Rotary Club of St. Thomas, Ontario Canada

If Rotary was a watch - COMMUNITY SERVICE would be the mainspring. Every Rotary Club, large or small, in every country is engaged in a community project of some nature. This Avenue of Service is where clubs and members exercise their community leadership. They see a need - they act - in working with and sponsoring youth centers, Boy and Girl Scout Troops, Boy's and Girl's State, traffic safety, cultural development, community beautification, fire prevention, home safety, assistance to the aged, etc. The list is endless - only limited by the imagination and desire to serve by the members in a Rotary Club.

The Rotarian Magazine each month describes and pictures COMMUNITY SERVICE world-wide - U.S. Clubs promoting free enterprise through essay contests and seminars for students and teachers - Clubs in Mexico raising funds for construction of a home for mentally challenged children - camps operated in England for handicapped children with special therapy equipment and trained staff. The list goes on and on.

A community survey by a committee from the local Rotary Club will result in a list of many areas where help can be used - where people (the young, the handicapped, the aged) will be so receptive to a service that persons like Rotarians can furnish. Some projects may require money and a matching drive to obtain funds must be devised - other projects require only time or thought and the desire to serve others. Do not think that everyone is taken care of now by Government agencies - the person-to-person concern that can be shown by individuals and Clubs of Rotarians will never be equaled by a bureaucracy.

Playgrounds furnished - parks built - bicycle safety classes - driver training - drug abuse information - the list grows: vision and learning testing in the schools - athletic programs - citizenship and patriotism essay contests - weekly flowers to a retirement home - legal and medical advice clinics - take an old-timer to a ball game - or take that same old-timer to get his hair cut or his wife to the beauty salon.

There is no Rotary Club anywhere that does not have a talent-laden membership who can easily fill a community need!! The list is endless.