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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. In
more than 160 countries worldwide, approximately 1.2 million Rotarians belong
to more than 30,000 Rotary clubs.
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.
To find out more, visit
RI (Rotary
International).
Or read the following Acrobat Reader files:
About PolioPlus
In 1985, Rotary launched the PolioPlus program to protect
children worldwide from the cruel and fatal consequences of polio. In 1988, the
World Health Assembly challenged the world to eradicate polio. Since that time,
Rotary's efforts and those of partner agencies, including the World Health
Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund, the United States Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, and governments around the world, have achieved
a 99 percent reduction in the number of polio cases worldwide. Rotarians stand
at the brink of a great victory and look forward to celebrating the global
eradication of polio in 2005, the organization's centennial year.
The Rotary Foundation
The mission of The Rotary Foundation is to support the efforts of
Rotary International in the fulfillment of the Object of Rotary, Rotary's
mission, and the achievement of world understanding and peace through local,
national, and international humanitarian, educational, and cultural
programs. Read more about The Rotary Foundation
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