Posted: 12/29/2005 4:28:30 PM EDT
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I was invited to attend a meeting and possibly join the Rotary club tonight. But when I asked the guys WTF was up with the Rotary Club they were pretty vague about exactly what they did. About all I got out of the one guy I was talking to was They "Give back to the community" The other guy asked if I was an independant businessman and when I answered yes this seemed to please him and he said I was the kind of guy they were looking for. I had to leave due to to some time sensitive WO's that had to be faxed so I didnt make the meeting. So..................WTF is up with the Rotary Club? |
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Former boss and current boss are rotarians. I went to a lunch with the former boss. They basically sit around & bullshit at lunch meetings, do a couple of fund raisers (raffles) and some nice stuff for the poor folks in the area. Basically, they get (at the meeting I was at) some kind of local celebs to come to a fundraiser/banquet, sell tix, and use the proceeds for charitible stuff. The guys at the meeting were mostly upper-middle class, small/medium sized business owners or management level guys. AFARR |
I've presented at about a dozen meetings over the years, and mostly the meetings consist of begging for money for charity. That's a good thing, but it was way too in your face for my taste. Then they always have an interesting speaker, well except for the ones I did  . They're a good group. Just don't join if you don't want to spend the money.z |
I'm already heavily involved in certain charities and dont need another. I could handle helping out with fund raising but just being a member so I could contribute sounds weird. Hey Zoom! Hows the wife? |
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Rotarians are the guys who couldn't get into Elks. Seriously, they fund local scholarships and do other charity work. I recieved a small scholarship from the Columbia SC chapter when I was going to college, and it was much appriciated. My view was that it was a social club that collected and distributed charitable funding in the local community. Although I suppose it could have been a front for their plans to take over the world. Oh, wait, thats the Masons... nevermind. |
Well Wankel did build rotary engines! Are the two related? |
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Locally the clubs contribute to local charities. Rotary International has focused on worldwide issues like vaccination programs, safe drinking water, biogas developiment in poor countries. Clubs differ but they always have a lunchtime speaker and usually they're in your wallet with fines, raffles, dues. IME it caters to the 50+ crowd. |
But from what I've seen, they don't want to be. The few I've been around actively recruit and welcome younger members. It's just that the club seems to interest the 50+ guys more. It also depends on the club. In the one where I live, most members are in their 60's. In the one about 20 miles north of here, most of the members are in their 50's. It just depends. tc6969, thanks for asking about the wife. She's the same as she's been the past few years. That's good news since she's not getting worse. I didn't mean to make them sound like they're completely centered around money. They also push service projects, especially reading in schools. I really respect the organization and their members.z |
They do accomplish alot. I was a member for a year and a half before I moved. The only problem was I was 28 and newly married and the rest of the membership was 55-70 and on their second or third marriage. I was building a business and they were exiting/transitioning theirs. I was scraping for cash and they were flush. Not a lot in common. |