 Vocational Service focuses on:
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Adherence to, and promotion of, the highest ethical standards in all
occupations, including fair treatment of employers, employees, associates,
competitors, and the public.
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The recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations, not just
your own or those that are pursued by Rotarians.
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The contribution of your vocational talents to the
problems and the needs of society.
Vocational Tours give Rotarians and Family the
opportunity to develop a better understanding of the contributions made by
other vocations, and the environment in which that occurs.
 The Riverbank
Rotary recently held an "Away" meeting at Stueves Family Dairy. DG Dave
Gallagher and the Dairy Princess joined the crowd. Family members
accompanying Rotarians enjoyed full participation.
See more photos from
this exciting Rotary Club meeting.
 Another recent "Away" meeting brought the Rotary Club of
Salida to Flory Industries, manufacturers of agricultural equipment, such as
harvesters. The breakfast meeting in the repair station was followed by a
tour of the entire plant. View photos from this meeting. These vocational
tours are always memorable, and are a great idea for any club to do 2 or 3
times a year. When you have an away meeting, don't forget to leave a sign
and a map at your regular meeting place to direct visitors to your special
location.
DEMONSTRATING VOCATIONAL SERVICE
By Frank Deaver
Rotary Club of Tuscaloosa, Alabama USA
Rotarians On The
Internet (ROTI)
Among Rotary’s "Four Avenues
of Service," probably the one least discussed and promoted is Vocational
Service. If so, it is perhaps because vocational is, to a large degree,
inter-related with the other three - Club, Community, and International.
Even RI President
Carl-Wilhelm Stenhammar said of Vocational Service that "it can be so hard
to define." Nevertheless, he emphasized it as the monthly theme of Rotary
International for October.
Vocational Service can be
better understood, appreciated, and credited to our club accomplishments if
we consider it within three categories.
International Vocational
Service
It is no stretch of the
imagination to include the following as truly being vocational service:
Ambassadorial Scholarships, equipping young people to maximize their career
potentials; Group Study Exchange, with vocational days that allow visitors
an international comparison of their jobs; and PolioPlus, inoculations that
rescue potential victims from a life of limited vocational options.
A new generation of young
Russian entrepreneurs has been offered vocational training in job skills
ranging from Advertising to Wholesale Distribution. This is offered largely
through three-week programs hosted by American Rotary Clubs. The trainees
return to a developing free-enterprise economy, creating vocational
opportunities for colleagues and employees.
In a town in Portugal, the
unemployed and handicapped are offered tools, materials, and instruction in
producing handcraft items; then assistance in marketing their wares.
As Rotarians participate,
directly or through financial donations, to these international programs,
they are truly advancing the vocational opportunities of countless
individuals.
Community Vocational
Service
In the name of Community
Service, Rotary Clubs regularly do many things that legitimately can be
classified also as vocational. Locally sponsored Interact and Rotaract
Clubs offer opportunities for job shadowing, practice interviews, programs
on business ethics, and much more.
Many Rotarians volunteer
their expertise as speakers in schools, sharing experiences and observations
of the business world, and counseling students on vocational choices. Rotary
Clubs often sponsor career seminars and vocational training workshops.
After natural disasters such
as the tsunami in Southeast Asia and the hurricanes along the Gulf Coast of
the United States, Rotarians have offered immediate aid to displaced victims
of nature's wrath. Evacuees have been assisted in retraining for new jobs
and in relocation to places of economic opportunity. This is nothing less
than vocational service.
Individual Vocational
Service
But aside from programs
admittedly linked with Community and International activities, Vocational
Service occurs almost invisibly in every Rotary Club, and in the daily
activities of most Rotarians.
The Object of Rotary calls
for Rotarians to apply high ethical standards in their businesses and
professions, and to consider their own occupations as opportunities to serve
society. Clearly, vocational service is more than just a corporate activity
of a club. It is the sum total of high ethical standards of Rotarians
within their respective vocations.
PRIP Glenn Estess noted that
Rotarians, through their daily practice of business and professional ethics,
have earned the trust and respect of people throughout the world. “From the
earliest days of Rotary,” he said, "Rotarians have been concerned with
promoting high ethical standards in their professional lives."
Vocational Service, whether
a club activity or the example set by individual Rotarians, plays a vital
role in quality of life and ethical standards of a community.
This is the recognition, and
this is the message, that should be conveyed at all times, but emphasized in
this Vocational Service Month. |
