Who we are locally
Rotary outlined as relevant to New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
Rotary has clubs in virtually every community within New Zealand and the Pacific Keeping things simple, within New Zealand and the Pacific there are six geographic administrative ‘Districts’ and this website is for District 9920 which covers:
- Half of Auckland (a line Queen Street in Auckland CBD through to south of Onehunga and from their down to the Bombay Hills)
- Seven Pacific island nations of:
American Samoa
Cook Islands
Fiji
French Polynesia
Kiribati
Samoa
Tonga
As such the district is the largest maritime Rotary district in the world and we are proud of our Pacific orientation.
There are 53 Rotary clubs within District 9920 of which 40% are in the Pacific Islands. Clubs range in size from quite small to very large with most in the 25-30 member range.
They are vibrant community-focused service clubs that enable people of diverse vocations and personal strengths to meet socially, collaborate and enjoy shared experiences while helping others in our neighbourhood, the wider community and the Pacific.
Each club is autonomous and is the member of Rotary International (with its members being ‘Rotarians’), abiding by its policies and procedures. As such each will have its own ways of doing things, its own ‘culture’, including creating its own service activities and projects based on the wishes of its members, aided by an understanding of real community needs. Clubs in New Zealand are Incorporated Societies and have a Charitable Trust as part of good stewardship. Clubs in the Pacific comply with relevant laws and structures in their countries.
Membership comprises men and women across all age ranges from the young professional ( a rapidly growing membership segment!) to the more experienced (including retired) , diverse across backgrounds and cultures joined together with a passion for community service and friendship. A couple of myths dispelled:
Ultimately the focus is on Rotary members being keen to be active in improving their community and who are people of integrity irrespective of the age, gender and ethnicity.
Membership can be best described by this statement from one club:
Our club is a vibrant community-focused service club that enables men and women of diverse vocations and personal strengths to meet socially, collaborate and enjoy shared experiences while helping others in our neighbourhood, the wider community and the Pacific.
We are a very active club proud of our achievements. We are family focused with a belief in service through fellowship and encourage leadership from our younger members. Our projects are wide ranging but tend to support our local community whether hands-on with projects or sponsoring youth to Rotary leadership camps and much more.
It is important to us that your membership works for you in the best possible way and we offer our members:
- The ability to meet interesting people locally and from around the world
- Personal growth and development – learning new skills through participation including through some of the education and training opportunities
- Service projects that meet community needs – these come from our members and one person’s idea or passion can achieve so much
- Rotary Programmes especially through Rotary International and its charity, The Rotary Foundation, which has a number of highly respected and long-running youth, vocational development and humanitarian service programmes. Some of these are run at a district level to benefit the local communities.
- Vocational development and recreational opportunities
- Family involvement is important to us. Rotary programmes are open for participation by family members of Rotarians subject to the programme criteria and selection processes and we strongly encourage members to keep their own families in mind for these opportunities. Likewise members can refer friends and others.
An important point to note is that all members are able from the moment they become Rotarians to take a full part in any aspect of Rotary. Whatever role you might be asked to or volunteer to take on within Rotary it will be supported by training of some sort if wanted. Most Rotarians who have taken on a role would have initially known very little about what was involved but have learned ‘on the job’ with the usual support of their fellow Rotarians. There is nothing more invigorating than learning new skills and achieving!
For more about how to inquire about Rotary membership, or about the projects we do and / or to become involved in the programmes and projects of Rotary please go to the ‘Join with us’ page.