The Best San Francisco, Bay Area Blues Festival!

The Castro Valley Rotary Club, in conjunction with local East Bay Area merchants, announces the Valley Blues Festival, a family friendly Blues, Brews & BBQ event on Saturday, September 17, 2011. Buy tickets online, and save!
$10 advance / $15 at the gate.

The Castro Valley Rotary Club is hitting its stride with its 3rd annual festival that highlights local blues musicians in a fun, relaxed atmosphere.  This year, we’ve combined child centric outdoor activities that are sure to make it a great afternoon outing for families. The Festival will take place at Rowell Ranch, halfway between Castro Valley / Hayward and the Dublin / Pleasanton area.  This is one of the last blues festivals in the San Francisco, Bay Area. Come support it! Get tickets now and save!

What is Rotary?

Rotary is an international organization of over 1.2 million business and professional persons united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace through 33,000 clubs located in over 200 countries!

Visit the Rotary International website by clicking www.rotary.org.

You’re Welcome from Rotary International on Vimeo.

Rotary Wheel

A wheel has been the symbol of Rotary since our earliest days. The first design was made by Chicago Rotarian Montague Bear, an engraver who drew a simple wagon wheel, with a few lines to show dust and motion. The wheel was said to illustrate “Civilization and Movement.” Most of the early clubs had some form of wagon wheel on their publications and letterheads.

Finally, in 1922, it was decided that all Rotary clubs should adopt a single design as the exclusive emblem of Rotarians. Thus, in 1923, the present gear wheel with 24 cogs and six spokes was adopted by the “Rotary International Association.” A group of engineers advised that the gear wheel was mechanically unsound and would not work without a “keyway” in the centre of the gear to attach it to a power shaft. So, in 1923 the keyway was added and the design which we now know was formally adopted as the official Rotary International emblem.

4-Way Test

One of the most widely printed and quoted statements of business ethics in the world is the Rotary “4-Way Test.” It was created by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor in 1932 when he was asked to take charge of the Chicago based Club Aluminum Company, which was facing bankruptcy.

Taylor looked for a way to save the struggling company mired in depression-caused financial difficulties. He drew up a 24-word code of ethics for all employees to follow in their business and professional lives. The 4-Way Test became the guide for sales, production, advertising and all relations with dealers and customers, and the survival of the company was credited to this simple philosophy.

Herb Taylor became president of Rotary International during 1954-55. The 4-Way Test was adopted by Rotary in 1943 and has been translated into more than 100 languages and published in thousands of ways.

The message should be known and followed by all Rotarians.

4-Way Test – “Of the things we think, say or do:

1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?”