Life Rotates Around Charity Work  (The Moscow Times, Larisa Naumenko, October 21, 1999)
Russia's Rotarians come from diverse professions - they are bankers, writers, doctors, lawyers, even space engineers. But they're united by their motto: "service above self."  Rotary came to Russia in 1990, when the first club was founded in Moscow. Today, there are 54 clubs across Russia, not only in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also in remote cities such as Vladivostok, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Yakutsk and even beyond the Arctic circle in Naryan-Mar.
An international organization of business and professional leaders who provide humanitarian service, Rotary was founded in 1905 by Chicago lawyer Paul Harris. Since then, its membership has grown to 1.2 million in more than 29,000 Rotary clubs in 161 countries.

The Moscow Rotary Club, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary next year, has 35 members and meets on Tuesdays at the Slavyansky Hall of the National Hotel. That's one of the principles of Rotary: regular weekly attendance at meetings. Following another rule, the Moscow Rotary Club makes sure they have professionals in as many fields as possible.  The club's main purpose is to serve the community through various charity projects funded by the members.
"Being a Rotary member doesn't always mean drawing the money out of your own pocket," said Gianpaolo Marello, a 48-year-old marketing consultant from Italy and vice president of the Moscow Rotary Club. "With the help of this organization, which is famous worldwide, sometimes we can facilitate participation by organizations that don't know whom to give money to, whom they can trust."

Staff Writer
The Moscow club's projects include support for the Krug Center for retarded children, where young visitors learn through creative activities, such as painting, acting and crafts. Rotarians are providing the center with equipment and materials, and also paying the staff's salaries.  Together with the Capital Rotary Club, one of the other three Moscow clubs, the organization is working on creating an information center on children's activities in Moscow at the Russian State Children's Library. If children or their parents want to know what kind of activities they could take part in, in a certain city district, they will be able to call the center's hot line for information about all available centers and clubs in that city district. The center is to be equipped with computer databases to make the whole procedure fast and convenient.


While most of the projects are supposed to be one-year programs, Moscow Rotarians go on with some of them for longer. For instance, they have been supporting a family of 12 children in Mitino, located to the west of Moscow, for three years.  "These are small projects, and they are not so well known as to draw mass media attention," said Maya Stepanova, a national sales manager at BIC Graphic who is responsible for community services. "They are small and concrete and you can see the real people you are helping." But Rotarians also think big. Rotarians all over the world are supporting the Polio Plus program, which pays for polio vaccination. The ambitious goal of this program is to wipe the disease out worldwide.
While most of the projects are supposed to be one-year programs, Moscow Rotarians go on with some of them for longer. For instance, they have been supporting a family of 12 children in Mitino, located to the west of Moscow, for three years.  "These are small projects, and they are not so well known as to draw mass media attention," said Maya Stepanova, a national sales manager at BIC Graphic who is responsible for community services. "They are small and concrete and you can see the real people you are helping." But Rotarians also think big. Rotarians all over the world are supporting the Polio Plus program, which pays for polio vaccination. The ambitious goal of this program is to wipe the disease out worldwide.

Community service may be the priority of the club's activity, but its members still like getting together for social activities. Sergei Yushin, 38, works with a food-processing company and has been a Rotary member since its beginnings in Russia in 1990. He expresses his feelings about the club in just four words: "This is my life." "It gives me an opportunity to widen my circle of acquaintances," said Sergei Gavrilenkov, a 47-year-old writer and the club's secretary. "It must be interesting when there are 52 speakers a year - from art critics to cosmonauts."
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