Rotary International

Keith Harris is pedaling for a purpose.
At the tender age of 50, he’s set out on an eight-week, 4,400-mile bike ride across the U.S. to raise $25,000 for The Rotary Foundation. He’s also hoping to raise an additional $2,500 for Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where a few years ago he was treated for a life-threatening heart condition.
«The trip is sort of my midlife crisis,» he admits but it’s not the first time he’s pedaled across the country. He made the trek about 20 years ago, before he married his wife, Christina.
Harris has been a Rotary member for 18 years. He’s…

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Rotary International President Gary C.K. Huang and the RI Board have changed the dates for the 2015 Rotary Convention in São Paulo, Brazil, to Saturday, 6 June, through Tuesday, 9 June – starting and ending one day earlier than previously scheduled.
The dates were changed because the original opening day (Sunday, 7 June) coincided with one of the city’s most popular parades. The new start date will dramatically reduce traffic congestion and make it easier for Rotary members to attend the opening plenary sessions. It will also make it convenient to attend our very own Rotary Carnival, a Host…

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At the age of 17, Jennifer was sleeping on the streets of Atlanta.
She’d felt abandoned most of her life, unprotected from her brothers and her mother’s boyfriends, who physically and sexually abused her since she was five. And now, kicked out of her house, Jennifer – whose last name is withheld for privacy – was alone and vulnerable. She was soon lured into sex trafficking and was unable to escape for two years. Then she found Covenant House.
«Studies have shown that if a young person ends up on the street, within 48 hours someone is going to approach them with the intention of exploiting…

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District governors for 2013-14 will continue to have access to reports and information about their year in the District Administration section of Rotary’s website until 30 June 2015.
If you’re an immediate past district governor, you have access to reports on club officers, membership, contributions, and semiannual dues. And you’ll also be able to see the names of 2013-14 assistant governors, club groups, and district chairs.
This extension does not include access to the grant application tool.
If you do not see the menus under District Administration, sign out and sign back in. If you have…

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About 300 miles south of Ciudad Juarez, one of Mexico’s most dangerous cities, is the small town of Guerrero in central Chihuahua. The community is home to the Guerrero Clinic, which has weathered neighboring drug wars and financial setbacks to treat the poor since 1980.
Walter Branson, a member of the Rotary Club of Brazosport, Texas, in the United States, has been involved with the clinic since 1983. Branson says the governor of Chihuahua credits the clinic with providing 60 percent of indigent care in the state.
The drug wars in Mexico, which began in 2006, initially scared away U.S….

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Ron Burton has made the world his office.
Over the past year, the Rotary International president has traveled more than half-a-million miles across 50 countries, to inspire and motivate Rotary’s 1.2 million members. Although many encouraged him to use cheaper, virtual alternatives, he believes it takes face-to-face engagement.
«I was the first president to have a Google Hangout and have done Facebook chats,» Burton says, reflecting on his term, which ends at midnight 30 June. «But I asked Rotarians this year to Engage Rotary, Change Lives, so I needed to live that as well, by sitting at…

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Ever wonder why the Rotary year begins 1 July? The international convention initially played a key role in determining the start date of our fiscal and administrative year.
Rotary’s first fiscal year began the day after the first convention ended, on 18 August 1910. The 1911-12 fiscal year also related to the convention, beginning with the first day of the 1911 convention on 21 August.
At its August 1912 meeting, the Board of Directors ordered an audit of the International Association of Rotary Clubs’ finances. The auditors recommended that the organization end its fiscal year on 30 June to…

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August is Membership Month, which means it’s time to celebrate your Rotary club, your members, and the good you do in your community and around the world.
There are many ways to join in the celebration, but here are a few activities to get you started:
Say it loud, say it proud! Let everyone in your social network know that you are a proud member by changing your Twitter and Facebook profile to the I’m a Proud Member, I’m a Proud Rotaractor, or I’m a Proud Interactor graphic. Copy and save the graphic as your profile picture for August.
Watch and share. Download RI President Gary C.K. Huang’s…

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Gary C.K. Huang never imagined he would become Rotary International’s president when he joined in 1976, but now that he is in office, he hopes to increase membership to 1.3 million by the end of his term.
«It’s simple. The more members we have, the more people we can help. A stronger membership base will result in stronger communities,» says Huang, who on 1 July became Rotary’s first Chinese president.
Huang also hopes his presidential theme, Light Up Rotary, will encourage members to brighten Rotary’s image to the public, which he believes in return will improve member recruitment and…

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As an agent for the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service, Justin Peele applies the education he received in conflict resolution as a Rotary Peace Fellow to a job that puts him in some dicey situations – including one in 2013 in which his actions won him State Department recognition for his courage and decisiveness.
Peele is one of 2,000 DS agents who protect U.S. diplomats and embassies around the world. The Diplomatic Security Service, the law enforcement and security arm of the U.S. State Department, is the most extensive global security agency in the government, operating in more than 160…

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