Rotary Community Corps
The Rotary Village Corps, which is now called Rotary Community Corps, started at the beginning of 1986-87 and is now found in 89 different countries, mostly in Asia and Central America. There are now 8,684 RCCs with 199,732 members who acti
vely assist their sponsor Rotary clubs in doing Rotary work that the Rotarians themselves would have difficulty doing. It is truly our first “Partner in Service.” It bears the Rotary name, and from the very first its constitution included women members, in anticipation of the admission of women in Rotary. The board adopted RVC despite opposition by those who ridiculed it as a poor man’s Rotary club, and by those who believed it would not be acceptable in the West, where it would have no use.
vely assist their sponsor Rotary clubs in doing Rotary work that the Rotarians themselves would have difficulty doing. It is truly our first “Partner in Service.” It bears the Rotary name, and from the very first its constitution included women members, in anticipation of the admission of women in Rotary. The board adopted RVC despite opposition by those who ridiculed it as a poor man’s Rotary club, and by those who believed it would not be acceptable in the West, where it would have no use. The RCC may be called a poor man’s Rotary club because its members are not financially able to bear the cost of Rotary membership. But RCC members need not spend money on their projects. Instead, they perform Rotary work that the Rotarians find difficult to do, or in places and times Rotarians find inconvenient. RCC is a true partner in service of its sponsor Rotary club. Hurricane Katrina and other natural calamities have in fact shown that there are hidden poor people everywhere. And the two RVCs that Past President Rick organized in Oakland received public praise before it petered out from diminished sponsor support. The important thing to note here is that we did not change the requirements of Rotary membership to accommodate those lacking one important qualification. It seems those who made by legislation subsequent changes in membership qualification and club procedure have not been as careful. Let us hope none of those changes are so fundamental as to change Rotary altogether.