Rotary

 

What is Rotary?

Rotary is one of the world’s largest and most successful global membership and humanitarian service organisations. Our global network of 1.2 million neighbours, friends, and leaders volunteer their skills and resources to solve issues and address community needs. We have a unique position of being rooted within our own communities, but with a global outlook.

What do we do?

Where do you start?

Rotary is based round local clubs with local people, who meet regularly to enjoyeach other's company and decide on their own projects. These can be local community projects or international ones. I've been in two clubs, first Clyde Valley and now Motherwell & Wishaw, and been President of both, and I'm currently Assistand Governor for Lanarkshire.

Rotary runs a young musician competition, starting at club level with the local winners going on to regional heats and a UK final. The talent is amazing, and it also gives many students their first opportunity to perform in public.

Motherwell & Wishaw are strong supporters of RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) and support local and international projects ranging from Furniture for Families, suppplying furniture to referred families in need, to the WishWell project, recovering and maintaining water wells in Malawi.

We took the lead in setting up Wrap Up Lanarkshire, a campaign run by local Rotary Clubs in the run-up to winter. Thick warm winter coats are donated to Wrap Up and collected by our volunteers, each garment is inspected to ensure it is clean and in a good condition to be given away and they are then distributed to local charities who pass them to those most in need.

We've supported Shelterbox, sponsored youngsters through business challenge weekends, got schools to sponsor Aquaboxes, taken stands at local gala days, and collected on behalf of End Polio Now, the international campaign to eradicate polio. You may have seen Bill Gates talk about this, but it was started by Rotary.

 Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years. Our goal of ridding the world of this disease is closer than ever. As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we've reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent since our first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979. Rotary members have contributed more countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease. Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort. Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.