Rotary Club of Oxford Spires

Club Information

Rotary Foundation 

Mission:  To enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education and the alleviation of poverty. 

The Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation who shore its vision for a better world. 

The Foundation started out as an endowment on 1917 and was renamed Foundation in 1928. 

Foundation consists of a number of programmes: 

Humanitarian:

• Polio Plus – working towards eradicating Polio in the world
• Disaster recovery – enables Rotarians to respond to specific disasters
• Health, Hunger and Humanity (3-H) Grants – these are large scale, 2 to 4 year projects to improve health, alleviate hunger and promote human development.
• Volunteer Service Grants – supports international travel for qualified Rotarians to help out with a service project
• Matching Grants – provides matching funds for international service projects
• District simplified Grants – supports service activities locally and abroad.

Educational

• Ambassadorial Scholars – the largest scholarship programme in the world. Scholars study in a different country to foster greater understanding of other cultures.
• Group Study Exchange – 4 to 6 week itinerary of vocational, educations and cultural exchange
• Rotary Peace and Conflict Studies Program – provides training in conflict resolution and mediation strategies for professionals.
• World Peace Fellowships – sponsorship for one years  masters study in conflict resolution and mediation strategies
• Rotary Grants for University Teachers – grants for university teachers to teach in a developing nations for 3 to 10 months.

 

Rotary also have a number of programmes for students and those under the age of 30:

• Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) – training program for the leaders of the future.
• Rotaract – a service club for 18 to 30 year olds where young people can get involved in local community projects
• Interact -  a service club for 14 to 18 year olds based at a local school
• Rotary Youth Exchange – opportunities for young people to participate in a cultural exchange

 

Oxford Spires have participated in a number of these projects over the last 5 years:

• Disaster Recovery: we regularly contribute to the Aquabox and Shoebox schemes, which provide urgently needed equipment after natural disasters and something extra for deprived children in Eastern Europe
• Matching Grants: we are currently working on a project to help build a new kitchen for a school in Tanzania
• District simplified grants: We planted a garden for Sobell House Hospice using money from this scheme
• Ambassadorial scholars: We are sponsoring a graduate to undertake language training in Costa Rica. He will also participate in local community projects during his 6 months training.
• GSE: One of our members travelled to Australia under this scheme, before he became a Rotarian
• Rotaract: a number of our members belonged to Rotaract before becoming Rotarians.
• Youth Speaks: A public speaking competition for Oxfordshire schools. The winning team takes part in a national competition.