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Welcome to Rotary Wessex  District 1110

Covers most of Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands, and parts of Dorset and Wiltshire

Welcome to the new Rotary Year 2017/18 which starts on the 1st July

Rotary is about helping communities through our network of clubs. It is a non-religious and non-political organisation comprised of both men and women. There are 76 clubs in our area and they do some fantastic work each year. We raise approximately £2.2million each year and spend around 40,000 hours helping the less fortunate in our communities, true service above self - our motto.

Our clubs comprise ordinary people from our communities wanting to put something back and who get pleasure from seeing someone do something they couldn't do before Rotary came along.

Our clubs meet as and when they need to in order to progress their events and projects. Clubs are actively looking to partner with Businesses and Community Organisations in order to help make their communities better places in which to live. Businesses can deliver their Corporate Social Responsibilty through Rotary by becoming a business partner which allows them to tick the CSR box when tendering for government work.

Businesses can contribute by giving money, time or goods and services to help a project, such as Elliotts helping with the Avonway project with building supplies, or Harvest Foods supplying food for the Young Chef competition, and they will get recognition on the club website as well as on the project itself. Businesses either contribute in kind, or from as little as £50-£150 per annum (set by the club) to become a business partner, and further engagement with hands on time, for example, is as they wish.

We also have started a CSR accreditation scheme to recognise contributions from businesses partners. Please contact your local club for details.

We also have our own Foundation charity which spends and receives $1million a day supporting sustainable projects and it has only an 8% administration overhead. Which other charity can you name that achieves that?

All our project money is handled through partnering clubs in other countries therefore keeping money out of the hands of other governments, which means 100% goes to the project the money is alloocated to.

We are a world wide player, with 1.2 million of us in over 200 countries, we started UNICEF and have a seat on the United Nations. We have partnered with the World Health Organisation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and have been working tirelessly to eradicate the crippling disease of Polio. To give you an example we organise immunising 170 million children in a week in India - quite mind boggling.

We support young people with our youth competitions, Young Chef, Young Writer, Young Musician, Young Technologist, Young Photographer, Youth Speaks and if they win the local competitions they could enter the national ones.

We are keen to support young people to do projects in their community. 7-11 years old through "Rotakids" in school clubs, 2-18 through Interact also in schools, and 18-30's through Rotaract in University and beyond, each of these age groups run community projects, and Interact is a Duke of Edinburgh scheme approved provider. The minimum age to join a Rotary club is 18. If you can't find time to join a club and go to a meeting there is the option of joining as an e-member, where you can contribute electronically.

When we are doing projects or events, all our community activities are fully insured nationally as part of our membership fee which is only just under £10per month, or in equivalent terms: 4 cups of Americano at a reputable coffee house.

What else do members gain? Public speaking skills, project management skills, self confidence, and leadership skills, all courses that business pay thousands for, and of course you gain a bunch of new friends and have a whole load of fun. Members are also entitled to visit any other club in the world whether away on business or just on holiday, giving you new friends and help, if you need it, all over the world.

Why not talk to Rotary? There will be a club nearby to your local community 

Mike Sanders

District Governor 2017/18

mike.sanders@create-media.co.uk

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