Hello!
Welcome to the Rotary Club of Appleton: Creating Community and Serving Others in the Fox Valley and Beyond!
Rotary was the world’s first service club and is now one of the world’s leading service organizations. Paul Harris had a visionary idea when he started a tiny Rotary club in Chicago in 1905. Today, Rotary has more than 1.2 million members in over 35,000 clubs worldwide.
The Rotary Club of Appleton dates back to 1917. In addition to our many service activities, we have helped to expand the reach of Rotary through our Club’s sponsorship of 12 other clubs. We are also the proud sponsor of the Appleton North High School Interact Club.
The Object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise. Rotary members are volunteers who work locally, regionally, and internationally to promote peace, fight disease, provide clean water, support education and economic development, help mothers and children, protect the environment and eradicate polio, all under the motto Service Above Self.
For over a century, our Club has been making a positive difference here in the Fox Valley and beyond. While our projects cover a wide range of needs, many focus on programs helping children, youth and young adults, including: college scholarships and leadership development for high school students, programs for children with disabilities, dental services for underserved children, programs supporting early childhood care and development, food programs for food insecure populations, and much more. We have also helped rebuild communities devastated by natural catastrophes in Pakistan, Nepal, and Haiti, joined forces to improve healthcare in Peru, Guatemala, Sri Lanka; and helped improve access to clean water and sanitation in Burundi, India and Sierra Leone, among others. In the 2020-21 Rotary year, for example, our Club had an impact of well over $100,000, over 70% going to programs and services here in the Fox Valley.
We are your neighbors, community leaders and global citizens uniting for the common good, while creating community, having fun and building better friendships. With you we can accomplish more! We invite you to explore these pages and if you like what you see, consider joining us! Visit a lunch meeting, help out with a service project, talk with our members and contact us for more information. We hope to see you soon!
Sincerely,
Alan Blake, Past President