Rotary Clubs

Smaller Rotary clubs in close knit, communities of up to 25,000 population must connect with their community in a very meaningful way. Clubs that fail to connect with main street, and neighborhoods, do not prosper. Soon the club has a diminished role and image in the community. Here is a baseball parallel to illustrate the point:

During the 1957 baseball World Series, New York Yankee catcher Yogi Berra noticed that Hank Aaron grasped the bat the wrong way. "Turn it around," Yogi said, "so you can see the trademark." But, keeping his eye on the pitcher's mound, Hank responded, "Didn't come up here to read - Came up here to hit." And hit he did. During his career, Hank Aaron

What's the difference between a homerun and a long fly ball "out" to the outfield?

• The effort and swing? No!
• The bat? No!
• The Ball? No!
• The way the bat connects with the ball? Yes!!

Likewise, the way your Rotary club connects within the community makes the difference between being a homerun organization in your community... or just a long fly ball "out." The effort is the same. The results are far different.

The Family Week Celebration is a community service project that really connects a Rotary Club with families, schools, churches, businesses, local government and the media. This project requires club members to get out in the community and connect with these organizations and individuals in them. In so doing this service effort renews community contacts and breathes new life into the club.

The "mother club" for the Family Week Celebration, the Rotary Club of Garrettsville-Hiram, Ohio, celebrated its 7th annual Family Week Celebration in January, 2009.

For Rotary clubs sponsoring the Family Week project, document downloads are available by clicking on the “Rotary Club Downloads” in the lower right-hand corner of the masthead above.