Welcome to the world of Rotary International. While you
may initially think of Rotary as a local group of interesting people who
meet weekly and hear a speaker, Rotary International is much more. It
began as and continues to be an exceptional service and social networking
institution in your community.
As a member of your Rotary Club you are a part of Rotary
International and as such you are welcomed at any meeting of a Rotary Club
around the world. Even though its headquarters is in Evanston, Ill. only
one-third of the world's Rotarians live in the US.
Hopefully, this web site will help you quickly learn
the scope, terminology and operating methods of Rotary International (RI)
and its related non-profit funding organization called the Rotary
Foundation (TRF).
Rotary International has a number of specific programs
that connect Rotarians far beyond the city limits of your town.
RI operates under one President, one Board of Directors
and one set of policies and procedures around the world. You are a member
of a truly a world-wide organization.
Rotary International President
2011-2012
Kaylan Banerjee
Vipi,
Gujarat, India
Kalyan Banerjee, from the Rotary Club of Vapi,
Gujarat, India President of Rotary International , is a member of Rotary
since 1972, is Rotary’s 101st President and its third President from
India. Kalyan believes that Rotary’s strengths include its ability to
attract leaders from different vocations around the world as well as its
role in promoting peace. “My goal is for Rotary to become the preferred
organization for today’s generation to join and participate in to make the
world better, safer and happier” he said. in a recent interview. “Rotary,
it is said, has the strength of a government and the tenderness of a
parent,” he added.
Kalyan has served Rotary as a Director, Rotary
Foundation Trustee, Committee and Task Force Chair, International Assembly
Group Discussion Leader, President’s Representative, and District
Governor.
Kalyan has served as a member of the International
PolioPlus Committee for many years and has attended international meetings
with the World Health Organization and UNICEF in that capacity. As the
past Chair of the Southeast Asia Regional PolioPlus Committee and member
of Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee, Kalyan spearheaded many of
Rotary’s novel initiatives, which have given a new push to the polio
eradication program in India.
Kalyan is a Major Donor, Benefactor, and Bequest
Society member, and has been awarded the Foundation’s Citation for
Meritorious Service and its Distinguished Service Award.
Driven by Kalyan’s vision, the Rotary Club of Vapi,
through its Educational and Medical Trusts has transformed the social
infrastructure of Vapi. Kalyan is a Director of United Phosphorous
Limited, the largest Indian agrochemical manufacturer, and Chair of United
Phosphorous (Bangladesh) Limited. He is a member of the Indian Institute
of Chemical Engineers and the American Chemical Society, a Past President
of Vapi Industries Association, and former Chair of the Gujarat chapter of
the Confederation of Indian Industry. He earned a degree in chemical
engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Kalyan’s
wife, Binota, is a social worker and Inner Wheel club member. They have
two children and four grandchildren.
Rotary International Director
2010-2012
John Smarge
John Smarge has been a Rotarian and resident of
Naples, Florida since 1981. His classification is Moving and Storage. John
and his wife Cindy are Major Donors, Bequest Society Members and Paul
Harris Society Members.
John graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University
with a degree in Entrepreneurial Management. At the age of twenty-two,
John left his home state of New Jersey, moved to Naples, FL and purchased
a year old struggling moving company. His multi-office operation handling
local, interstate and international moving is now the largest relocation
business in SW Florida.
Professionally John was named a National Moving and
Storage Association Young Executive Fellow. He has served as a Board
Member of the Florida Movers and Warehousemen Association, as a Regional
Director of the Southern Community Bank. He has three (3) times been
recognized as North American Van Lines Top Quality Agent.
John served as President of The Rotary Club of Naples
in 1992-93 and as District 6960 Governor in 1995-96. He is currently
Rotary International Director for 2010-2012 and serves as the Chairman of
the Rotarian Action Groups Committee.
A Brief Rotary History
The world's first service club, the Rotary Club of Chicago, Illinois, USA,
was formed on 23 February 1905 by Paul P. Harris, an attorney who wished to
recapture in a professional club the same friendly spirit he had felt in the
small towns of his youth. The name "Rotary" derived from the early practice of
rotating meetings among members' offices.
Rotary's popularity spread throughout the United States in the decade that
followed; clubs were chartered from San Francisco to New York. By 1921, Rotary
clubs had been formed on six continents, and the organization adopted the name
Rotary International a year later.
As Rotary grew, its mission expanded beyond serving the professional and
social interests of club members. Rotarians began pooling their resources and
contributing their talents to help serve communities in need. The organization's
dedication to this ideal is best expressed in its principal motto: Service Above
Self. Rotary also later embraced a code of ethics, called The 4-Way Test, that
has been translated into hundreds of languages.
During and after World War II, Rotarians became increasingly involved in
promoting international understanding. In 1945, 49 Rotary members served in 29
delegations to the United Nations Charter Conference. Rotary still actively
participates in UN conferences by sending observers to major meetings and
promoting the United Nations in Rotary publications. Rotary International's
relationship with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) dates back to a 1943 London Rotary conference that
promoted international cultural and educational exchanges. Attended by ministers
of education and observers from around the world, and chaired by a past
president of RI, the conference was an impetus to the establishment of UNESCO in
1946.
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 2005 Rotary had 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. The organization
admitted women for the first time (worldwide) in 1989 and claims more than
90,000 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, over 1.2 million Rotarians belong to
some 31,000 Rotary clubs in 166 countries.
