What Is Rotary?

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 What is Rotary?

Rotary is a worldwide organization of business and professional leaders that provides humanitarian service, encourages high ethical standards in all vocations, and helps build goodwill and peace in the world. Approximately 1.2 million Rotarians belong to more than 31,000 Rotary clubs located in 166 countries. Rotary clubs meet weekly, are nonpolitical, nonreligious, and open to all cultures, races and creeds. The Morrisville Rotary has exemplified the Rotary motto of "Service Above Self" since its incorporation over 80 years ago.

Supporting Our Community

Morrisville Rotarians worked behind the scenes on the Morrisville bi-centennial celebration in 2004, raising funds for the Robert Morris statue and the musical, "The Man Who Bought a Country". They have helped the Morrisville Historic Society make improvements at Summerseat and have worked on improvements to the home of Actors Net, the Heritage Center. 

Morrisville Rotarians can be found conducting the Annual Easter Egg Hunt (a 70 year tradition), selling hotdogs at the Labor Day Family Picnic, Community Day and other local events. They can be found working with community  representatives to sponsor an annual Carnival and Octoberfest and sponsoring Casino Night to raise funds for the club's many service projects

You can find them ringing Salvation Army bells at Christmas, supporting the Ivins House and the agencies occupying the offices, supplying pumpkins for the YMCA annual Halloween program, helping the "Y" in its Healthy Kids program and serving food at the Trenton Food Kitchen.

Numerous community service and charitable organizations benefit from their fundraising efforts.

Supporting Our Youth

Supporting our youth is a high priority in Rotary. Student Service is recognized through awards to deserving Morrisville High School students. Students are sponsored by the club to attend a weeklong youth leadership training program in the Poconos. The club has contributed to the Pennsbury Scholarship Foundation. Morrisville Rotarians also can be found reading the "I Like Me" books to children in the Morrisville public and parochial schools, to support literacy and reading. The book is personalized for each participating child and is provided free by the club. And for third graders the club gives dictionaries.

Another reading program is the reading of Dr. Seuss books to first and second graders on the birthday of Dr. Seuss. The books are then donated to the school library. This is a joint project by local Rotarians and members of the Interact Club in Morrisville High School. Interact is an organization of high school youth sponsored by Rotary and supported by volunteer advisors which embodies the Rotary value of "Service Above Self" as it takes on many successful projects helping others.

And the club makes a point of recoginizing the leadership of the area Scouting organizations for their contributions to the development of our youth.

Supporting Our World

Morrisville Rotarians do not limit their involvement to the local community, however. The club and its members continue to make substantial contributions to and participate in Rotaplast, a program that sends volunteer surgeons and staff to remote parts of the world to correct cleft palates and lips. Members also support and have participated in the Wheelchair Foundation, which provides wheelchairs specially designed for rough rural terrain at no charge to the poor and crippled around the world. And they support ShelterBox which provides emergency shelters and supplies for disaster areas worldwide. The club members continue to generously support the Rotary Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation that promotes world understanding through thousands of international humanitarian service programs and educational and cultural exchanges. One of the major programs is Polio  Plus, a worldwide, $500 million effort that is eradicating polio from the face of the earth. Since 1947, the Foundation has awarded more than $1.1 billion in humanitarian and educational grants. Most of the club members are Paul Harris Fellows, which means that each one has donated $1000 or more to the Foundation in his or her name or the name of a family member.

Getting Involved

The regular weekly meetings of the Morrisville Rotary are at Michael's Restaurant, starting at 6:15 PM for dinner and fellowship and to hear an interesting and informative speaker.  Those interested in learning more about Rotary are cordially invited to contact Andy Thompson at 215-826-1599, or at andythompson@verizon.net.   

The 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:

The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;

High ethical standards in business and profession; the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations; and the dignity of each Rotarian's occupation as an opportunity to serve society;

The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian's personal, business and community life;

The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.

Find out more about Rotary by visiting the Rotary International web site.

General Information on this page came from:

The About Rotary and the RI Programs pages on the Rotary International web site