The Rotary Club of Philadelphia expressed disappointment about the termination of Penn Rotaract by Rotary International (Photo from the Rotary Club of Philadelphia).
Penn Rotaract, a student organization focusing on community service, had its membership in a national organization terminated last month due to inactivity.
The club was a student-run, community service group that described itself as seeking to emphasize community through volunteerism. It was part of a larger organization — Rotary International — that is focused on humanitarian and service work. Rotary International was founded in 1905 and is composed of roughly 46,000 clubs and 1.4 million members.
Penn Rotaract formerly held several trivia-like fundraising events on campus, including one called Quizzo, and established partnerships with the Penn Transplant Institute, Ronald McDonald House, and Penn Vet Working Dog Center.
Wharton senior Valeria Germanova, the club's president, said the objective of the club was to foster leadership development, nurture connections with peers, and provide a space for volunteer engagement.
Germanova told The Daily Pennsylvanian that last month, the club received a message from Rotary International stating that the organization had terminated Penn Rotaract’s membership due to inactivity and missing official forms despite numerous outreach emails having been sent by the Rotary Club of Philadelphia.
“Part of [the termination of the club] was miscommunication because the email wasn’t properly received. Part of it was just the lack of active current members in the club,” Germanova said. “It ended up just a bit unfortunate that this was the case.”
Multiple members of the Rotary Club of Philadelphia, which said that it has sponsored and fostered a long-term relationship with Penn Rotaract, expressed disappointment about the termination of the club.
“Whether we’re pulling weeds in a garden or whether we’re packing food for the homeless or the needy, we’ve had [Penn] Rotaract people with us and it’s just very disappointing that this is gone,” Rotary Club of Philadelphia member Joseph Batory said to the DP.
Rotary Club of Philadelphia President Ken Myers echoed Batory's frustration, suggesting that the club has lost influence in Philadelphia.
“It's just been a huge shame that we don't have that same presence … that we previously had in the city as far as Rotary is concerned, because it's a very, very important incubator for young Rotarians who can over the years, come through the ranks, and become valuable members of the Rotary infrastructure,” Myers said.
Germanova said that the club faced logistical challenges and struggled to get members to come to events and stay engaged with the organization. She added that the lack of participation and members forced a greater burden onto the two people running the club.
“When people are so busy — there's always midterms, there's always classes, there's other involvements, there's some more professionally oriented clubs, that people find have more value in a resume or have more value investing what little time they have into — that was a bit frustrating to deal with,” Germanova said.
Germanova, however, remains optimistic for the club's revival and hopes incoming first-year students will reestablish connections with Rotary.
“For both [Generation Z and the Millennial generation], it’s exceedingly important to have a connection to the community and to do something that extends beyond oneself,” Myers said. “I really feel like Rotary provides that perfect opportunity to realize those passions and execute on those.”
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