AN INTRODUCTION
TO ROTARY
FOR:
As a new
Rotarian, you are about to embark on one of the most rewarding experiences of
your life, and we of the Emerald City Rotary Club are going to benefit by our
association with you. If you have been a
Rotarian before or are now joining for the first time, you should anticipate
sharing the rewards we enjoy as a result of our efforts as members of the
world's largest service club movement.
This club is comprised of highly distinctive professionals in their
chosen occupations, and you have been invited to join this group of
civic-minded business leaders. We hope
that you will add new energy and will become an active, contributing member of
Emerald City Rotary. WELCOME!
Paul Oden
President
2004-2005
GETTING STARTED
Your Classification is: [Classification]
New Member Orientation Process: The following
steps make up the orientation process and will allow you to “graduate” from the
Red Badge of a new member to the Blue Badge of a full member of the
club:
* Work the Welcome Desk: 4
weeks. Includes serving as a
“Greeter.” A great way to meet your
fellow Rotarians! Contact the Club
Service Chair to schedule your times.
* Classification Talk: You are asked to give
an informal 3-minute talk at a regular Tuesday meeting about yourself (business
and personal) so the rest of the members can get to know you. Schedule directly with the President. Don’t put this off until later...do it now!
* Active Involvement on a Committee:
This requires a very important personal decision. Learn about the many opportunities in the
Avenues of Service and investigate your options carefully. Work
with your
* Attendance at either a District 5030 or our own Club's New Member Orientation
Meeting: .... but preferably both as they provide a good overview of Rotary
activities, priorities, and opportunities for involvement. The schedules for these
meetings will be announced or can be found at the District web site at
www.rotary5030.org.
* Attendance at a Board Meeting: Held second Thursday of each month from
You are encouraged to use your mentor,
as well as the officers and committee chairs, to become more informed and
involved. (A listing of Officers,
Directors and Committee Chairs is included as an attachment at the end of this
notebook.) When you have completed these
requirements, you will be awarded the Blue Badge of a full member of the
club. (These steps should be completed within the first six months of
membership-refer to the checklist also toward the back of this notebook.)
THE BASICS
DUES Your
Invoice for meal/dues and initiation fees will be pro-rated and sent to you by
the Club Treasurer
DIRECTORY You will be asked to provide
information for inclusion in the Club Member ship Directory. The Directory is
published twice each year and contains both business and home contact
information.
BADGE Your
Red Name Badge has been made up with your name and classification. A number is
shown on the reverse side of the Badge and corresponds to a slot in the Name
Badge box.
PIN As
a new member you will receive a Rotary Lapel Pin. You should wear your pin to
all Rotary functions.
SIGN-IN Be sure to record your
weekly attendance by signing the Attendance Sheet found next to the Badge Box.
If you have a Make-up card from another Club meting, you may leave it with the
Sign-In sheet to receive credit.
NEWSLETTER The Club publishes a Newsletter, which
will be sent to you by Fax or by e-mail. Please inform the Newsletter Editor as
to your preferred number and source.
RI MAGAZINE Shortly you will begin to receive the
Rotary International magazine, The
Rotarian, (expect a two-month delay).
“RULES OF THE ROAD”
Attendance: One of the
responsibilities of membership in the Emerald City Rotary Club is faithful
attendance. Regular attendance is a
direct measure of how important Rotary is to you. By the same token, you are
extremely important to the club or you would not have been asked to join. You are encouraged to strive for 100%
attendance. We aim for an overall club
attendance of 90%. The Board may terminate any member whose attendance falls
below 60% for any six-month period of the Rotary year, or misses four
consecutive meetings without a valid reason.
Make
Ups: Any meeting may be made up within the
two weeks preceding or following the regularly scheduled meeting that is
missed. The locations and times for
meetings of other Rotary clubs in the area are listed in the club Directory. The location and times for meetings of Rotary
clubs in cities around the world can be found at www.rotary.org. .
Business
Relationships: Rotarians are banded together for the
purpose of doing service. We are not banded
together as a business network. It is
understood that Rotarians do business with each other, presumably because it is
natural to do business with those you know and trust and who adhere to the
business ethics espoused by Rotary.
However, membership in Rotary does not presume that you will do business
with other Rotarians or that they will do business with you. It is inappropriate to promote your business
in any way in the club.
Club
Directory: Our club regularly publishes a
membership directory that is to be used only for club purposes. The use of the directory for any business
purpose by any member or by any person who might gain a copy is strictly
prohibited.
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:
1.
The development of acquaintances as an opportunity for
service;
2.
High ethical standards in business and professions; the
recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations; and the dignifying by
all Rotarians of their occupations as opportunities to serve society;
3.
The application of the ideal of service by all Rotarians to
their personal, business and community life;
4.
The advancement of international understanding, goodwill
and peace through a world of fellowship of business and professional people
united in the ideal of service.
Service
in Rotary
The motto of Rotary is “Service Above
Self.” Service is what Rotary is all
about and that is why the word “service” is first in our motto. The phrase “above self” means exactly that:
Rotarians put service ahead of their own interests and we serve even when it is
inconvenient or costly.
Although some may believe Rotary is a
club for business, it is, in fact, a club of business people striving to find
ways to serve their community through the Avenues of Service. As a Rotarian, you will derive great
satisfaction in working with your fellow members for the good of the community.
The
4-Way Test
All Rotarians are expected to exemplify
and share the ideals of service within their business or profession. While it seems to be in vogue in government
to spend a great deal of effort talking about ethics and creating new
regulations, the concept of "ethics in business" has been basic to
Rotary since the beginning. Rotarians
are expected to be above reproach in their professional lives whether dealing
within their own offices or with people from other professions or
businesses. For many Rotarians, the
principles of honesty, fairness and benevolence are central to their personal
lives as well as to their professional lives.
The 4-Way Test can be applied to all four Avenues of Service and to
virtually all areas of life.
The 4-Way Test
Is it the Truth?
Is it Fair to all Concerned?
Will it Build Goodwill and Better Friendships?
Will it be Beneficial to all Concerned?
The Rotary Club
of Emerald City (Seattle) was chartered in June of 1986 and in just a few short
years has come to enjoy the reputation of being one of the most active and
dynamic clubs in the Pacific Northwest.
It is a downtown club whose members primarily work downtown (although
they reside throughout the metropolitan area) and give the club a special and
energetic quality.
The success of
this club is a direct result of the dedication and efforts of the members and
their ability to be leaders in their own professions, yet still find time to
direct their organizational and creative talents towards Rotary's four
"Avenues of Service." Sponsors of potential new members, along with
the Membership Committee,
carefully evaluate the ability of those individuals to contribute
to the efforts of the club. Potential and new members should be aware that they
will be expected to contribute more of their time than just the two or so hours
required for the weekly meetings. They should also be confident that the
rewards of membership, while directly proportional to the level of effort,
could be immense.
"DEDICATED TO
THE FUTURE OF OUR COMMUNITY BY SERVING THE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF YOUNG
PEOPLE"
The "business" of the club is
the specific application of the Avenues of Service to improve the quality of
life for people in our community. Through dynamic committee work and various
projects, the club is able to directly benefit many individuals and
organizations within the greater
Community Service Committee: As its primary
project, this committee is furthering the Mission Statement of the club by
working with the principal, teachers and students at
-One on One Tutoring: Rotarians working with students weekly on
their regular schoolwork.
-
-Adopt-a-Teacher Program: Rotarians working with teachers to customize
curriculum, particularly in the Rotarian’s area of expertise.
-Mini-Grants: Two sets of six $500 grants, to be awarded to
teachers for specific projects.
-
-Henry Nielsen Educational Achievement Awards: $1,000 scholarships awarded to two graduating
students each from Hawthorne and Thurgood Marshall Schools, to be used upon
graduation from high school for their continuing education.
-
Vocational Service Committee: This committee’s
main objective is to develop a process whereby Emerald City Rotary Club members
make known their vocational talents, interests, and availability; and those
talents, interests, and availability are then matched to educational/vocational
needs of teachers and students in our service area. Members should complete a vocational profile (to be found
as an attachment to this handbook) and return it to Jennifer Andrews of the
Vocational Service Committee.
Past projects
have included: Project Open Door, a
public awareness program to encourage hiring individuals with disabilities, and
Project Prep, a collaborative effort
with the local business community to stimulate elementary school students’
interest in math and science.
International Service Committee: This committee
coordinates the activities of its various subcommittees, and has the following
projects underway:
-World Community Service: Provides financial support for the Colima,
-Rotary Foundation: Fundraising for Rotary International
projects.
-International Youth Exchange: One
outbound and one inbound high school exchange student.
-Ambassadorial Scholarships: One and Two-Year candidates study abroad
program.
-
Club Service Committee: Covers a broad
spectrum of subcommittees whose key functions are:
1)
To enhance the club's overall vitality through smooth club
administration and operation;
2)
To increase member participation in activities and
committee work; and,
3)
To encourage better communications and cooperation through
all levels of the club.
Subcommittees Include: Attendance, Classifications, Fellowship, Membership & Membership Development, Music, Newsletter, Programs, Public Relations, Directory, Rotary Information, Sergeant-at-Arms, and the Welcome Desk.
Fundraising: Develops, plans,
and organizes member participation in those events that provide our charitable
financial resources.
Additional Club Goals: To have every member get
involved personally, and to have fun and a sense of satisfaction.
The Rotary movement began on
All of the activities of a dynamic
Rotary club are directly connected to one or more of these Avenues of Service.
After World War II, The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International was founded
to foster international understanding through educational and cultural
projects, most notably, the granting of scholarships for international study.
The primary source of funds for those scholarships is the Paul Harris Fellow
Program through which those who contribute $1,000 or more to the Foundation are
recognized. Well over 100 million dollars have been used to fund scholarships
for over 25,000 young men and women in over 130 countries, and more than
110,000 Paul Harris Fellows have been designated. From that one club in
CLASSIFICATIONS
When Paul Harris got together with three
friends on that evening in 1905, the four of them represented diverse professions.
Paul Harris was a lawyer, and the others were a coal dealer, a mining engineer,
and a merchant tailor. They decided that membership in the club would be
limited to one member from each business or profession and from that idea came the concept of classifications, which continues to be a
major part of Rotary. Although several members within the club may represent
any given profession in general, each of those members in turn represents a
significantly different aspect of that profession. Such diversity in a
classification is limited and is carefully reviewed by the club's Board of
Directors. The classification is given to a member on loan for the duration of
his or her active membership. Except in the case of an Additional Active or
Senior Active member, only one individual has a particular classification and
thus represents his or her chosen vocation or profession. Being a downtown
club, we have professionals in law, banking, accounting, real estate
development, insurance, investments, medicine, tourism, and so forth. Still,
there are many classifications that are not represented in the club. In the spirit of enabling the club to be a
true cross section of the business and professional life of the community we continue
to try to identify individuals who have the potential to become actively
participating and contributing members of the club.
The
Admission Process
Membership in a Rotary club is by
invitation only. As the club seeks new,
contributing individuals of different classifications, potential members are
generally identified through business acquaintances. The potential new member
is then invited to attend two or three meetings as a guest of a member. The
member must learn enough about the prospect to determine whether or not that
person should be considered for membership and must complete a Membership
Proposal and return it to the club Secretary. It is important during these
visits that the guest not be publicly identified as a potential member
and the guest should not be told that he or she will be invited to join. It is
the prerogative and responsibility of the Membership Committee to consider the
application of the potential member as provided by the sponsor and investigate
the character, business and social standing in the community and general
eligibility of the person proposed.
The Classification Committee must
determine if the proposed classification is appropriate for the individual's
business or profession. Only after the Board of Directors has received the
recommendations of the Membership and Classification Committees will the
sponsor be authorized to advise the person that he or she is invited to join
the club.
Types
of Memberships
Active:
Active
membership is limited to one person from each classification whose business or
residence is within the territorial limits of the club. He or she must be a
member with discretionary authority of any worthy and recognized business or
profession.
Senior
Active:
An Active member
who has 15 or more years of Rotary membership in this or any other clubs, or
who has reached the age of 60 and has 10 or more years of Rotary membership, or
who has reached the age of 65 and has 5 or more years of Rotary membership
automatically becomes a Senior Active member, thus freeing this classification
for a new person.
Additional
Active:
An Active member
may propose to Additional Active membership a person from the business with
which the holder that classification is associated. Qualifications for
Additional Active membership are the same as those for Active. Also, a former
member of Rotary who has moved into or is conducting business with the club's
territorial limits may be elected to Additional Active membership subject to
the approval of the holder of the same classification.
Past
Service:
Former Active
member of a club whose Active memberships were terminated because of retirement
from business or professional life may be elected to Past Service membership
provided that they had been active members in one or more clubs for at least 5
years.
Honorary:
Persons who
reside in, or have resided within the territorial limits of the club and who
have distinguished themselves by meritorious service in the furtherance of
Rotary ideals there or elsewhere may be elected to Honorary membership in the club.
Honorary members are exempt from payment of admission fees and dues: however
are asked to pay for their meals when they attend a regular meeting. Honorary members have no vote and are not
eligible to hold any office in the club.
Admission
Fees and Dues
The one-time admission fee is
$150.00. The annual dues/meals
assessment is $1,250; of which $625 is payable in January and the same amount
is payable in July. You will receive a bill from the Treasurer
for the admission fee and either one-half or a pro-rata portion of the
semiannual dues/meals charge. Your
membership will be effective on either the 1st or 15th of
the month, whichever is closest to the approval date of your membership by the
Board.
The objective of the Rotary Foundation
is to improve world understanding and peace through sponsorship of
international charitable and educational programs. Charitable programs include Health, Hunger,
& Humanity grants, Polio Plus, special matching grants, and other programs
directed at improving living conditions in foreign lands. Educational programs
include the Group Study Exchange, which provides funding and organizational
support for a team of executives (not all necessarily Rotarians) from a variety of
vocations to visit a foreign country for four to six weeks. Another sponsored activity is the Rotary
Volunteers Program, which subsidizes the expenses of Rotarians and Foundation
alumni who volunteer their services in another country. Additionally, some of the funds given to the
Rotary Foundation are used as scholarships for undergraduate and graduate
students, young business professionals, or those who work with the
handicapped. Districts throughout the
world sponsor one or more individuals to receive scholarships enabling them to
visit a foreign country to pursue additional studies in their field.
In each case, individuals who become
active in one of the Rotary Foundation sponsored programs become “ambassadors
of good will” and are exposed to the life and customs of the study country
through the guidance of Rotarian hosts and their families. These efforts result in camaraderie and
lasting friendship, which helps to realize the Foundation's goal of furthering
international understanding.
Paul
Harris Fellowships
Any member who makes an initial
contribution of at least $100 to the Rotary Foundation with the stated intent
of contributing a total of $1000 over the next ten years becomes a Paul Harris
Sustaining Member. The member will be
recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow when the $1000 level is reached. Alternatively, a member may become a Fellow
with a single $1000 contribution. In
either case, becoming a Paul Harris Fellow brings with it special recognition
before the club in the form of a special certificate, medal, and lapel pin. Multiple fellowships
are also encouraged, with additional recognition bestowed to the $5000 level.
The international world of Rotary is
divided into districts with an average of 52 clubs in each district. Our club
is in District 5030, which is composed of over 46 clubs in King and
District
Governor
There is a District Governor for each
Rotary District. The District Governors are outstanding Rotarians with many
years of service, including having served as club Presidents. During their one-year terms, District
Governors are responsible for promoting the well being of every Rotary club in
their district. They visit every club in the district during their term, and
also serve as an official delegate at the Rotary International Convention. The
District Governor is an officer of Rotary International.
The Emerald City Rotary Club is a member
of Rotary International. We are an independent organization, which is a guided
by the by-laws of Rotary International. We conform to all of the basic
requirements in order to maintain our association with other Rotary clubs
throughout the world. In all local matters we are an independent, democratic
group.
Our club officers are much the same as
other clubs: President, President-Elect, Past President, Secretary and
Treasurer. Our Board of Directors, which meets monthly, is composed of the
above officers, our immediate Past President and six other directors. The
officers and directors are elected at the Annual Meeting. All terms are for one year, except for Secretary and Treasurer,
which are two. The Rotary year begins
July 1st.
Conferences,
Institutes and Conventions
All districts of
Rotary hold a District Conference each spring. It is a
practical and inspirational exchange of ideas relating to the affairs of the
clubs in the district and Rotary International. The District Governor is
elected at the District Conference.
Rotary Institutes are held yearly for
the purposes of:
1. Providing all participants with the accurate,
updated information on
Service activities and
administrative matters of Rotary.
2. Analyzing, strengthening and extending existing
Rotary programs.
3. Studying matters that are of particular
relevance to Rotary in the
Local area.
4. Considering the role of Rotary in the future.
An Annual Convention of Rotary is held
in May or June in order to stimulate, inform and inspire incoming Rotary
International officers, particularly District Governors and club Presidents.
OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS
President Paul
Oden
President-Elect Robert
Keasey
Past President Jim
Bittner
Secretary Dr.
Jennifer Andrews
Treasurer Art King
Bob
Archey
Celeste
Eskridge
Bill
Poole
Sam Southard
Frank Montgomery
Dick
Anderson Club Service
Dick
Ryen International
Service
Bob
Frasier Vocational
Service
Celeste
Eskridge Community Service
Paul
Anderson Community Service
Club
Administrator – Marcia Bartlett
Board Meetings:
Held
the second Thursday of each month at a location to be announced, unless
rescheduled by the president.