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ROTARY INTERNATIONAL
Rotary International is an
organisation of business and professional leaders united
worldwide, who provide humanitarian service, encourage high
ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill
and peace in the world. Rotary International’s motto is “Service
above Self”.
A SHORT MESSAGE FROM OUR WORLD
PRESIDENT
Rotary International President 2009-2010 Ray Klinginsmith delivers his message for the year:
Winds of Change
What an amazing world! Advances in technology are happening so
quickly that they cause constant changes in our businesses and
professions. Yet about one-third of the world’s population is still
living at a subsistence level with little change in their lives. It is a
stark contrast and a cause for concern.
Rotary has both a distinguished heritage and a bright future. My
primary task as president is to enhance the vitality and viability of
Rotary clubs and to enable them to succeed in the midst of societal
changes. This is an important task because it is the clubs that address
and alleviate the root problems of society and thereby make the world a
better place.
Wind of change was a new and significant phrase when I
was a Rotary Scholar in South Africa in the early 1960s. It is
serendipitous that the phrase that was first publicized in my host city
of Cape Town is now applicable to Rotary as we contemplate the changes
in society that dictate some corresponding changes in our organization.
The phrase is now better known as winds of change.
We are currently enjoying a culture of innovation at Rotary
International. We have the ability to look at all of our programs and
practices to see if they can be improved, even as we steadfastly
maintain our core values. I hope many Rotarians will take advantage of
this opportunity to identify and implement improvements in their clubs
and districts as well.
Rotary lives and breathes in our 33,000 clubs, and it is the
clubs that improve lives by Building Communities – Bridging
Continents. If we succeed in helping clubs to become Bigger,
Better, and Bolder in the next year, then it will be clear that the best
days of Rotary are still ahead. We are fortunate to be Rotarians!
Together, we can make the world a better place!
WHAT IS ROTARY INTERNATIONAL’S
OBJECTIVE?
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 professions the
recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations and
the dignifying by each Rotarian of their occupation as an
opportunity to serve society
- The application of the ideal of
service by every Rotarian to their personal, business, and
community life
- The advancement of international
understanding, goodwill and peace through a world fellowship
of business and professional persons united in the ideal of
service.
Click Here to
visit Rotary
International Headquarters in the USA
Click Here to visit
Rotary
International in Great Britain and Ireland
Headquarters
Click Here to visit
Rotary
District 1130 Headquarters, Greater London
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Ray Klinginsmith, a retired attorney from
Kirksville, Missouri, USA, served as general counsel and professor of
business administration for Truman State University (formerly Northeast
Missouri State University) for more than 20 years. From 2001 to 2004, he
served as a county commissioner for Adair County.
Ray has served as a director of the Macon-Atlanta State Bank in
Macon, Missouri, since 1971, and he was one of the initial trustees for
the Missouri Family Trust, which the Missouri legislature created in
1989. He was the president of Chariton Valley Association for
Handicapped Citizens since its inception in 1982 until 2009, and is now
president emeritus. He received the 1988 Parent/Caretaker Award from the
Missouri Planning Council for Developmental Disabilities. He is a
former member of the executive board for the Great Rivers Council of the
Boy Scouts of America and the holder of its Silver Beaver Award for
adult volunteers. He is a member of the First United Methodist Church in
Kirksville and a former lay speaker for the church.
A member of the Rotary Club of Kirksville and a Rotarian since
1961, Ray has served Rotary as district governor, chair of the 1998
Council on Legislation in New Delhi, and chair of the 2008 Los Angeles
Convention Committee. He was a member of the RI Board of Directors from
1985 to 1987 and chaired its executive committee in 1986-87. Ray joined
The Rotary Foundation Trustees in 2002, serving as vice chair in
2005-06, and was a member of the Future Vision Committee from 2005 to
2008. Ray is a Major
Donor and a recipient of the Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious
Service and Distinguished Service Award.
Ray’s wife, Judie, is a former elementary school teacher in Macon
and Kirksville and a former consultant for the Child Development
Assistant program at the Kirksville Area Vocational Center. Ray and
Judie have two children, Leigh and Kurt, and three grandchildren,
Morgan, Grant, and Sydney Perkins.
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