Daily litter walk improves your health, and your community

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Rotary International

Robin Roberts picks up trash during his daily litter walk.

By Robin Roberts, a member of the Rotary Club of Mobile West, Mobile, Alabama

Would you like an a easy way to change the world? What if there was a project you could start today, in your own neighborhood regardless of where you live? Implementing it requires no fundraising and no committee approval. You can take part starting today. It improves your mind, body and spirit and improves your environment too.

Here’s the idea: Every day take a daily litter walk. You will be happier, you will be leaner, and your community will be cleaner. Continue reading →

Delegates praise Council on Legislation

Video

Delegates from Rotary’s 532 districts are gathered in downtown Chicago 21-26 April to consider changes to the policies that govern Rotary International and its member clubs. The Council on Legislation meets every three years to debate proposals submitted by Rotary clubs, districts, and the RI Board of Directors.

Paul Harris on the role of friendship in Rotary

Quote

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Rotary International

“If you have the love of your fellow men in your hearts, my friends, you are a potential Rotarian.”

Paul Harris

On 27 June, Rotary founder Paul Harris gave a live radio broadcast from the 1933 convention in Boston. Near the end of his talk, Harris noted that Rotary is a way of life and the world is full of potential Rotarians.

Celebrate Harris’s birthday on 19 April by listening to his message. How will you share his vision with prospective members you know? Leave a comment below.

Leading the way for a clean, healthy world on Earth Day

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Rotary International

Members of the Rotary Club of Duluth Superior Eco clean up debris along the St. Louis River.

Members of the Duluth Superior Eco Rotary Club clean up debris along the St. Louis River.

By Mary Kay Bates, a member of the Duluth Superior Eco Rotary Club, and Karen Anderson, club president

We will be spending Earth Day, 22 April, as we have the past several, with members of the Duluth Superior Eco Rotary Club cleaning up debris along our “adopted” river, the St. Louis, which separates Duluth, Minnesota, from Superior, Wisconsin. Continue reading →

Passing the torch for polio eradication

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Rotary International

Rotarians in India join in passing one of the two polio eradication torches.

Rotarians in India join in passing one of the two torches for polio eradication.

By Nilanjan Dutta, past president of the Rotary Club of Ramgarh, Jharkhand, India

From July to December of last year, Rotarians in District 3250 (Bihar and Jharkhand, India) set two torches in motion, one to the northern clubs in our district and the other to the southern clubs, under the direction of our district governor, Rakesh Prasad. The polio eradication awareness torches were accompanied wherever they went by a week of celebrations and rallies raising awareness for polio eradication. Continue reading →

Rotary at its best, raising up leaders to solve the world’s water problems

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Rotary International

By Henk Jaap Kloosterman, a member of the Rotary Club of Voorburg-Vliet, The Netherlands, and district UNESCO-IHE coordinator

We made this video recently about the strategic partnership between Rotary and UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education.

UNESCO-IHE is the only international water management graduate school in the world. Rotary is sponsoring up to eight students a year for any of three master of science programs at the institute in Delft, the Netherlands. Continue reading →

Texas Rotarians light the way to a better future

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Rotary International

By Steve Welch, president of the Rotary Club of Northwest Austin, Texas, USA

In the squatter’s village of San Mateo, Belize, my Rotary club is providing solar lights for more than 100 school children who previously attempted to study by candle light. We are working in partnership with the Grid Earth Project, which was founded by members of our club, a charity dedicated to providing solar powered lighting to replace other dangerous light sources used in remote areas of the world. Continue reading →

A tribute to film critic and Rotary Scholar Roger Ebert

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Rotary International

By Stuart Cleland, RI Senior Video Producer. From 1987-2003, Cleland worked with film critic Roger Ebert on the television programs “Siskel & Ebert” and “Ebert & Roeper.” Ebert, who died 4 April, was a Rotary Scholar to South Africa in 1965 and taped a tribute to Rotary in 1998, portions of which are above.

I started reading Roger Ebert in the 1960s. I started watching him in the 1970s. And much to my surprise, I started working with him in the 1980s.

I was lucky enough to join the “Siskel & Ebert” show during its golden age. With their trademark “Two thumbs up/down” reviews, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were certainly the most well known and arguably the most influential film critics in America. The show appeared in almost 200 markets. Gene and Roger were quoted in newspaper and television ads, and regularly appeared on Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” and David Letterman’s “Late Night.” Continue reading →

Eye camps help schoolchildren in Mumbai

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Rotary International

Students line up for eye screening during one of the health camps.Photo courtesy Rotaract Club of the Caduceus

By Pankaj Jethwani, president of the Rotaract Club of the Caduceus, Mumbai, India. The club’s project, Vision Six by Six, was selected as the 2013 Rotaract Outstanding Project Awards international winner.

In June of last year, I was interacting with a group of kids at a school health camp in Dharavi. There, among uninterested and bored kids, I met Payal. She was bright, talkative, and a lot of fun! But I was surprised with her teacher’s feedback: Payal hated studying.

A quick vision test revealed she had myopia in both eyes. Continue reading →

No border divides us

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Rotary International

Rotarians from India and Sri Lanka exchange club banners during a Friendship Exchange.

By S.K. Saxena, a member of the Rotary Club of Guna (Madhya Pradesh) India, a runner-up in the 2012-13 Rotary Friendship Exchange video contest.

I had the privilege as part of a team of four Rotarians and three spouses to visit our neighbor Rotarians in Sri Lanka, Rotary District 3220. Our main goal through the Rotary Friendship Exchange was to build friendship and goodwill, and bridge the gap between the two countries. Continue reading →

Rotary Voices

Stories of service from around the world