Rotary
club. As they continued to meet, adding others to the group, they rotated their
meetings among the members' places of business, hence the name. Soon after the
club name was agreed upon, one of the new members suggested a wagon wheel design
as the club emblem. It was the precursor of the familiar cogwheel emblem now worn
by Rotarians around the world. By the end of 1905, the club had 30 members.The
second Rotary club was formed in 1908 half a continent away from Chicago in San
Francisco, California. It was a much shorter leap across San Francisco Bay to
Oakland, California, where the third club was formed. Others followed in Seattle,
Washington, Los Angeles, California, and New York City, New York. Rotary became
international in 1910 when a club was formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. By
1921 the organization was represented on every continent, and the name Rotary
International was adopted in 1922.
The
name Rotary was chosen to reflect the custom, in the early days of the first Rotary
Club in Chicago, of rotating the site of club meetings among the members' places
of business. This rotation, an integral part of the founder's original concept,
was designed to acquaint members with one another's vocations and to promote business,
but the club's rapid growth soon made the custom impractical.
The enthusiasm with
which Rotarians embraced the ideal of service is evidenced by Rotary's principal
motto, "Service Above Self" and its other official precept, "He
Profits Most Who Serves Best." The roots of both of these adages, adopted
as official mottos at the 1950 RI Convention, can be traced back to the first
decade of Rotary's existence, when "He profits most who serves his fellows
best" and "Service not Self" were both put forth as slogans. In
1989, the RI Council on Legislation designated "Service above Self"
as the principal motto.
Rotary's first emblem
was a simple wagon wheel (in motion with dust) representing civilization and movement.
It was designed in 1905 by Montague Bear, a member of the Chicago club, who was
an engraver, and many Rotary clubs of the time adopted the wheel in one form or
another. In 1922, authority was given to create and preserve an official emblem,
and the following year the present gear wheel with 24 cogs and six spokes was
adopted. A keyway was added to signify that the wheel was a "worker and not
an idler." At the RI Convention in 1929, royal blue and gold were chosen
as the official colors.
Rotary club members
are part of a diverse group of professional leaders working to address various
community and international service needs. Through community service and other
means, Rotary club members help promote peace and understanding throughout the
world. Our members are our most important asset. They are the force that allows
Rotary to carry out its many humanitarian efforts and achieve its mission. Why
Join Rotary? Each Rotary club strives for a membership that is an up-to-date and
progressive representation of its community's business, vocational, and professional
interests. Membership in Rotary offers a number of benefits, including:
- Effecting change
within the community
- Developing
leadership skills
- Gaining an
understanding of — and having an impact on — international humanitarian issues.
- Developing
relationships with community and business leaders
Membership is vital to a Rotary club's
operations and community service activities. A primary goal of the club is to
continually expand the club with committed members who have the interest and ability
to get involved in service and humanitarian projects. Prospective members must:
- hold — or be retired from —
a professional, proprietary, executive, or managerial position;
- have the capacity to meet the
club's weekly attendance or community project participation requirements;
- live or work within the locality
of the club or the surrounding area.
An important distinction
between Rotary and other organizations is that membership in Rotary is by invitation.
The club's classification committee maintains a list of the types of businesses
and professions in its community and seeks candidates to fill classifications
not already held by an active member of the club. (Examples of classifications:
High Schools; Universities; Eye Surgery; Tires — Distributing; Tires —
Retailing; Dramatic Arts; Law — civil.) In this manner, a club is assured
it includes a significant cross section of its community's vocational life, and
has the widest possible resources and expertise for its service programs and projects.
The
Membership Process
In most instances,
a person being considered for membership is invited by a member/sponsor to attend
one or more club meetings to learn more about Rotary. The sponsor may then submit
the name of the candidate to the membership committee to begin the evaluation
process. Others who are interested in membership, but don't know any Rotarians,
can contact their local club direcly. If
the local Rotary club maintains an office, it may be listed in the white pages
of the telephone directory under "Rotary". Otherwise the local Chamber
of Commerce should be able to provide information. Contact your local Chamber
of Commerce or similar organization. Often, there will be a Rotarian on staff.
If not, the Chamber should be able to provide information about the local Rotary
club.
Responsibilities
of Membership
Rotary
club membership carries with it certain responsibilities.
- Members are
expected to attend weekly programs of the club. Opportunities to make up attendance
include attending the regular meeting of another Rotary club, attending various
other Rotary meetings, or attending a club service project authorized by the
club board of directors.
- Members are
required to pay annual dues to their clubs, their districts, and to Rotary
International.
- Members are
expected to participate in local or international activities or projects of
the Rotary club.
- Clubs encourage
members to aspire to leadership or committee roles within their clubs.
Rotary uses a classification system
to establish and maintain a vibrant cross-section or representation of the community's
business, vocational, and professional interests among members and to develop
a pool of resources and expertise to successfully implement service projects.
This system is based on the founders' paradigm of choosing cross-representation
of each business, profession, and institution within a community. A
classification describes either the principal business or the professional service
of the organization that the Rotarian works for or the Rotarian's own activity
within the organization. Some examples of classifications include: high schools,
universities, eye surgery, banking, pharmaceutical retailing, petroleum-distribution,
and insurance agency.
If you live or work
in the Sussex, NB area and are interested in becoming a Rotarian, please send
an E-mail message to info@sussexrotary.org
and we will be in touch with you. Please include your name, address, phone numbers,
occupation, company and E-mail address. For fax transmissions, call 506-433-XXX
to make request.
If you live and work outside the greater Sussex area we will contact you only
through your E-mail address. Submission of this information does not in any way
denote your acceptance into Rotary. A person who becomes a member of The Rotary
Club of Sussex Inc. must pay dues and initiation fees. The dues for Rotary year
2005 - 2006 are $130.00. The Rotary Club of Sussex Inc. reserves the right to
accept or reject any application for membership.
The Declaration of
Rotarians in Businesses and Professions was adopted by the Rotary International
Council on Legislation in 1989 to provide more specific guidelines for the high
ethical standards called for in the Object of Rotary. As
a Rotarian engaged in a business or profession, I am expected to:
- Consider my
vocation to be another opportunity to serve;
- Be faithful
to the letter and to the spirit of the ethical codes of my vocation, to the
laws of my country, and to the moral standards of my community;
- Do all in my
power to dignify my vocation and to promote the highest ethical standards
in my chosen vocation;
- Be fair to
my employer, employees, associates, competitors, customers, the public and
all those with whom I have a business or professional relationship;
- Recognize the
honor and respect due to all occupations which are useful to society;
- Offer my vocational
talents: to provide opportunities for young people, to work for the relief
of the special needs of others, and to improve the quality of life in my community;
- Adhere to honesty
in my advertising and in all representations to the public concerning my business
or profession;
- Neither seek
from nor grant to a fellow Rotarian a privilege or advantage not normally
accorded others in a business or professional relationship.