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Rotary
On The Internet (ROTI) has evolved into a very large and highly energetic
recreational Fellowship within Rotary International in a short period of time.
To help you understand what the organization is, we present below a brief
history of the fellowship.
The seed for ROTI was planted in the mid 90's when "Billo" Herr established a
Rotary interest group listserver under Prodigy. The seed was fertilized in the
summer of 1996, when Darryl McKellar started to talk of forming a fellowship for Rotarians on the internet. At that time, there were approximately 30 on the
listserver, but they felt that with some work, they could become a real
fellowship with (maybe) a few hundred members. After a bit of organizational
effort, fellowship status was granted, and by winter of 1996-97, the group
welcomed it one hundredth member. Since then the growth has been truly meteoric!
The first project created through ROTI was when Hari Ratan, a Rotarian from
Madras, India, visited San Diego, California to share in Rotary Fellowship. As a
result of this visit and the generosity of San Diego and California Rotarians,
US$10,000.00 was raised to go to Hari's Rotary Club project of leg replacement
prosthesis for amputees. This generosity will allow at least 167 people in India
to lead a better quality of life. US$25,000.00 of medical equipment was also
donated for an Indian hospital Hari's club is sponsoring, as well as
US$20,000.00 for AIDS education. This is a total of US$55,000.00 generated by
ROTI and Rotarians as a result ofHari's visit to San Diego.
This was just the first in a long line of ROTI supported service projects. Flood
in North Dakota, hurricane in Honduras, earthquake in Turkey. ROTIans are
working on using this media to assist in making Rotary service more efficient
and effective. There is a continuous flow of support efforts through the
listserver.
In any organization, rapid growth can cause problems, and that was the case with
ROTI. When the board realized that a fellowship must have elections biennially,
it was necessary to define the membership for voting purposes. The problem was
compounded by having people on the listserver who were not members of ROTI and
could not understand the need for an election being discussed on an open list.
This made the need for a ROTI unique listserver to support ROTI business very
obvious. In the early Spring of 1999, the ROTI Communication Center was
establish.
Today, ROTI represents over 2000 current members and a varied list of service
projects supporting Rotary International and its member clubs. It supports
approximately 600 web pages and provides links to close to 10,000 other pages
relating to RI or its zones, districts and clubs. There are thousands of emails
each month between Rotarians participating in the fellowship. New international
friendships are established daily.
ROTI is its members. A need is recognized and a leader responds. There was a
need for articles on Rotary and Doug Vincent founded ROTI Institute. Clubs
needed help building web pages, and Don Higgins created ROTI-WIZs. ROTI needed
its own communication capabilities, and Ivan Polacek built ROTI communication
center. There was a need for a monthly recap of the activities and special
features on the list, and Chip Ross started the BreadBasket (ROTI Newsletter -
"roti" is a type of bread). RI needed easy access to its Manual of Procedures,
and Mike Barr created the MOP website. ROTI wanted a hub for its Internet
presence, and Steve Sokol implemented www.roti.org.
ROTI's growth made maintaining membership pages a massive effort, and C.K.
Bryant organized the group to get it done. People wondered what their ROTIan
friends looked like, and John Coenders established the Rogues Gallery. ROTI
needed someone who would put in enough time to coordinate the many activities,
and Philip Merritt accepted the chairmanship. ROTI is people putting "Service
Above Self".
Presenting an abbreviated history of a large organization creates a situation
where people who have made major contributions may have been overlooked. We
apologize for any errors of omission. Likewise, we apologize for perceived
errors of viewpoint. This history was seen through the eyes of the authors and
are our best recollection. Should you have corrections to suggest, please feel
free to send them to history@roti.org.
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