What is Rotary

Why Rotary?
T here's something that all Rotary club members have in common: We take action. As community volunteers, we reach out to neighbors in need. We build, support, and organize. We save lives. We work locally and globally.
Around the world and around the corner, the 1.2 million men and women of Rotary
  • Get involved in their communities
  • Connect with other professionals
  • Share their time and experience with young people
  • Support global causes, such as eradicating polio
  • Use their skills to help others
 
Whether you're a veteran volunteer or new to community service, we're looking for people like you.
 
Discover the benefits of joining Rotary.
Hear club members describe what Rotary means to them. Interested in joining? Contact us at medfordsunriserotary@gmail.com or join us for a meeting! We meet every Wednesday at 7:15am at The Pop Shop at 1 South Main St. in Medford.
 

What are the qualifications for membership?

A prospective member must be a person of good character with a good business, professional, or community reputation and also be one of the following:

  • A current or former professional, proprietor, executive, manager, or community leader
  • Committed to service with a record of personal involvement
  • A Rotary Foundation alumnus

What are the responsibilities of membership?

Members are expected to attend weekly club meetings. They must pay annual dues to their clubs, their Rotary district, and Rotary International, and they’re expected to participate in local or international Rotary club activities or projects. Clubs encourage members to aspire to club leadership or committee roles.

 

What is Rotary?
What would it take to change the world? Rotary's 1.2 million members believe it starts with a commitment to Service Above Self.
In more than 34,000 clubs worldwide, you'll find members volunteering in communities at home and abroad to support education and job training, provide clean water, combat hunger, improve health and sanitation, and eradicate polio.
 
 
What is the purpose of Rotary?
Rotary clubs exist to improve communities through a range of humanitarian, intercultural and educational activities. Clubs advance international understanding by partnering with clubs in other countries. Rotary also encourages high ethical standards in all vocations. With a diverse membership comprised of leading local business and professional leaders, Rotary is an ideal networking group. Rotarians promote their pledge of ethical standards to one another and those they serve which the call the Four-Way Test. The test, which has been translated into more than 100 languages, asks the following questions:
Of the things we think, say or do
  1. Is it the TRUTH?
  2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
  3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
  4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
 

Rotary's areas of focus

Rotary clubs serve communities around the world, each with unique concerns and needs. Rotarians have continually adapted and improved the way they respond to those needs, taking on a broad range of service projects. The most successful and sustainable Rotary service tends to fall within one of the following six areas:

  • Peace and conflict prevention/resolution
  • Disease prevention and treatment
  • Water and sanitation
  • Maternal and child health
  • Basic education and literacy
  • Economic and community development
The needs spanning Rotary's six areas of focus are vast, ranging from lack of access to clean water to the need for immunization that prevent deadly diseases. Learn more in the Rotary's Areas of Focus publication
 
 

Rotary and Polio

A fter 25 years of hard work, Rotary and its partners are on the brink of eradicating this tenacious disease, but a strong push is needed now to root it out once and for all. It is a window of opportunity of historic proportions.

Reaching the ultimate goal of a polio-free world presents ongoing challenges, not the least of which is a hundreds of million dollar funding gap. Of course, Rotary alone can't fill this gap, but continued Rotarian advocacy for government support can help enormously.

As long as polio threatens even one child anywhere in the world, children everywhere remain at risk. The stakes are that high.

"If we all have the fortitude to see this effort through to the end, then we will eradicate polio."

- Bill Gates
 
What does Rotary do?
Here's what Rotary is doing in communities all over the world: