Rotary International President to Visit Club Name

NEWS RELEASE

Rotary International president to visit [Club Name]

[City, State], ([Date]) —The president of Rotary International, one of the world's largest humanitarian service organizations, will recognize the work of the Rotary Club of [name of club and project, and event information].

Ron D. Burton, an attorney from Norman Oklahoma, will be the main speaker at the (insert event name), which begins at (time) at (location with address). Burton will focus his visit on [insert short description of a successful local project]. [Insert further description of local project example, including beneficiaries, etc.]

Burton, a member of Rotary since 1979, wants people to know that once they join a Rotary club, they can truly change people’s lives for the better. “I believe we all want to make a difference,” said Burton.“We all want to be doing something meaningful. The work we do in Rotary is solid, effective, and sustainable.”

Rotary’s 34,000 clubs initiate projects that address critical issues such as hunger, poverty, disease and illiteracy. During his one-year term as president, which began 1 July 2013, Burton will lead a global network of 1.2 million business and professional leaders from more than 200 countries and regions who, through volunteer service, help meet the needs of communities worldwide.

Burtonalso oversees Rotary’s top priority of eradicating polio, a crippling and potentially fatal disease that still threatens children in Africa and Asia. Since 1985, Rotary clubs worldwide have contributed more than US$1.2 billion and countless volunteer hours toward ending polio. Great progress has been made, and the incidence of paralytic polio infection has plunged worldwide from 350,000 cases in 1988 to fewer than 250 in 2012.

In addition to eradicating polio, Rotary members have long embraced the call for peace by addressing the underlying causes of conflict and violence through thousands of community-based service projects around the world. Since 2002, Rotary’s Peace Centers program offers graduate degrees in peace and conflict resolution at campus-based centers worldwide. A professional development certificate is offered at Rotary’s Peace Center in Bangkok, Thailand.

Burton retired as president of the University of Oklahoma Foundation Inc. in 2007. He is a member of the American Bar Association, as well as the bar associations of Cleveland County and the State of Oklahoma. He is admitted to practice in Oklahoma and before the U.S. Supreme Court. Active in his community, Burton is a founder and past president of the Norman Public School Foundation and founder and past board member of the Norman Community Foundation. A recipient of the Silver Beaver Award, he is a past vice president of the Last Frontier Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He also received the Norman United Way and Junior League Volunteer of the Year Civic Award.

About Rotary

Rotary brings together a global network of volunteer leaders dedicated to tackling the world’s most pressing humanitarian challenges. Rotary connects 1.2 million members of more than 34,000 Rotary clubs in over 200 countries and geographical areas. Their work improves lives at both the local and international levels, from helping families in need in their own communities to working toward a polio-free world. For more information, visit Rotary.org.

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Contacts: zxzxz zxzxzxzx(phone/email)

ROTARY CLUB OF [CITY]
Address TEL: (XXX) XXX-XXXX City, State Zip Code Country FAX: (XXX) XXX-XXXX

WEB:

ONE ROTARY CENTER 1560 SHERMAN AVENUE EVANSTON, ILLINOIS 60201-3698 USA •