Munster Rotary Club

District #6540

 

Meeting Each Tuesday at Noon

at the Center for Visual and Performing Arts

1040 Ridge Road, Munster, Indiana

 

Mailing Address

P.O. Box #3241

Munster, IN  46321

 

The Four Way Test

the words that guide the things we think, say, and do

Is it the truth?

Is it fair to all concerned?

Will it build good will and better friendships?

Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

 

Munster Rotary

Munster Rotary meets on Tuesdays at noon at the Center for Visual and Performing Arts, at 1040 Ridge Road in Munster. The weekly meeting includes lunch, fellowship, a brief business meeting, and a program—all concluding by 1:15 p.m.

 

Munster Rotary was founded in October 1968, with the charter members installed on March 20, 1969. The first meetings weren’t held in Munster—or even in Indiana.  Munster Rotary first met at the Lansing Sportsmen’s Club. Later locations were at Obie’s Restaurant in Highland, First Federal Savings Bank, and finally at Wicker Park before the move to the Center in 1989.

 

Membership

Members of Munster Rotary must live or work in Munster or in a neighboring community. The Rotary system of membership classification encourages the membership of one person from each profession or occupation. Members are generally proprietors, partners, corporate officers, managers, or executives. Munster members include doctors, attorneys, merchants, bankers, educators, accountants, government leaders, leaders of institutions and social service organizations, and other professionals.

 

Attendance at weekly meetings is important throughout the world of Rotary. For members who must miss the weekly meeting, there is the opportunity to “make up” the meeting by attending another area club, extending the opportunity to network and make new acquaintances.

 

Weekly Programs

Weekly meetings are a time for fellowship and for broadening our community awareness.  Each week, the club hosts a guest speaker who brings a short presentation on a subject of interest, importance, or amusement. Guests from the schools include musicians, speech debate champions, and others. From  to time, the club hosts a guest of stature, such as a prominent government leader. On occasion we join other area clubs for our meetings.

 

Each year, Munster Rotary expresses appreciation to our public servants with the annual Police Department Luncheon and annual Fire Department Dinner.

 

Annual Events

Munster Rotary hosts several fundraising activities to support charitable gifts to organizations in the community. These events include

·        Spaghetti Dinner

·        Munster Rotary Run-a-Round

·        International Auction

·        Holiday Luncheon and Angel Tree Gift-giving

·        Holiday Concert with the Northwest Indiana Symphony

 

Charitable Contributions and Service

Munster Rotary traditionally supports many academic and extracurricular activities of students at all levels in our Munster schools. We support other projects and social service agencies in the community--generally those that have some relevance to Munster residents or those in close proximity. In general, we do not make grants to individuals.

 

Some activities supported by Munster Rotary are DARE (Drug Awareness Resistance Education) in the Munster Schools; academic, athletic, and cultural programs in the Munster schools, Boy Scouts, the Hammond Homeless Shelter, and others.

 

Munster Rotary has made a long-term commitment to provide leadership, financial resources, and hands-on assistance in the development of Lakewood Park. This is an area along the east side of Calumet Avenue south of 45^th St., which includes the Munster landfill. The club has funded the development of landscape plans and is working in partnership with Munster Park Department to develop it as a recreational area.

 

In 1976, Munster Rotary commissioned and installed the sculpture garden at the intersection of Ridge Road and Columbia Avenue in honor of the bicentennial. The figures pay tribute to past and present residents of the area—the Indian, the farmer, and the steelworker.

 

Paul Harris Fellows and Rotarian of the Year

Each Paul Harris fellow signifies a donation of $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation. The Club annually makes a contribution in honor of one or more Rotarians; many Rotarians also choose to make personal contributions. Munster Rotary has donated more than $45,000 to this fund over the years. Until 1997, the club honored an outstanding Rotarian each year by designating him or her a Paul Harris Fellow and contributing $1,000 in his/her name.  In 1997, the tradition changed to allow for a separate award as Rotarian of the Year, while the club continues to name Paul Harris fellows, as well.

 

The Origin and Object of Rotary

Munster Rotary is part of Rotary International, which was founded by Paul Harris in Chicago in 1905.  Today there are more than one million Rotarians in more than 150 countries.

 

The object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise in four distinct ways:

through the development of acquaintance as the opportunity for service;

through the promotion of high ethical standards in business and professions;

through service in one’s personal business and community life; and

through the advancement of international understanding, goodwill and peace.

 

Rotary Means Service

Throughout the world, Rotary focuses on four areas of service:  service to community, international service, vocational service, and service within one’s own club.  In the area of community service, several areas are given high priority, including environmental projects, literacy, drug and alcohol abuse prevention, AIDS education, and concerns for the aging.

 

Service to youth encompasses such areas as leadership, children’s rights, youth with disabilities, and involvement with students in the high schools, including career guidance. International service focuses on such issues as alleviation of hunger, exchange projects, scholarships for international study, disaster relief, and the youth exchange program.

 

The most comprehensive and ambitious effort of Rotary International has been the Polio Plus campaign to eradicate polio from the world. Rotary has raised more than $230 million for this purpose. Working in partnership with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and medical professionals all over the world, Rotary International has supplied the vaccine that has eradicated polio from all continents except Africa. Rotary is working to achieve that milestone by the year 2000.