Service Above Self

A service club is a volunteer non-profit organization where members meet regularly to perform charitable works either by direct hands-on efforts or by raising money for other organizations. A service club is defined by its service mission and by its membership benefits, such as social occasions, networking, and personal growth opportunities. Service organizations perform many essential services for their community and other worthy causes. Rotary International’s moto is “service above self.”

Many of today's service clubs got their start as social clubs for business networking but evolved into organizations devoted more to service than to networking. Rotary was the first service club in the world, established by Paul Harris in 1905 in Chicago. It became international in 1910 when a club formed in Winnipeg.

Most service clubs consist of community-based groups with the same name, goals, membership requirements, and meeting structure. The clubs meet weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly on a recurring established day and time, commonly at mealtime. Most of the clubs started with a single club in a single city but then replicated themselves by organizing similar clubs in other communities. Service club organizations have become worldwide movements and have obtained official recognition as non-government organizations (NGOs) by the United Nations and various governments.

In Medicine Hat there are four Rotary clubs: Medicine Hat, Saamis, Sunrise, and Rotary Ignite. Each of the clubs meet at different times on different days. They are involved with fundraising and volunteering so that they can support needs within the community, across the country, and around the world. There are about one hundred members in the city and 1.4 million Rotarians in the world.

Other service clubs in Medicine Hat include the Kinsmen, Kiwanis, Optimists, Elks, and Lions. The Lions service club is the largest in the world, with over 1.5 million members.

In Medicine Hat the service clubs support youth (including the annual Rotary Music Festival), literacy (such as Sunrise Rotary Ride the Road to Reading at the Medicine Hat Public Library and scholarships to the Medicine Hat College), playgrounds (Saamis Rotary Playground) family activities (free public swimming from the Kinsmen, the Terry Fox Run), and walking trails (Rotary Centennial Trail, Sunrise Rotary Trail). They also provide support to areas in crisis, including the recent wildfires across Canada, and in areas around the world. In addition, funds support efforts in literacy in places like Guatemala and water/sanitation in Mexico and countries in Africa.

Service clubs welcome new members who wish to contribute to the betterment of their community and the world; younger people are especially encouraged to get involved. For more information on Rotary, or to be connected to a service organization contact Keith Walker, Co-President of the Sunrise Rotary club at kvwalker@telusplanet.net.

(photo shows some members of the four Rotary clubs at the end of a walk around the Sunrise Rotary Trail with newcomers at Saamis Immigration.)