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North Mason Rotary Club

What is a Rotary Club:
Rotary is an organization of business and professional persons united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build good will and peace in the world.

1. Rotary is a business and professional service club operating in four avenues of service; Club, Vocational, Community and International. With headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, Rotary International is governed by a president and a board of directors elected from zones throughout the approximately 160 countries of the world. A magazine, "The Rotarian@, is published monthly for distribution to members. Our club is part of Rotary District 5020 that encompasses all of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, the Kitsap Peninsula, the Olympic Peninsula, and western Washington south to Woodland.

2. The NM Rotary Club meets every Thursday from noon to 1pm at the Lakeside Bistro' in LakeLand Village, Allyn. You must be free to attend these meetings. Sixty percent is the key number concerning attendance. 60% attendance is required as a minimum, but a much better attendance than that is expected. The average attendance for our district is well above 80%. You are required to be present for 60% of each meeting to get credit for attendance. If you must miss a meeting, you may attend a regular meeting of any Rotary Club in the world either two weeks before or after the date of the meeting you miss and receive credit for attendance at your own club. Finally, 60% of the meetings attended must be at your own club.

3. Rotary bars no one because of race, creed, sex, or national origin - - it encourages members to take an active interest in government, civic and community affairs, but does not expect Rotary to be used for politics or support for any particular faith or special interest.

4. Membership is based on a classification of a business or profession. In order to get a broad representation of community life, usually only one member is chosen from each specific classification. Members are chosen because they are leaders in their particular field in the community. To be eligible, a prospective member must hold an executive, managerial or ownership position in their profession.

5. Our club is governed by a president, president-elect, immediate past president, secretary, treasurer, and a board of directors. The president serves a one-year term and is responsible to the district governor who is an official of Rotary International also elected each year. You are urged to attend the district conferences and district assemblies in order to learn more about Rotary and enjoy the fellowship.

6. Various committees carry out club activities. You will be assigned to at least one committee and will be expected to be active in its work. Our club's vitality, also your satisfaction and enjoyment with Rotary will be a direct result of your work on club committees and the other activities of the club.

7. An initiation fee of $50 will be required upon entry into the club. Dues are $160 per year, payable on a semi-annual basis. Lunches are $7.00, paid directly to the provider. Guests are billed $7.00 for lunch. Social activities are paid on a cost share basis by those attending.

8. There are several club fund raising events that occur on a yearly basis and form the core of our yearly club charitable income. In each case you will have a financial commitment to meet. First is our annual Taste of Hood Canal community festival held the 2nd Saturday in August. For this event you will be expected to participate the entire day and participate in the preparatory work prior to the actual event. The Club may hold other fundraisers that you'll be expected to participate in.

9. The Rotary Foundation is a foundation for peace that is built of many small efforts to advance understanding and goodwill among people of different nations and to improve the quality of life. Each Rotary member is encouraged to support these and other exceptional world charitable activities by donating to the Rotary Foundation.

You may become a Paul Harris Fellow by donating, or having a donation made in your name, a sum of $1,000 to The Rotary Foundation. This may be done over a period of years (normally 10). As noted, this is encouraged but not required and about 50% of our members are currently Paul Harris Fellows or are Sustaining Members making annual contributions to reach their Fellowship.

10. Rotary is not a fraternal organization, so it has no secrets. We have no initiation as such, but you will be officially welcomed into our club. You take no oath, but good citizenship; the highest ethical standards in your business or profession, and participation in the club activities are expected of you. When you become a member, you will be given a name badge to wear at meetings with your name and classification. Initially this will be a red badge to more readily identify you as a new member of our club and enable our current members to introduce themselves.

To graduate to the normal blue badge you will be expected to carry out a few activities that will introduce you more fully to Rotary and to our club. You will be required to:

• Attend a meeting of one of the other clubs in the area to acquaint you with both these clubs and the method to make up missed meetings;
• Give a classification talk - a brief, 10-15 minute talk at a club meeting to tell the other members a little about you, your family, and your profession;
• Attend a board of directors meeting to acquaint yourself with the detailed workings of the club. All members are welcome to attend board meetings at any time;
• Be Fine Master for one meeting
• Participate in a Club Service Program
• Attend a Fireside

These are only a few brief facts, but we hope they will help you know a little of what you may expect of us and we of you.

For further information contact Mark Christel 275-3666 or Lori Severson 275-2474.

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