Junior Rotarians

On November 11, 2004, our club created the Junior Rotarian program and dedicated our meeting to them as “Junior Rotarian Day.” The Junior Rotarian program was created to recognize the children and/or grandchildren of rotarians in our club as an important members. When the children were introduced to the club, they received a badge, a certificate, and a 4-way test and then be “inducted” by President Alan Goodman.

The Junior Rotarian program is very simple so that families can participate when they choose, in much the same way our current service projects work…our committee will provide as much information as possible about the projects and the age appropriateness of each opportunity. We hope to offer 1-2 unique Junior Rotarian service opportunities a year and also encourage members to bring their Junior Rotarians along during some of our existing projects.

JRs are kept informed through a quarterly newsletter that is mailed to the kids that will help them feel like special members of our club. We include recognitions of service achievements, information about upcoming service opportunities and other kid-friendly ideas for “service above self.” This will be a way, especially for some of the younger kids, to learn about rotary even if they are not able to participate in all the projects.

Over the past year or so, our program committee has taken into account occasions when our JRs are out of school and planned special programs that interest them.

Our goal is to have our children involved in our Rotary experience first hand and eventually lead to involvement in Interact and Rotaract clubs in the future. We hope this will be a lasting and worthwhile effort for our families! Please feel free to e-mail Lisa Perry if you are interested in having your child join us!