100 Ways to Celebrate a Rotary Day
1. Create a giant birthday cake in the shape of a Rotary gearwheel to mark
Rotary’s birthday, and invite the community or media to share it.
2. Update your club’s or district’s Web site, blog or social networking page
with photos or video from your celebration.
3. Work with your local chamber of commerce to declare a Rotary Day in
your town. Publicize the proclamation at schools and businesses, in
newspapers, and on Web sites and social networking sites.
4. Conduct a billboard campaign highlighting Rotary’s continued service
locally and globally to show the good it has accomplished.
5. Create a Rotary Day podcast with a panel of Rotarians discussing
service projects. Post it on your Web site or blog, and send it to your
local media.
6. Host a screening of The Final Inch, followed by a panel discussion on
Rotary’s commitment to ending polio worldwide.
7. Initiate a local poster or essay contest promoting volunteerism in
conjunction with Rotary Day.
8. Update your club’s or district’s status live from your Rotary Day event
using Facebook or Twitter.
9. Begin to collect pennies or the equivalent currency in your country over
the course of the year, with the proceeds going to End Polio Now.
10.Encourage Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholars or Rotary Peace
Fellows to research and speak on Rotary history at the university they’re
attending.
11.Create a Rotary history speakers bureau. Have Rotary club members in
the community speak at the library, chamber of commerce, and schools
on the value of volunteerism, using project examples from Rotary’s
century of service.
12.Coordinate a run/walk in correlation with your town’s Rotary Day.
Registration proceeds can go to one of your club’s service projects.
13.Record interviews with longtime Rotary club members about their
understanding of Rotary and the organization’s contribution to volunteerism at home and around the world. Share the interviews with
Rotary clubs, local libraries, schools, and local media.
14.Organize a book drive, and read to children at your local school or
library.
15.Host a benefit concert in honor of Rotary Day. Bring together
professional or student musicians or exchange students with musical
talents. Have proceeds go to End Polio Now.
16.Conduct a silent auction highlighting Rotary Day. Funds can benefit a
local Rotary club or district project.
17.Coordinate an international festival night with current and past Rotary
Foundation Ambassadorial Scholars, Group Study Exchange
participants, Rotary Youth Exchange students, and others who have
traveled abroad through Rotary. Ask them to share their stories, journal
entries, music, and photos, and to discuss how their Rotary experience
has affected their lives.
18.Create Rotary greeting cards, or playing cards with key Rotary events,
projects, and people on them, and give them as gifts.
19.Host a service project marathon. Have Rotarians, Rotaractors,
Interactors, and their families volunteer for a designated number of
hours, focusing on places that need volunteers late at night or early in
the morning, when most people are sleeping.
20.Coordinate a day of international service with sister clubs around the
world. Together, the clubs can help out with projects in each other’s
community or work on a new initiative.
21.Hold a special Rotary Day observance or service project in conjunction
with a district assembly or conference, and open the event to the public.
A portion of the meeting can focus on Rotary history, service efforts, and
testimonials from longtime club members. Invite Rotaractors and
Interactors to participate.
22.Create a volunteerism display at your local library, historical society, or
museum that features local and international Rotary club projects as
examples of community service.
23.Conduct or help sponsor a hot air balloon race, antique car show, or air
show, and incorporate Rotary Day as the event’s theme. 24.On Rotary Day, host a local peace symposium to promote the Rotary
Centers for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution.
25.Write an article or use a print public service announcement (PSA) from
Humanity in Motion to highlight what Rotary has accomplished locally
and globally in the past and why it remains relevant today. Place it in
community or school newspapers.
26.Hold a candlelight ceremony on Rotary Day, with each candle
representing a need in the community or abroad. Invite the media to
attend.
27.In honor of Rotary Day, highlight a family that has generations of
Rotarians, Rotaractors, Interactors, or Rotary Youth Exchange students.
Share the family’s story with the media.
28.Hold a Rotary film/video festival featuring documentaries shot by
Rotarians conducting community service at home and abroad. Ask the
local library or historical society to host the event.
29.Coordinate a plastic duck race, with each duck representing a Rotary
year. Proceeds can help a local community project.
30.Write an article on the history of Rotary in your community. Focus on
vocational, community, and international service. Submit it to your local
newspaper for possible publication.
31.Conduct a telethon. Use local radio, public access television, or other
means to communicate with the public. Funds raised can go to End Polio
Now.
32.Invite local celebrities or prominent figures in your community to help
promote Rotary Day. Ask them to speak at a club meeting, at a banquet,
or to the local media, and make them honorary Rotarians.
33.Coordinate with a local television station to have Rotarians appear on a
morning talk show or evening news segment in honor of Rotary Day.
They can highlight Rotary history and local and international service
efforts.
34.Organize a clip-a-thon on Rotary Day, and have club members get their
hair cut or heads shaved to benefit cancer survivors. Alert the media to
the event.35.Help Interactors develop volunteerism exhibits at their schools. Highlight
Rotary’s history of community service, and explain how students can
participate in their local Rotary club’s efforts.
36.Conduct a volunteer fair at a local school. Share past and current
volunteer projects, and invite students to get involved in the event.
37.Collect items for distribution to those in need, such as shoes, school
supplies, coats, gloves, and eyeglasses, and distribute them during a
Rotary Day event.
38.Create a list of top Rotary club projects, and share it with your
community newspaper or magazine. Mention both local and international
examples.
39.In honor of Rotary Day, organize and execute a service project that
helps a local school. Conduct a mock Rotary club meeting at the school
to enlist students to help in the project planning. Invite education
reporters to cover the event.
40.Invite members of other service organizations or community groups to a
Rotary Day meeting, lunch, dinner, or other event that honors local
partnerships. Network with the other organizations, and cooperate on a
new project together.
41.Organize a parade that highlights Rotary’s internationality and service
projects from around the globe.
42.Enter a float to highlight Rotary in an existing annual parade. Invite
Rotarians, Interactors, and Rotary Youth Exchange students to help with
decorating or to ride on the float.
43.Post video from your Rotary Day event on YouTube.
44.Invite past and current Rotary program participants and alumni to a
Rotary Day celebration. Have a map available, and ask guests to mark
where they’ve lived, served, and experienced Rotary friendship abroad.
45.Highlight Rotary Day by having Rotarian business owners display a
Rotary poster or Rotary emblem in their stores or offices.
46.Coordinate a Rotary Day scavenger hunt with Rotaractors and
Interactors. Have participants go to Rotarians’ businesses for clues to a
riddle or to pick up items related to Rotary or a local Rotary club project. 47.Promote vocational service by organizing a Rotary at WorkDay.
Compile the ways Rotarians have served their local and global
community through their professions. List different occupations and
types of service, and send the list to the local newspaper.
48.Distribute Amazing Stories of Polio! to local schools or after-school
programs.
49.Coordinate with local authorities to have a street named after Rotary,
particularly at the club’s meeting place or the site of a key project.
Ensure that a street sign with the Rotary name is correctly designed and
placed.
50.In honor of Rotary Day, create a Rotary airport display. Feature local and
international service projects, and emphasize the internationality of
Rotary.
51.Invite former Rotary Peace Fellows as speakers at a Rotary Day
celebration.
52.At a local festival or event, hold a Taste of Rotary. Feature food that
represents various Rotary countries related to your club’s or district’s
service projects. Decorate the booth with flags from the countries, and
provide information about Rotary.
53.Organize a warm coat or clothing drive, and select a local organization to
receive the items.
54.Sponsor a Rotary Day sporting event that includes athletes wreceive the items.
54.Sponsor a Rotary Day sporting event that includes athletes with special
needs, or coordinate another activity that gathers the community
together. Share the Rotary story in a brochure or event program, and
distribute it to participants and spectators.
55.Conduct a Rotary Day conference or seminar focused on volunteerism.
Invite representatives from community groups, and offer tips and ideas
about project development, management, and networking. Invite an
inspiring speaker to encourage those who serve others.
56.Coordinate with local authorities to have a giant Rotary emblem placed
or projected onto a water tower or the tallest building in your town.
57.To commemorate Rotary Day, host a Rotary information booth or table
at a street festival, farmers market, or carnival. Offer baked goods for
sale to raise money for a project, and share the Rotary story with anyone
who stops by.58.In a newspaper ad or supplement, honor all those who contributed time
or money to the polio eradication effort. Include an article about Rotary’s
PolioPlus program.
59.Hold a Rotary immunization day in which Rotarians encourage
necessary, routine immunizations for children, even in countries where
polio is now a memory. Share information about Rotary’s efforts to
eradicate polio.
60.Help the environment on Rotary Day. Plant trees, initiate a recycling
program, or take part in a citywide cleanup. Partner with Interactors and
Rotaractors.
61.Promote Rotary’s effort to raise funds through text messages for the End
Polio Now campaign.
62.Conduct a horse, puppy, or turtle race for Rotary Day. Proceeds could
go to local Rotary club projects.
63.Spend Rotary Day volunteering at a local food pantry or soup kitchen.
64.Organize a Rotary Day carnival for your community, with proceeds going
to a local community project.
65.Promote Rotary Day by placing a Rotary video at a movie theater in your
community.
66.Conduct a Rotary Day dessert competition among bakeries and
restaurants in your area. Entry fees could benefit the local food pantry.
Encourage the media to cover the event.
67.Use the Rotary emblem on promotional items, and distribute them in
your community. http://www.rotary.org/RIdocuments/en_pdf/547en.pdf
68.Identify and honor the top volunteers in your community. Consult with
other service organizations, schools, hospitals, and houses of worship
for nominations. Contact the media to cover the honored volunteers and
their stories on Rotary Day.
69.Create a human Rotary gearwheel by having Rotarians, Rotaractors,
Interactors, and others lie down in a field, sports stadium, or park to
create the design of the emblem. Invite the media to this photo
opportunity.
70.Create temporary tattoos in the shape of the Rotary gearwheel as a
handout for children at a local outreach event.
71.As a gift to your community, build a “peace pole” — a monument with
peace written in various languages — and present it on Rotary Day.
72.Have a vocational service day at a local school, with Rotarians visiting
and sharing about their occupation and Rotary service.
73.Coordinate a Rotary Day wine and cheese tasting event. Offer vintages
from various Rotary years, and share project highlights from the
corresponding year when introducing a new bottle for tasting.
74.Commission a limited-edition sculpture, painting, sketch, or other work
by a famous artist that depicts the ideals of community service or
volunteerism. Auction the piece to support a local project.
75.Have a Rotary dunk tank at a local carnival, and ask Rotarians and other
community leaders to volunteer to be dunked. Proceeds can benefit a
local project.
76.Create a special page on your club or district Web site to celebrate
Rotary Day and the history of Rotary in the area. Link to the history
section of the RI Web site.
77.In honor of Rotary Day, profile a key volunteer on your club or district
Web site.
78.Host a video contest on your club’s Web site or YouTube.
79.Create a Rotary Day note card, and use it for correspondence within the
district and to announce your Rotary Day event.
80.Launch a Rotary Day blog or a social networking page that highlights
Rotary club service projects.
81.Host a Rotary Day music contest. Have participants sing Rotary songs
or create a Rotary Day song of their own.
82.Host a Women in Rotary event. Ask club members to share their
perspective on the history of Rotary and to help raise awareness of
women in Rotary. Invite the media to cover the presentation.
83.Develop Rotary Day window displays depicting the various efforts of
Rotarians.84.As part of a local community project, plant a Rotary Day flower or
vegetable garden. When the plants have grown, contact the media for a
photo opportunity.
85.Create a “Rotary in Action” photography exhibit. Use existing photos, or
have a professional photographer take quality images of Rotarians
working on a local or international project. Print, mount, and frame the
photos for display at the local library, civic center, or similar location.
86.Write a letter to the editor or an opinion piece in honor of Rotary Day on
reasons to volunteer.
87.In honor of Rotary Day, use Internet PSAs on external sites, and link to
your club’s or district’s Web site.
88.Publicize one of your club’s service projects on the anniversary of its
inception, and designate this day as a Rotary Day. Create a news
release about your club’s role in the project, a timeline, and a summary
of results, and send it to local media.
89.Purchase a full-page advertisement in your local newspaper,
encouraging your community to celebrate Rotary Day.
90.Initiate a contest within your district to see which club can raise the most
funds for a local service project. At the end of the contest, celebrate with
a Rotary Day party.
91.Partner with a local nonprofit or business on a fundraiser, with proceeds
going to End Polio Now.
92.Sponsor a multicultural forum on Rotary Day featuring program alumni,
diplomats, and academics.
93.Work with a local radio station to have a Rotary club member with
extensive local and international service experience be a guest disc
jockey on Rotary Day.
94.Create an email chain (not a fundraiser) sharing Rotary opportunities in
your community, including Ambassadorial Scholarships and Rotary
Peace Fellowships.
95.Organize a dog wash to benefit a local animal shelter on Rotary Day.
96.Support a teen job fair hosted by Rotarians on Rotary Day.97.Organize a club or district outing to a sporting event. Ask the stadium to
air Rotary PSAs during the event.
98.Purchase banners, and display them on a prominent street in your town
to commemorate Rotary Day.
99.Host a community “Tweetup,” and raise money for a local Rotary project
100. Purchase or pass out “What’s Rotary?” cards during an event.