Rotaract

From: A Tradition of Fellowship and Service – The Rotary Club of San Francisco at 100
written by Theresa Whitener and published in 2008 by The Rotary Club of San Francisco

Chapter 5 pages 145-147

"While Interact offers a first-rate opportunity for service and friendship in the teen years, young adults are usually not yet professionally qualified for membership in a Rotary club. To bring continuity to this line of service opportunity, RI began an organisation called Rotaract, open to young men and women aged eighteen to thirty."

Rotaract has a historical predecessor in the "20-30" clubs – Rotary sponsored service clubs for junior professionals and university students aged twenty to thirty. Begun in Sacramento in 1922, approximately 125 20-30 clubs were located in California and elsewhere at one point. SF Rotary sponsored the fourth club in the United States. Before he joined SF Rotary in 1949, Past President Bob Lee belonged to a 20-30 club.

Present day Rotaract begun in a club in North Carolina in 1968, and today has 163,000 members in more than 7,000 clubs around the world. Through the Rotaract program, young adults develop their teamwork and leadership skills, and enjoy the company of others sho find satisfaction in serving the needs of their communities. Rotaractors are also committed to promoting world understanding and peace through Rotary ideals of international friendship. Rotaract clubs are usually community based or university based. They are sponsored by a local Rotary club, and have access to the many resources of RI.

Upon hearing of the new Rotaract idea in 1968, SF Rotary’s board considered sponsoring a Rotaract club for San Francisco, and in succeeding years several were formed – at the University of San Francisco (USF), Golden Gate University (GGU), and the Weller School of Management. For a time, each club conducted community-service activities, but – as was the case with the several Interact clubs – they did not survive because, when their members concluded their education, they often moved out of their area. In 1995, SF Rotary’s board decided to establish another club, hoping that a community based club would fare better. Such a citywide club was chartered in 1998, but did not last. Another was formed in 2004. Natasha Valentova, its first president, had been a member of the earlier club while she was an Ambassadorial Scholar. SF Rotarians Howard Waits and Tom Purcell attended meetings of the new club and helped it gain its footing. Howard hosted biweekly meetings at his company’s office space in the Financial District. The Rotaract Club of San Francisco received its RI charter later that year.

The new club took up community service immediately, working with the East Rotary Club of Oakland to rebuild a widowed women’s home in Oakland. For its first international-service project, it produced and sold business cards to raise money for scholarships and school supplies for disadvantaged children in Goma, Congo. Rotaract members also helped SF Rotary with its book drive and other programs.

The Rotaract club has gained new members and progressed well. Rotaractors now work on several projects at a time. Their latest community-service projects included partnering with two other nonprofit organisations tointroduce the fun of filmmaking to mentally challenged children. For their most recent international-service project, club members held two fund-raising events. The money raised – more than double the anticipated amount- was given to help fund a SF Rotary-sponsored microcredit project in Nigeria.

Rotaract members participate regularly in SF Rotary’s projects and functions, such as the AIDS Walk and the annual spring fund-raising auction. They are very involved with Camp Enterprise, working alongside Rotarians as camp counsellors. Although sponsored and advised by SF Rotary, they extend their service efforts to projects by other Rotary clubs as well. Recently, the Rotaract Club helped renovate a small preparatory school in Oakland. Rotaractors also attend the RI Convention, district conference, and district RI Foundation fund raiser each year, as well as other Rotary events. Representatives from North American Rotaract clubs attend the United States, Canada and Caribbean Conference (USCC), an annual regional event of more than four hundred Rotaract clubs that work together to develop within the framework of “Service above Self”. Rotarians and an RI representative advise the conference and help the hosting Rotaract clubs conduct plenary sessions, workshops, social events, and a community service event.

Most Rotaract members join to meet people and have fun in addition to service. Many have made close friendships, and the club enjoys regular events for socializing. The club is particularly ethnically diverse, and makes a point of having dinners at restaurants that are representative of the cultural backgrounds of its members. In addition to service and socialability, Rotaractors are concerned with self-development. Guest speakers at club meetings talk on such topcs as career development and communication. Rotarians speak at the club's meetings on the history of Rotary and other Rotary-related topics.

Together, Interact and Rotaract complete Rotary's chain of providing opportunity to serve others. SF Rotaractors recently mentored young people in a "College & Beyond" panel and workshop with the Interact Club at S. R. Martin school. Rotaractors strive to strengthen the relationship between the two groups and to provide insight to Interact members as to what Rotaract does. Through this effort, they hope to encourage the Interact members to join Rotaract when they reach the appropriate age. Rotary in turn looks upon Rotaractors as the Rotarians of the future.

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From the book: A Tradition of Fellowship and Service – The Rotary Club of San Francisco at 100, written by Theresa Whitener and published in 2008 by The Rotary Club of San Francisco,