Rotary Club of Langley Sunrise

The Object of Rotary

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.

Get involved in your community

Your club offers many opportunities for involvement. Attend your district conference to learn more about Rotary and to celebrate the district’s good works. Host a visiting Group Study Exchange team or help organize your district’s Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program to see what clubs can do when they work together. These activities will help you meet Rotarians outside your club, widen your circle of friends, and expand your service potential.

Get involved globally

Rotary transcends national borders. You can get involved globally by attending the annual RI Convention , where you’ll meet with Rotarians from around the world and get ideas for club activities and service projects. Also consider joining a Rotary Fellowship to network with Rotarians who share your vocation or interests. By participating in international activities, you become part of a global network of professionals seeking world peace and understanding.

Rotary Volunteers

The Rotary Volunteers program is the embodiment of the Rotary motto Service Above Self. It encourages Rotarians to become actively involved in hands-on projects that harness their vocational skills.

*** To purchase Peace is Possible, visit http://shop.rotary.org

March 2009

Message from the chair — Literacy is the key to success

Dear family of Rotary,

Knowing how to read and write can transform a person’s life. These basic skills, which so many of us take for granted, can mean a job, an income, and hope for a better future for those who are struggling to break the cycle of poverty. That’s why Rotary has focused on promoting literacy for more than two decades, and why The Rotary Foundation has provided millions of dollars to support literacy projects.

March is Literacy Month on the Rotary calendar, a time to consider what your club could be doing to boost literacy rates in your community and in communities around the globe. In parts of our world, less than 30 percent of the population can read and write. Many of those people are women and girls who have few opportunities for education and who then cannot teach their own children to read. Even in wealthy countries, you’ll find substandard schools that are failing to adequately teach basic skills and far too many adults who cannot read or write well enough to function effectively in society.

Our Foundation’s Humanitarian Grants Program is at work throughout the world helping many disparate groups gain life-changing literacy skills. Foundation grants are providing books, school supplies, computers, and other educational equipment. With Foundation support, clubs are adopting failing schools and helping them to thrive and developing programs using the concentrated language encounter method that has proven so effective in Thailand and many other countries.

Literacy opens doors to employment and economic security. Let’s use our Foundation resources to provide that essential key.

Jonathan Majiyagbe
Foundation Trustee Chair