Welcome to Rotary in District 5330. We represent Rotarians in Southern California in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. Rotary unites over a million people worldwide to take action locally and globally. Each day, our members pour their passion, integrity, and intelligence into completing projects that have a lasting impact. We persevere until we deliver real, lasting solutions.
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PEOPLE OF ACTION
WHO WE ARE
Rotary is a global network of 1.2 million neighbors, friends, leaders, and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.
Solving real problems takes real commitment and vision. For more than 110 years, Rotary’s people of action have used their passion, energy, and intelligence to take action on sustainable projects. From literacy and peace to water and health, we are always working to better our world, and we stay committed to the end.
Learn more about our structure and our foundation and our strategic vision.
What we do
Rotary members believe that we have a shared responsibility to take action on our world’s most persistent issues. Our 35,000+ clubs work together to:
- Promote peace
- Fight disease
- Provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene
- Save mothers and children
- Support education
- Grow local economies
- Protect the environment
Our mission
We provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through our fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders.
Vision statement
Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.
We are opportunity-creators
Rotary members look for opportunities to improve our communities today and invest in the next generation for tomorrow.
We are problem-solvers
Together, we apply our professional experience and personal commitment to tackle our communities’ most persistent problems, finding new, effective ways to enhance health, stability, and prosperity across the globe.
We are people of action
We connect passionate people with diverse perspectives to exchange ideas, forge lifelong friendships, and, above all, take action to change the world.
We are community-builders
We collaborate with community leaders who want to get to work on projects that have a real, lasting impact on people’s lives.
OUR CAUSES
Rotary is dedicated to causes that build international relationships, improve lives, and create a better world to support our peace efforts and end polio forever..
Promoting Peace
Rotary encourages conversations to foster understanding within and across cultures. We train adults and young leaders to prevent and mediate conflict and help refugees who have fled dangerous areas.
Fightingdisease
We educate and equip communities to stop the spread of life-threatening diseases like polio, HIV/AIDS, and malaria. We improve and expand access to low-cost and free health care in developing areas.
Providing Clean Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
We support local solutions to bring clean water, sanitation, and hygiene to more people every day. We don’t just build wells and walk away. We share our expertise with community leaders and educators to make sure our projects succeed long-term.
Saving mothers and children
Nearly 6 million children under the age of five die each year because of malnutrition, poor health care, and inadequate sanitation. We expand access to quality care, so mothers and their children can live and grow stronger.
Supporting education
More than 775 million people over the age of 15 are illiterate. Our goal is to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender disparity in education, and increase adult literacy.
Growing Local Economies
We carry out service projects that enhance economic and community development and create opportunities for decent and productive work for young and old. We also strengthen local entrepreneurs and community leaders, particularly women, in impoverished communities.
Protecting the environment
Rotary members are tackling environmental issues the way they always do: coming up with projects, using their connections to change policy and planning for the future.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION
At Rotary, we understand that cultivating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture is essential to realizing our vision of a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change.
We value diversity and celebrate the contributions of people of all backgrounds, across age, ethnicity, race, color, disability, learning style, religion, faith, socioeconomic status, culture, marital status, languages spoken, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity as well as differences in ideas, thoughts, values, and beliefs.
Recognizing that individuals from certain groups have historically experienced barriers to membership, participation, and leadership, we commit to advancing equity in all aspects of Rotary, including in our community partnerships, so that each person has the necessary access to resources, opportunities, networks, and support to thrive.
We believe that all people hold visible and invisible qualities that inherently make them unique, and we strive to create an inclusive culture where each person knows they are valued and belong.
In line with our value of integrity, we are committed to being honest and transparent about where we are in our DEI journey as an organization, and to continuing to learn and do better.
DIVERSITY
Rotary welcomes people of all backgrounds, cultures, experiences, and identities.
EQUITY
Rotary strives for the fair treatment, opportunity, and advancement of all Rotary participants.
INCLUSION
Rotary is working to create experiences where all people feel welcomed, respected, and valued.
2023-2024 RI PRESIDENT
Stephanie A. Urchick
President-elect 2023-24
Rotary Club of McMurray
Pennsylvania, USA
Stephanie Urchick is a member of the Rotary Club of McMurray, Pennsylvania, USA. She will serve RI as president in 2024-25. She has been an RI director and Rotary Foundation trustee. She has served RI in numerous capacities, including as training leader, regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, and RI president’s representative. In addition, Stephanie was a representative and member-at-large to three sessions of the Council on Legislation.
Stephanie has also served as chair of the Rotary Strategic Planning Committee and The Rotary Foundation’s Centennial Celebration Committee, as well as a member of various Rotary committees, including the Election Review Committee and Operational Review Committee.
A Rotary member since 1991, Stephanie has participated in a variety of international service projects, including National Immunization Days in India and Nigeria. In Vietnam, she worked with clubs to help build a primary school and traveled to the Dominican Republic to install water filters. A student of several Slavic languages, she has mentored new Rotary members in Ukraine and coordinated a Rotary Foundation grant for a mammography equipment and a biopsy unit for a hospital in Poland. In its commemorative book, the Rotary Club of Krakow, Poland, noted Stephanie as a key figure for helping the re-birth of Rotary in post-Communist Poland.
Currently, Stephanie is helping to partner clubs and districts in the U.S. with Rotary clubs in Albania, Kosovo, and Ukraine for humanitarian and educational services.
Stephanie’s professional background is in the higher education, consulting, and entertainment industries. She received her doctorate degree in Leadership Studies from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and has been recognized and awarded by The Rotary Foundation and numerous community and international organizations.
PRESIDENTIAL INITIATIVE
Elected for the 2024-25 term, Stephanie Urchick is a member of the Rotary Club of McMurray, Pennsylvania, USA. Learn about her theme and initiatives for the year.
Support the president’s initiatives
Urchick asks members to champion Rotary’s Action Plan so they can improve their clubs and keep Rotary strong, find a balance between continuity and change, and work for peace. She also emphasizes the continuing importance of the effort to eradicate polio. She urges members to join or initiate PolioPlus Societies in their districts and do all they can to help end the disease.
Urchick will lead the 2025 Rotary Presidential Peace Conference in Istanbul, Turkey, 20-22 February 2025, with the theme Healing in a Divided World. “This conference will focus on Rotary’s peace efforts and provide opportunities to learn together,” Urchick says. She notes that Rotary’s commitment to peacebuilding is exemplified by the Rotary Peace Fellowship. “The Rotary Peace Fellowship began more than 20 years ago to equip peace and development professionals from communities around the world to become effective catalysts for ending and preventing conflict,” she says.
Read more about the 2024-25 presidential theme and download the theme logo and materials.
Learn more about Urchick’s initiatives, watch select videos, and explore resources.
Follow the president
Urchick travels around the world visiting Rotary clubs that are making positive differences in their communities.
Follow the RI president on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Download photos of the RI president.
President’s representatives
Each year, the president designates representatives to inspire and motivate participants at district conferences.
Find resources for president’s representatives
Committees
The RI president and The Rotary Foundation trustee chair appoint club members to serve on committees that support our Action Plan priorities: to increase our impact, expand our reach, enhance participant engagement, and increase our ability to adapt.
See this year’s committees:
Club Excellence Award
Earn recognition for your club by accomplishing goals that strengthen and raise awareness of Rotary and your club. See this year’s Club Excellence Award goals for Rotary, Rotaract, and Interact clubs.
More resources
- Club template media release
- Club template media advisory
- Guide for Media Advisory and Template News Release
President-elect
Meet Mário César Martins de Camargo, the 2025-26 Rotary president-elect.
PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE
September 2024
The Magic of Rotary is belonging, and it’s a feeling that can appear when you least expect it.
Earlier this year, I was in Slovakia serving as a president’s representative during a six-week trip through Europe. When I wrote to Katarina Cechova, governor of District 2240 at the time, I mentioned that my grandmother Veronica Zilka grew up in a small village in the area before settling in the U.S.
It wasn’t long before Cechova tracked down my grandmother’s village, Jakubova Vol’a. She even organized a visit for me, where I received an unforgettable Slovakian welcome.
When I entered the community center of Jakubova Vol’a, a small crowd of people dressed in traditional Slovakian clothing greeted me. They sang with beautiful and powerful Central European voices that reminded me of my grandmother.
A lot of families play cards or games when they get together. When I was young, my father would pick up his accordion and lead my family in song. My grandmother would sing along with her impressive voice.
When I walked into the community center and heard traditional music from my childhood — when I saw a woman play the accordion the way my dad played — I suddenly felt like a little girl sitting at my grandmother’s house in Monessen, Pennsylvania. I burst into tears of joy at the memories.
But the magic didn’t stop there. District Governor Cechova really outdid herself. A local genealogist worked with a videographer to make a short film about my grandmother. We watched the video together in the community center.
When the video ended, I turned around and saw a man standing in the back of the room. I quickly learned that this stranger, Frantisek Zilka, was my second cousin. His grandmother and mine had been sisters. I felt like I had been struck by lightning.
I visited my newfound cousin’s home, which happens to be the home where my grandmother was born. There, he shared old photographs I had never seen of my dad, my uncle, and my grandmother.
Since then, I can’t stop thinking about my family of Rotary. When I refer to you as my family, I’m not just being kind. I really think of everyone in Rotary as my family. But I never would have imagined that my Rotary family would introduce me to long-lost personal family.
Sitting in that community center listening to traditional Slovakian music from my childhood filled me with joy and a profound sense of belonging. I am so grateful to District Governor Cechova and everyone who helped create that magical experience.
As members of Rotary, we have a unique opportunity to share the same magic with each other and with the world. I encourage you to consider how you can help spread that magic and ensure other members of your club — other members of our Rotary family — feel like they truly belong.
DISTRICT 5330 GOVERNORS MESSAGE
