After decades dreaming about the Himalayas, Rotary member George Basch went on his first trek through the mountains in 2001, when he was 64. A member of the Rotary Club of Taos-Melagro in New Mexico, USA, Basch found that the experience was even more than he had hoped. "My expectations were high, and dramatically exceeded," he remembers. But a less-than-pleasant aspect of the experience was the indoor smoke pollution he encountered in the guest houses and private homes he visited. Many families in the Himalayas use rudimentary cookstoves or, in some cases, an open fire pit inside the home to...

For six staff members from Rotary headquarters in Evanston, the fight to eradicate polio has become personal. Together, they biked the physically grueling 104-mile (167-kilometer) Tour de Tucson in Arizona, USA, collectively raising more than $20,000 for polio eradication while putting their bodies and minds through a feat of endurance. For the tightknit group, the experience was about more than just raising money and crossing the finish line. It was about learning about each other and what Rotary members are doing to rid the world of this crippling disease. They advocated together, trained...

Two years ago, U.S. Rotary members in Maine set out to improve the education system in Bikaner, Rajasthan, an Indian city near the border of Pakistan. The Rotary Club of Kennebunk Portside chose Bikaner because club member Rohit Mehta was originally from the area and had connections there. Mehta put the club in contact with Rotarians in India to provide desks for four government-run schools. But when community leaders returned with a request for more desks, the Maine Rotarians decided they had to think bigger. The Rotary Foundation had rolled out its new grant model, which required that the...

Before college, business school, or their first jobs, more than 2,000 U.S. high school students are learning what it takes to become tomorrow's brightest business leaders. Each year, nearly 25 Rotary clubs and districts conduct three-day educational retreats in a program known as Camp Enterprise. At each retreat, seasoned business professionals and entrepreneurs teach 100 or so area high school juniors how to develop, launch, and operate a successful business in a free enterprise economic system. The intensive weekend camps, funded entirely by the clubs and offered at no cost to participants...

Rotary General Secretary John Hewko and six RI staff members bicycled 104 miles in Tucson Arizona, USA, on Saturday, for the Miles to End Polio event, raising more than $6 million for polio eradication. The money raised by Rotary will receive a two-to-one match from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In addition to the team from Evanston, 100 Rotary member riders took part in the ride. The fundraising ride is part of the annual El Tour de Tucson bike event in Tucson, Arizona, USA. The race attracts more than 9,000 cyclists a year, making it one of the top cycling events in the U.S. The...