Rotary is made up of business and professional leaders who work to better their community and build understanding and peace in the world. Rotary is a non-political, non-religious humanitarian organization.
There are approximately 1.2 million Rotary club members of more than 32,000 Rotary clubs in 168 countries. Rotary was founded in 1905.
Since 1947, the Rotary Foundation has awarded more than US$1.1 billion in humanitarian and educational grants, which are administered at the local level.
What do Rotary clubs do?
Rotary projects address critical issues in communities around the world. Here are some of Rotary's focus areas:
- Polio Eradication - In 1985, Rotary's members vowed to make the world polio-free. This 20-year commitment to end polio represents the largest private-sector support of a global health initiative to date.
- Rotary has already committed US$500 million and countless hours of volunteer work to help immunize nearly two billion children throughout the world.
- Today, there are only a few hundred polio cases worldwide, a 99.8 percent reduction since 1988, when polio paralyzed more than 350,000 children a year.
- International Education - Rotary is the world's largest privately funded source of international scholarships. Each year, nearly 1,000 university students receive Rotary scholarships to study in another country. Rotary clubs also coordinate a high school-age student exchange program that sends nearly 8,000 students abroad for 3 months to a year.
- Peace - In an effort to educate tomorrow's peacemakers and ambassadors, Rotary recently launched the Rotary Centers for International Studies for peace and conflict studies at eight prestigious universities worldwide. The program provides master's-level degree education in conflict resolution to a group of 70 Rotary World Peace Scholars chosen annually in a world-competitive selection process.
- Literacy - Rotary clubs are engaged in the fight against illiteracy worldwide. One example is a Rotary literacy program in Thailand that dramatically reduced school failure and was adopted by the Thai government for all the nation's schools.
Interested in becoming a Rotarian? Contact: Bob Grulke 847-872-5454
