Welcome to the Rotary Club of Charlottesville!
The Rotary motto is “Service above Self”. We are men and women with varied personal and professional backgrounds who develop and execute projects to serve our community here in the Charlottesville area and internationally. There are no secret handshakes or special requirements and I invite you to contact me at 561.371.0984 to learn more. I can reserve you a spot at our introductory Discover Rotary session at 5:00 on the fourth Tuesday of the month and you can be my guest at our club meeting immediately afterwards. We meet over dinner twice a month and feature an interesting speaker at each meeting. The Rotary Club of Charlottesville is part of a worldwide organization and if you want to see the full scope of Rotary, go to www.rotary.org.
What types of projects do we do?? For example, we provide a free book each month to over 2,000 three- to five-year-olds in the Charlottesville area as the local sponsor of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. We also maintain a Little Library at the YMCA; maintain a landscape garden at McIntire Park; perform trail maintenance at Ivy Creek Natural Area; support the Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry, the Salvation Army; and the Charlottesville High School Symphony Orchestra. Internationally we have recently supported several students at a vocational school in Uganda; are providing a Rotary Global Grant Scholarship for a UVA graduate pursuing graduate research in infection and immunity at University College in London, England; and we supported building a new community well and elevated water storage tank in Nigeria.
Rotary will enrich your life. You will make new friends, learn about your community, make valuable contacts for your professional life, improve your communications skills, and have fun! Rotary is family-friendly-I joined when my children were young, and they happily participated in (or were a key part in) many of our activities. Please look at our club activities and upcoming meetings on this site or on social media. Join us!
Ed Kent
Rotary President 2023-2024