District 6780 - Rotary International and District Overview

"With over a century of successful Rotary service, we are proud to be confident of a future in which generation after generation of Rotarians will bring hope to those in need and peace to a world full of conflict. We see ourselves as part of a great Rotary tradition, as links in a chain joining our future to our past. If that chain is to continue, every link in it must be strong. It is our responsibility, yours and mine, to forge solid links to Rotary's future. It is our responsibility to ensure that Rotary will be stronger next year than it is now, and even stronger the year after that. It is our responsibility to fulfill our promise of a polio free world today so that Rotary can take on other great challenges tomorrow."

PDG Carol Foster and husband Tony (left)
with 2009-10 RI President John Kenny and wife, June.

Click here to go to the most up-to-date version of District 6780's Long-Range Plan

A Rotarian immunizes a child against polio in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Photo by Jean-Marc Giboux

ROTARY INTERNATIONAL

A Global Network of Community Volunteers

Founded in 1905 as the world's first
volunteer service organization

Rotary International is a worldwide organization of business and professional leaders of more than 1.2 million members, who volunteer in their communities and promote world understanding and peace.

Rotary’s 32,000 clubs in more than 171 countries and regions encourage high ethical standards and carry out humanitarian projects to address such issues as poverty, health, hunger, education and the environment.

The first club in District 6780 was formed in 1914 in Nashville, and there are now more than 3600 members in 65 clubs located in the eastern half of Tennessee.

Our service projects range from community to international efforts and include:

Clean water initiatives in Ghana, Haiti, and Thailand, and Appalachia
Education and literacy initiatives in East and Middle Tennessee, South Africa, and Hungary
Medical initiatives across our district and in Turkey

The eradication of polio is a special priority for Rotary International, which made a commitment to immunize the world’s children against polio in 1985 and became a spearheading partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative three years later. The other partners are the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and UNICEF.

Rotary’s primary responsibilities include fundraising, advocacy, and volunteer recruitment. To date, Rotary has contributed nearly $700 million to the eradication effort, an amount that will grow to more than $850 million by the time the world is certified polio-free.

Click here for more information about this special initiative.

Bill Sergeant

Our District has a special connection to this effort. Bill Sergeant joined the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge in 1946. He was elected club president for 1963-64. In 1990 he was appointed a trustee of the Rotary Foundation for three years. From 1994 to 2006, Sergeant served as chairman of the International Polio Plus Committee of Rotary International. The committee's mission was to revive efforts to raise money to rid the world of this crippling childhood disease.

For his leadership, Sergeant was honored by the World Health Organization, an honorary doctorate from a university in India, and a statue with his likeness in a Knoxville park, which was the Knoxville Rotary clubs' Centennial project in 2005. Sergeant has received numerous awardsf or his work in eradicating Polio, including those from the Kellogg Corporation and the Fries Medical Foundation .