Service ABOVE SELF

ROTARY’S MOTTO IN ACTION

The Rotary motto, “Service Above Self,” drives our membership to do good things in our own community as well as for communities around the world. Our membership shares a love of Saratoga with a strong desire to make it better for everyone who lives here. Weekly club meetings not only encourage camaraderie but provide opportunities to network with local business leaders and learn more about our community through a series of scheduled speakers. Rotary welcomes new members at any time.

The Rotary Home & Lifestyle show makes it possible for the Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs to financially support our community’s 501(c)(3) organizations as we strengthen community spirit. The Club expects to raise $90,000 from this year’s event. Over the course of the year, these proceeds are re-distributed to community organizations, educational scholarships and international humanitarian projects.

Rotary Supports Local Non-Profits

The Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs makes monthly and annual financial gifts over the course of each year:

• Monthly Gifts: The club makes charitable contributions in amounts ranging up to $5,000 to hundreds of worthy non-profits each month. We eagerly accept letters describing your organization’s needs other than operating costs. Please include specifics about how Rotary can help.

• Major Gifts: Annually the club makes one or two major gifts of $5,000 or more to area organizations seeking to complete a specific project. Major gift applications for Rotary’s 2023 donations are due by September 1, 2023. Criteria for these donations are explained on the club’s website at saratogaspringsrotary.org. You may also get general information at the Rotary booth on the main floor of the Home & Lifestyle Show.

Rotary Supports International Relief Efforts

Part of Rotary's mission involves donating to world disaster recovery efforts and improving life for citizens in developing countries. The Saratoga Springs Club sent Shelter Boxes for war refugees in Syria and typhoon victims in the Philippines, funded well construction in Rwanda and supported Pure Water for the World.

Rotary Supports Education

The Saratoga Springs Rotary Education Foundation raises funds to give financial scholarships to deserving high school seniors who plan to pursue additional education. The Foundation (SaratogaSpringsScholarships.org) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization which partners with the Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs to award scholarships. In 2022 a total of $85,000 in Scholarships was awarded to 16 high school seniors.

One-year scholarships ranged in amount from $2,500 to $6,000. In addition, one high school senior is selected to receive our Presidential Scholarship. The winner of this award receives $5,000 per year for four years. The 2022 Presidential Award winner is Anitza Parilla, a 2022 graduate of Saratoga Springs High School. Anitza attends Siena College majoring in Chemistry/Pre-Med.

JOIN ROTARY!

Membership in the Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs offers an excellent opportunity for Saratoga area businesses and individuals to make new friends while making a positive impact on the community and the world. The 50+ members of the Club meet the first, second and third Wednesdays of each month for breakfast at Embassy Suites in downtown Saratoga from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. On the fourth Wednesday, members gather in the evening for an informal “happy hour” or a dinner at a local restaurant.

Rotary realizes that people are busy and may not be able to attend every meeting. Obviously the Club encourages good attendance. The more involved you are the more you will learn about all the wonderful things we do. Involvement in our Rotary-sponsored community efforts as well as participating on Club committees will further prove we believe in our motto, “Service Above Self”.

We invite prospective members to join us for breakfast or our evening gathering. Just show up and introduce yourself. Also check us out at www.saratogaspringsrotary.org and on Facebook. Please stop by the Rotary booth at the show to speak to a Rotarian and get your questions answered. Individual and corporate memberships are available.

Rotary International

Did you know you can travel to almost every part of the world and find a Rotary Club? Rotary is a global network of 1.2 million neighbors, friends, leaders and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves. Solving real problems takes commitment and vision. For more than 110 years, Rotarians have used their passion, energy and intelligence to take action on sustainable projects. From literacy and peace to water and health, we are always working to better our world, and we stay committed to the end.

Rotary members believe we have a shared responsibility to take action on our world’s most persistent issues. Rotary International’s 35,000+ clubs work together to:

• Promote peace

• Fight disease

• Provide clean water, sanitation and hygiene

• Save mothers and children

• Support education

• Grow local economies

• Protect the environment

We provide service to others, promote integrity and advance world understanding, goodwill and peace through our fellowship of business, professional and community leaders.

Rotary Works to End Polio

For more than 30 years, Rotary has been working to eradicate polio. Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a paralyzing and potentially deadly infectious disease that most commonly affects children under the age of 5. The virus spreads from person to person, typically through contaminated water. It can then attack the nervous system.

Rotary has reduced polio cases by 99.9% since its first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979. We’ve helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. Rotary has contributed more than $1.8 billion toward eradicating the disease worldwide.

Today polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan, but it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.

Rotary Supports Your Community

Here is a sampling of the many organizations supported by Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs.

• Act with Respect Always

• After the Fire

• AIM Services, Inc.

• Alliance 180

• Cornell Cooperative Extension

• Dake Foundation

• Doctors Without Borders

• Drilling for Hope

• EOC Saratoga

• Franklin Community Center

• Friends Forever International

• Friends of Camp Little Notch

• Friends of Saratoga Springs Public Library

• Ladies of Charity

• Lifeworks Community Action

• Malta Veterans

• Salvation Army

• Saratoga Book Festival

• Saratoga County Agricultural Society

• Saratoga County Children's Committee

• Saratoga Little League

• Saratoga Miss Softball

• Saratoga Regional YMCA

• Saratoga Senior Center

• Saratoga Shakespeare

• Saratoga Sponsor-A-Scholar

• Saratoga Springs Little League

• Saratoga-Wilton Soccer Club

• Prevention Council

• Salvation Army

• Saratoga County Children’s Committee

• WellSpring Saratoga