Join The Movement

Posted by Sonia Webster

Make a Difference In Your Community

Welcome to Rotary International and The Rotary Club of Road Town. We hope that reading this will give you a better understanding of who we are and what we do.

What is Rotary? Rotary International (RI) is a volunteer organization of business and professional leaders who provide humanitarian service, and help to build goodwill and peace throughout world..

The Rotary movement was formed in Chicago in 1905, by five professional men who shared a common interest in creating an organisation which objectives were to better serve mankind, while enjoying each other’s company. From this the ideals of Rotary were conceived.

Today there are some 32,000 Rotary Clubs worldwide, with a membership of around 1.2million, divided first into Zones and then Districts. RI also supports a number of other programmes, including its youth arms Rotaract, Interact and EarlyAct.

The Rotary Club of Road Town was chartered in January 1991, and a year later became the first Rotary club in the BVI to accept women members who continue to play a prominent role in its development. Members of the Club reflect the rich diversity in professional vocations that can be found in the BVI, and in tune with Rotary’s objectives we continue to seek new members to fill those vocations which are under-represented.

Click HERE for complete Article.

We are a part of Rotary District 7020, which includes Clubs from The USVI, Jamaica, Cayman, Haiti, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, St Martin/St Barths, St Maarten, Anguilla and the BVI.

District 7020 Logo

The Club carries out a variety of activities both within our community and internationally. Our primary focuses are on health and youth issues. Some of the projects we regard as our core activities include;

- Support for diabetes treatment and prevention

- Annual Free Health Fair

- Annual festival and parade for children, Kiddies Fiesta

- Support of personal development programmes for schools such as Spelling Bee

Our support for youth development extends to the sponsorship of the Interact Club of Road Town, a youth group for young persons between the ages of 12 and 18 that follow the ideals of Rotary; and two EarlyAct Clubs at Enis Adams and Ebenezer Thomas Primary Schools.

In addition to our core programmes, we also perform a number of other community projects throughout the year that are either a part of a short term goal or in response to an emergency or an urgent or immediate need.

Our Club has several fundraising activities and our major fund raiser is our annual raffle, which is launched in October with the main draw on/close to Christmas Eve.

Rotary’s administration costs are funded from the investment income generated from those funds and members' contributions. Every dollar raised by Rotary is returned back to the community at the end of the three years, something unique to Rotary.

The Rotary Foundation channels its donations into six areas of focus. These are Peace and Conflict Resolution; Disease Prevention and Treatment; Water and Sanitation; Maternal and Child Health; Basic Education and Literacy; and Economic and Community Development.

All grants must fall into one of these areas of focus and also be sustainable.

Rotary’s flagship service project is the total eradication of Polio from around the world. This crusade started in 1985, and in that time Rotarians around the world have contributed through own donations and fundraising some $1billion to this humanitarian programme. Just three countries remain where the wild polio virus continues to flourish – Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

Through the efforts of Rotary and its partners, we are optimistic that Polio will be eradicated by 2015, when no cases of Polio will be reported for a period of 12 months.

Club Administration and Membership

The Club is run by a President and a Board of officers and directors who are elected annually. Each activity falls under one of the directors and a committee is formed to manage the event. All members can be expected to be involved in at least one committee, and are encouraged to actively support the Club at both its regular meetings and projects.

We place a strong emphasis on fellowship, with Rotarians getting together after meetings and at activities to discuss matters of mutual interest, This makes Rotary a great place for networking.

We have our own web site and facebook pages (See below) which are updated regularly and reflect the activities we are involved in.

We meet weekly.

We welcome new members who can contribute positively to the development of the Club.

To be a member of Rotary carries certain obligations, and it is important that you understand these before making any commitment. Those obligations include:

A commitment to attend at least 2 of our weekly meetings each month;
A commitment to participate in club projects and activities

A financial commitment. Each year you will be expected to pay our annual dues, make a donation to the Rotary Foundation and Polio Plus and support a variety of Club sponsored activities, including the cost of weekly meetings.

There are certain attributes and willingness for service that a Rotarians must possess.:

FIRST. The development of acquaintances 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.

Avenues of Service

Rotary’s commitment to Service Above Self is channeled through five Avenues of Service, which form the foundation of club activity.

Club Service focuses on strengthening fellowship and ensuring the effective functioning of the club. Learn about effective club service in Membership and Training .
Vocational Service encourages Rotarians to serve others through their vocations and to practice high ethical standards. Observed each October, Vocational Service Month spotlights Rotary club projects related to this avenue, offering opportunity for clubs and districts to use their professional skills in service projects.

Community Service covers the projects and activities the club undertakes to improve life in its community.
International Service encompasses actions taken to expand Rotary’s humanitarian reach around the globe and to promote world understanding and peace. Rotarians can support International Service by sponsoring a project in another country, seeking international project partners to support projects in their own communities, or by personally volunteering at an international project site. Visit the ProjectLINK database to post a project in need of assistance, find projects to support, or learn about successfully completed projects to replicate.
New Generations Service recognizes the positive change implemented by youth and young adults through leadership development activities as RYLA , Rotaract and Interact , service projects, and creating international understanding with Rotary Youth Exchange .

Rotary also has other humanitarian programmes. Rotarians around the world react quickly to disasters such as the Tsunami in Indonesia and the earthquake in Haiti, where Rotarians on the ground continue to provide vital support to devastated communities.

At Club level, Rotarians are helping to improve the quality of life in local communities through support for literacy projects, health and wellness projects, sanitation, youth programmes, the list is endless.

But while Rotary has a vibrant programme of giving back to the Community, it hasn’t forgotten the second of the objects of Paul Harris and his founding members ; fellowship. While busy working in and for the community, Rotary provides a wide variety of opportunities for members to meet socially to share experiences, swap ideas and of course network. These include club meetings, social events, district and international meetings. And there are opportunities for sharing experiences and ideas through the Internet using social media sites (facebook, twitter, LinkedIn etc) and club web sites.

To encapsulate the ideals of Rotary, each member abides by a code of ethics which is called the Four Way Test,

Of the things we think, say and do:

- Is it the TRUTH?

- Is it FAIR to all concerned?

- Will it build GOODWILL and better FRIENDSHIP?

- Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

Becoming a Part of the Rotary Team

If the ideals of our Club reflect your own and you would like to learn more about how you can give back to our community by becoming a member of Rotary, you are invited to join with us at one of our weekly meetings.

You will be sponsored by an existing member, who will guide you through to membership and help you once you become a member. You will be expected to attend 4 consecutive meetings in a continuous six week period and participate in at least one activity before becoming a member. You will be asked to complete an application form.

Becoming a member of Rotary can be extremely rewarding, especially if you take pleasure in helping others and enjoy the company of other like-minded persons. Beyond anything else, we want your Rotary experience to be both satisfying and FUN.

The benefits of membership are innumerable.

For more information on our Club and our activities, please continue to browse our website: http://www.clubrunner.ca/Portal/Home.aspx?cid=1601. And don't forget to visit our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/rotaryroadtown. You can also email us at rotaryclubofroadtown@gmail.com.