Who Are We?

Rotary Club of Novato Sunrise is one of many Rotary clubs throughout the world. Here is a brief summary of Rotary worldwide.

Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. In more than 160 countries worldwide, approximately 1.2 million Rotarians belong to more than 30,000 Rotary clubs.

Rotary club membership represents a cross-section of the community's business and professional men and women. The world's Rotary clubs meet weekly and are nonpolitical, nonreligious, and open to all cultures, races, and creeds.

The main objective of Rotary is service — in the community, in the workplace, and throughout the world. Rotarians develop community service projects that address many of today's most critical issues, such as children at risk, poverty and hunger, the environment, illiteracy, and violence. They also support programs for youth, educational opportunities and international exchanges for students, teachers, and other professionals, and vocational and career development. The Rotary motto is Service Above Self.

Although Rotary clubs develop autonomous service programs, all Rotarians worldwide are united in a campaign for the global eradication of polio. In 1985 when Rotary began it's campaign to eradicate polio There were over a 1000 children a day dying from Polio, in 2001 there were less than 2000 cases for the year.

Our goal is to compleatly immunize the children of the world by 2005, Rotary's centenary year and the target date for the certification of a polio-free world, the Rotarians will have personally contributed US$500 million to this cause. The Escondido Sunrise Club alone has donated over $60,000. In addition, Rotary has provided an army of volunteers to actually give the drops of life in national immunization days in polio-endemic countries around the world.

The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International is a not-for-profit corporation that promotes world understanding through international humanitarian service programs and educational and cultural exchanges. It is supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and others who share its vision of a better world. Since 1947, the Foundation has awarded more than US$1.1 billion in humanitarian and educational grants, which are initiated and administered by local Rotary clubs and districts.


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For comprehensive Rotary information visit www.rotary.org