The Madison Rotary has been helping the local community with various worthwhile projects since 1925, and took on the youth leadership and scholarship program as their principal project 20 or so years ago. Since that time, the Madison Rotary Club has helped dozens of local youth who needed financial help with their college education. The Madison club has raised well over $120,000 for leadership programs and scholarships, enhancing the educational benefits for youth right here at home.
Over the years, you may have seen the Rotarians serving pancakes, or sponsoring a very nice strings concert at Riverview, sponsoring a golf tournament, or working in various other projects within the community. As they volunteered their time, they were not only enjoying the fellowship of those who participated, they were also collecting donations to fund scholarships and other worthy programs.
Since I became a Rotarian nearly 15 years ago, I have learned much about Rotary and its many programs that help improve the lives of people—not only locally but also nationally and internationally as well. Like most people who only know that the organization is made up of business and professional leaders who meet weekly and have lunch, I learned about the scope of work Rotary does through local clubs and on the national and international levels.
The more I learned the more respect I had for this worldwide organization that provides humanitarian service, encourages high ethical standards in all vocations, and helps build goodwill and world peace.
The Madison Rotary Club and the Whitesville Rotary Club in Boone County are not unlike Rotary clubs throughout the United States and in over 160 other countries. Local Rotary club members are among the 1.2 million Rotarians worldwide who work to make their communities a better place by sponsoring projects that benefit youth through scholarships, instilling leadership, and providing funding for other worthwhile community projects.
While these are wonderful causes and much needed on the local level, there is so much more to Rotary’s work through its international organization and the Rotary Foundation.
Rotary is perhaps best known for its role in the polio eradication initiative to protect children all over the world from this cruel disease. Rotary International, the top private-sector donor and volunteer arm of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, has contributed $700 million to end polio worldwide since the program began in 1985. Rotary and partner agencies have achieved a 99 percent reduction in the number of polio cases around the world.
This is one of Rotary’s great success stories, and while the organization is proud of the polio accomplishment and continues it work in that area, Rotary’s humanitarian work increases as many needs arise.
Rotarians can be found drilling wells in disadvantaged countries so people can have clean drinking water, and serving daily meals to children who otherwise would go hungry. Rotarians help blind people become a part of the digital world, and they sponsor orphanages for homeless children. Rotarians give a helping hand in natural disasters. They help educate people, and promote goodwill, understanding, and peace throughout the world, through their Rotary World Peace Fellowships and Group Study Exchange programs. All these, and many other Rotary initiatives, make Rotary one of the most respected volunteer organizations in the world.
The Madison Rotary Club extends a sincere ‘thank you’ to businesses, organizations, and individuals who support Rotary-sponsored projects that help the community and our youth.
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