Captain Dan will Tell you...

Object of Rotary International

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.

The Four Way Test

The Four-Way Test, which was created in 1932 by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor (who later served as RI president) when he was asked to take charge of a company that was facing bankruptcy.This 24-word test for employees to follow in their business and professional lives became the guide for sales, production, advertising, and all relations with dealers and customers, and the survival of the company is credited to this simple philosophy. Adopted by Rotary in 1943, The Four-Way Test has been translated into more than a hundred languages and published in thousands of ways. It asks the following four questions:

"Of the things we think, say or do:

• Is it the TRUTH?
• Is it FAIR to all concerned?
• Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
• Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?"

                            Four Avenues of Service

Based on the Object of Rotary,  the Four Avenues of Service are Rotary's philosophical cornerstone and the foundation on which club activity is based:

1. Club Service focuses on strengthening fellowship and ensuring the effective functioning of the club.
2. Vocational Service encourages Rotarians to serve others through their vocations and to practice high ethical standards.
3. Community Service covers the projects and activities the club undertakes to improve life in its community.
4. International Service encompasses actions taken to expand Rotary's humanitarian reach around the globe and to promote world understanding and peace.

Rotary's Polio-Plus Program that was started in 1985 is credited with the near-eradication of polio from our planet. We are very proud of the recent Wall Street Journal Editorial. The NY Times had a similar editorial but did not recommend us for the "Noble Peace Prize".

          Wall Street Journal  Editorial April 12, 2005
"Today marks the 50th anniversary for the Salk polio vaccine. Poliomyelitis, also know as infantile paralysis, used to be one of childhood's most feared diseases. A few years after Dr. Jonas Salk announced his vaccine on April 12, 1955, nearly every child in the U.S. was protected. Today polio has disappeared from the Americas, Europe and the Western Pacific and is nearly gone from the rest of the world. A too-little known part of this feat is the role played by Rotary, the international businessman's club, which in 20 years adopted the goal of wiping out the disease. Rotary understood that medical breakthroughs are worthless unless people aren't afraid to immunize their children and efficient delivery systems exist to get the vaccine to them. And so it mobilized its members in 30,100 clubs in 166 countries to make it happen. In 1985, when Rotary launched its eradication program, there were an estimated 350,000 new cases of polio in 125 countries. Last Year, 1,263 cases were reported. More than one million Rotary members have volunteered their time or donated money to immunize two billion children in 122 countries. In 1988, Rotary money and its example were the catalyst for a global eradication drive joined by the World Health Organization, Unicef and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. In 2000 Rotary teamed up with the United Nations Foundation to raise $100 million in private money for the program. By the time the world is certified as polio-free probably in 2008-Rotary will have contributed $600 million to its eradication effort. An economist of our acquaintance calls Rotary's effort the most successful private health-care initiative ever. A vaccine-company CEO recently volunteered to us that the work of Rotary and the Gates Foundation, both private groups, has been more effective than any government in promoting vaccines to save lives. It's become fashionable in some quarters to deride civic volunteerism, but Rotary's unsung polio effort deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. "

It should be noted that our Polio-Plus program is only the tip of the iceberg. Tens of thousands of Club to Club poverty-eradication projects are completed every year. Most of these projects are not regestered with any central agency or even with Rotary International. Therefore, there is no centralized annual accounting of these projects, but it is in the tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars. Visit any developing country and it would be very difficult to find a region where a Rotary Club from an economically developed country has not built a school house, medical clinic, or ball field.

                    Rotary and the United Nations

More than Twelve Hundred Rotarians and Three Hundred High School Students - that are members of Rotary's "Interact" - met at the Annual Rotary Day at the United Nations - November 2006 .

                 What is Rotary International?

                                  (Separate from the Foundation of the Rotary Club of Branchburg)
An endowment fund, set up by Rotarians in 1917 "for doing good in the world," became a not-for-profit corporation known as The Rotary Foundation in 1928. Upon the death of Paul Harris in 1947, an outpouring of Rotarian donations made in his honor, totaling US$2 million, launched the Foundation's first program - graduate fellowships, now called Ambassadorial Scholarships . Today, contributions to The Rotary Foundation total more than US$80 million annually and support a wide range of humanitarian grants and educational programs that enable Rotarians to bring hope and promote international understanding throughout the world. In 1985, Rotary made a historic commitment to immunize all of the world's children against polio. Working in partnership with nongovernmental organizations and national governments thorough its PolioPlus program, Rotary is the largest private-sector contributor to the global polio eradication campaign. Rotarians have mobilized hundreds of thousands of PolioPlus volunteers and have immunized more than one billion children worldwide. By the 2005 target date for certification of a polio-free world, Rotary will have contributed half a billion dollars to the cause.As it approached the dawn of the 21st century, Rotary worked to meet the changing needs of society, expanding its service effort to address such pressing issues as environmental degradation, illiteracy, world hunger, and children at risk.

                              Membership
The organization admitted women for the first time (worldwide) in 1989 and claims more than 145,000 women in its ranks today. Following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Rotary clubs were formed or re-established throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Today, 1.3 million Rotarians belong to some 33,000 Rotary clubs in 172 countries.

 

            Rotary International Milestones

                      Rotary International Administration

Rotary is organized at club, district, and international levels to carry out its program of service. Rotarians are members of their clubs, and the clubs are members of the global association known as Rotary International. Each club elects its own officers and enjoys considerable autonomy within the framework of the standard constitution and the constitution and bylaws of Rotary International. Clubs are grouped into 529 Rotary districts, each led by a district governor who is an officer of Rotary International and represents the RI board of directors in the field. Though selected by the clubs of the district, a governor is elected by all of the clubs worldwide meeting in the RI Convention. A 19-member board of directors , which includes the international president and president-elect, administers Rotary International. These officers are also elected at the convention; the selection process for choosing directors and the nominating committee for president are based on zones, each of which comprises approximately 15 districts. The board meets quarterly to establish policies. While the Rotary International president is the highest officer of RI, the chief administrative officer of RI is the general secretary, who heads a staff of about 600 persons working at the international headquarters in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, USA, or in one of seven international offices around the world.

                        R.I. Mission Statement
The mission of Rotary International is to support its member clubs in fulfilling the Object of Rotary by: Fostering unity among member clubs; Strengthening and expanding Rotary around the world; Communicating worldwide the work of Rotary; and Providing a system of international administration.

                History of Rotary Youth Exchange
Since 1927, students and host families all over the world have had their horizons broadened and their lives enriched by the generosity of Rotary's Youth Exchange program. Administered by Rotary clubs, districts and multidistrict groups, the program today involves more than 82 countries and over 8,000 students each year.The first documented exchanges date back to 1927, when the Rotary Club of Nice, France, initiated exchanges with European students. Exchanges between clubs in California, USA, and Latin American countries began in 1939, and exchange activities spread to the eastern United States in 1958. In 1972, the RI Board of Directors agreed to recommend Youth Exchange to clubs worldwide as a worthwhile international activity that promotes global peace and understanding.