The Rotary Foundation The beacon of Rotary

We can say with no fear to be wrong that our Rotary Foundation is the Beacon that enlightens the pathways of Rotary.

And the flame that produces the light of this beacon is the solidarity.

When we stimulate and make it raise in Rotarians and in the mind of those that we are able to motivate the value of solidarity, we are enlightening in the deepest of their soul the love to their neighbors. This flame that makes the projects that best serve the community we serve to be idealized. These projects through which we are able, like their own name express, to project the through public image of our organization.

The projects, leveraged by the Rotary Foundation grants, empower the service we render and exemplify our action. Similarly to the acquired knowledge that guides the civilization, the projects produced through the globalized solidarity allowed by the Rotary Foundation, are the light that guides the Rotary service.

Solidarity, differently from charity, is not driven by the idea of those who have more to those that have less. It is driven by the understanding and comprehension that levels and make us learn with our neighbors and pay respect to them, restoring their dignity.

Solidarity is a trace of character and Rotarians have it in abundance in their duty of responsible citizenship. While developing it in its plenitude we understand that we cannot expect anything in return. Because in this life we understand that we are always in need of someone and there is always someone needing us.

Nowadays and forever there is and will be the need of a protagonist leadership in Rotary, compromised and motivated and capable to motivate others.

The most evident attributes of this leadership are and must be:

The practice of ethics and the development of mutual trust, execrate corruption, as a conscientious choice towards the common well being;

Education and literacy as an aspiration to knowledge, which is already one of our area of focus to projects in the new grants structure;

Health as an aspiration, with focus on child and maternal care and mitigation of diseases and with our highest priority which is the eradication of polio;

The promotion of peace and conflict resolution through the preparation of hundreds of peace scholars that will join us in helping to promote cultural changes, changing our own attitude in face of the growing violence, developing a culture of peace;

The developing of significant projects, in a innovative and enriched way to the communities on the area of responsibility of each of our clubs;

The development and growth as the angular stone to the spread of solidarity, because the more citizens we are able to motivate, or to join us, or even to partner with us, greater will be our capacity to serve, make the difference and leave a legacy;

The amplification of our capacity to communicate and build trust on what we do, on the values and principles we believe in, interconnecting us with humanity;

We must meditate on these points to in a more complete way exert this competent and needed leadership that is expected from us. This leadership that can allow us to affirm through our actions, that they are the beacon that lights the way of Rotary service.

The heart of Rotarians is only greater than their competence to serve.

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The Endowment Fund Our Legacy of Gratitude

It is good to have a community that one can call as his own, as it is also good to be in a community. It gives us a very warm feeling and a sheltered comfort. Rotary Clubs are created to pay attention to a community in its well defined philanthropic area of action. The community in which we live and act is like a roof that protects us from bad weather.

The evolution of this concept, allow us to define nowadays a virtual community in which we can have “one million friends” with which we can be connected electronically, but that offer us the risk to seclude us from them and retire our self into an individuality that conduct us to silos that begin to look like the denial of the community.

Rotary and its Rotary Foundation offers opportunities to Rotarians that conquered their effective individuality and are capable to solve their problems with independence, including financial independence, to get out of their silos and help to build a community insurance against individual misfortune.

They move from a posture of charity by obligation to a posture of brotherhood philanthropy, joining themselves to those who are determined to help those in need.

It is the Endowment Fund (old Permanent Fund), that gives us the opportunity to dispose of what we have to do good in the world in a permanent way. This fund is guarantee of perpetuity of our philanthropic action. When we convince ourselves and our family that we

must dispose through a legacy, something we bought or built, we will be exerting by anticipation a high level of gratitude.

It makes me remember the story of that little girl that had as a purpose to give as a gift to her older sister that after the death of her mother started to take care of her younger brothers and sisters, giving up even the time given to take care of her own. The chosen gift was a very expensive necklace. The jeweler analyzing the situation agreed to receive the few coins and make the transaction that looks like unviable and not lucrative at all.

The sister that received the gift, came in the following day to give the necklace back, declaring to the jeweler that she knew that her little sister did not have the money to pay for that necklace.

The jeweler took the case that contained the necklace, wrapped it up with a shined golden paper and gave it back to the young lady telling her that the commercial transactions on his store were confidential and declared: “She gave all that she’ve got”. Exerts your opportunity of gratitude that was offered to you in a privileged way and make a donation to the Endowment Fund and be sure to guarantee the sustainability of our actions to do good to the community we serve.