WHAT IS ROTARY?

The Rotary motto is 'Service Above Self'

 Rotary is an organization of business and professional men and women united worldwide, who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical  standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.

The above sentence could look a bit solemn but we really do enjoy ourselves - Rotary is fun! It is enjoyable to be a member of Rotary International, not only for the fellowship and the many social events and get-togethers we have, but also for the satisfaction of contributing to worthwhile projects both local and international, helping those in need and working towards world understanding and peace. 

Rotary is the world's largest service organisation with about 1,200,000 members in  over 160 countries and in 30,000 Rotary Clubs.

There are nearly 59,000 Rotarians in Great Britain and Ireland in 1,816 clubs.  Each Club is independently run and has on average about thirty members who have a variety of occupations. 

The New Forest Rotary Club has 36 male and female members working and/or living in the New Forest area, including Lyndhurst, Brockenhurst, Burley, Romsey, Lymington, Ashurst, Netley Marsh,  and Totton.

ROTARY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

The world's Rotary clubs meet weekly and are non-political, nonreligious, and open to all cultures, races, and creeds. Rotary club membership represents a cross-section of the community's business and professional men and women. 

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.

POLIO ERADICATION. 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$240 million (£160 million) to immunise the children of the world. By 2005, Rotary's centenary year the PolioPlus program has contributed US$ 500 million ( £300 million) to this cause. In addition, Rotary has provided an army of volunteers to promote and assist at national immunisation days in polio-endemic countries around the world. In recent yearsthere has been a massive effort to raise funds for 'the final push' and every Club throughout the world has been involved.

THE ROTARY FOUNDATION of Rotary International is a not-for-profit corporation that promotes world understanding through international humanitarian service programmes 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 (£660 million) in humanitarian and educational grants, which are initiated and administered by local Rotary clubs and districts.