International Service

The Rotary Foundation — Cary Central has been active in the Paul Harris Fellow Program with 119 Paul Harris Fellows representing current and past members, family and friends. With the initiation of the Polio Plus Campaign in the late 1980s, 100 percent of the club members participated as Paul Harris Fellows. Two Cary Central members were among the first in the District to become Benefactors of the Rotary Foundation. Since 1990, 21 additional members have chosen to become Foundation Benefactors. Paul Harris Fellows are added annually through the Club’s team program that is renewed each Rotary Year. Two of our members are also members of the Paul Harris Society. Each year, our members' gifts to the Annual Programs Fund are in excess of $5,000, as we strive to achieve a per capita average of $200.

Group Study Exchange Teams and Rotary Scholars — Cary Central has been actively involved in with the GSE Team visits since 1981. Club members have served as host families and district committee members for every incoming team since 1984. Members have been involved in arranging tours, entertainment activities and banquets and have served as home hosts for 22 GSE Teams. Cary Central has also sponsored and hosted numerous Rotary Foundation Scholars attending N.C. State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University.

World Community Service Projects — As a result of the personal interaction with representatives from team and scholar visits, World Community Service projects evolved and subsequently materialized as follows:

  • Construction of a micro-hydro electric power generator to provide clean
    drinking water for citizens of a remote village in Nepal.
  • Establishment, through Rotary International in the British Isles, of a Rotary Eye Camp for 200-plus impoverished residents of remote villages in India to receive sight-saving cataract surgery.
  • Reconstruction of an educational facility, using a matching grant, to provide for children with Downs Syndrome in Ocatalon, Mexico.
  • In-kind contribution, through the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation and Duke University Medical Center, for first-generation ultrasound equipment to be provided in teaching gynecology and obstetrics at the University of Porte Allegro, Brazil.

South African Project — In November 1987, Cary Central Rotary Club began a 17-year relationship with the Grahamstown Rotary Club of South Africa via an introduction to Group Study Exchange Team Leaders, Trevor and Denise Long. In May 1998, following the dissolution of state-sponsored apartheid, a consortium of Cary area clubs contributed $2,200 to renovate the McKaiser Old Age Home that provides long-term care to 22 underprivileged residents. Ultimately, $13,200 was raised for the home as the Cary Area Consortium’s and Grahamstown Club’s funds were matched by grants from districts and the Rotary Foundation.