ROTARACT

ROTARACT
Breeding Ground For Tomorrow's Rotarians

This purposeful service club programme of Rotary is for young adults ages 18-30.
Rotaract was officially inaugurated during January 1968 under R.I. President Luther Hodges.

On 13 March 1968 the Rotaract club of the University of North Carolina, sponsored by the Rotary club of North Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, was the FIRST Rotaract club to receive its official charter.

The known predecessors to Rotaract were Twenty-Thirty clubs, Round Table clubs, Apex clubs, Unisserve clubs, Orbis clubs, Rotor clubs, Paul Harris Circles, Quadrant clubs are some of the best-known examples.

"Rotaract" name was given to this R I programme - a combination of the words ROTARy and ACTION.

Rotaract clubs are usually community-based or University based and are sponsored by a local Rotary club making them true "partners in service" and are key members of the Rotary family.

Since 1981, INTEROTA conference, an international meeting for all Rotaractors is being held every three years.

Interota is organized and sponsored by Rotaractors. It is not an official R I meeting, the R I Board of Director recognizes and support the event through approval of it program content and by ensuring representation of R I Leadership. Interota-2005 will be held on 11-18 September 2005 in Munich, Germany.

International meetings for Rotaractors are also held every year at the Rotaract Preconvention Meeting that precedes Rotary's annual convention. The first such meeting was held in Seoul, Korea in 1989.

In March 1992 - Rotaract Silver Jubilee year- the R I Board established World Rotaract Week, which is celebrated annually during the week of 13 March to commemorate the chartering of the first Rotaract club

Rotaract motto is "Fellowship Through Service".

Each Rotary year, the R I President selects an international committee of Rotarians and Rotaractors to provide guidance and advise to the R I Board of Directors on all aspects of the Rotaract program.

A Rotaract club should meet atleast twice a month and its board once a month.
A Rotarian from the sponsoring club is expected to attend the Rotaract meeting atleast once in a month.

R.I. issues a Biannual Rotaract News letter and a World Wide Rotaract Directory Annually.

Rotaract clubs main areas of focus include professional development, leadership development and service project (locally and Internationally)

District Rotaract Representation (DRR) is elected if there are more than one Rotaract club in the areas of a Rotary District

On organising a club, the sponsor club will have to pay US $ 50 to R I as certification fees. Minimum recommended charter membership is 15.

At its February 2003 meeitng of R I Board of Directors agreed to support the establishment of Cyber Rotaract Clubs as a three years pilot project.

If a sponsoring Rotary club is terminated by R I , the Rotaract club also will cease to exist if another sponsor could not be located with in 120 days of the termination of the Rotary club.

To-day there are 7706 Rotaract Clubs in 159 countries with 177,238 Rotaracters.