WHAT IS ROTARY?

Adult Friendship

Friendship Exchange is an international exchange program for Rotary members and friends that allows participants to take turns hosting one another in their homes and clubs. Participants may travel as individuals, couples, families, or groups, and may be Rotary members or not. Friendship exchanges occur all over the world and recently the District 6250 which includes Lodi offered friendship exchanges to The Netherlands (Holland), Brazil, New Mexico, Chile and Russia.

Interact

Interact clubs bring together young people ages 12-18 to develop leadership skills while discovering the power of Service Above Self. Find out how serious leadership can be seriously fun. Interact clubs organize at least two projects every year, one that helps their school or community and one that promotes international understanding. Rotary club sponsors, mentor, and guide Interactors as they carry out projects and develop leadership skills.

Celebrate the global impact of Interact by getting involved in:

• World Interact Week
• Interact Video Awards
• Rotary Youth Day at the United Nations
• Global Youth Service Day

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Local Service

The Lodi Rotary Club has a variety of activities that they provide or participate in, in the Lodi and local community. Here are some of them:

• Interact Club at Lodi High School
• Foreign Aid Free Medical Clinics
• Beer and Wine Tasting Event (February)
• Smelt Fry (March/April)
• IMPACT Awards (May)
• Local Bench Program (Spring/Fall)
• Blanchard Park (Sauk Prairie)
• Refreshments at a local blood drive
• College Scholarship (May)
• Foreign Exchange Student Program (August through July)
• Susie the Duck Day Parade
• Breakfast with Santa (November)
• Christmas Lights Parade
• Reach Out Lodi donations
• Veterans donations

 Our Rotary Club with the group from the Netherlands and their hosts

Patrice and Tony exchanging Rotary banners (a tradition when visiting clubs)

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Mission International Service

The Lodi Rotary Club has helped with foreign service for several years. Assisting with the sponsorship of clean water wells and sanitation projects in Ghana.

In 2016 and 2017 Carol Hermann participated in Medical Mission Trips sponsored through the Thiensville-Mequon Rotary club. They traveled to Guatemala and provided dental and healthcare to the local residents. Some residents walked as much as a hundred miles or more to get to the clinic. Since then Carol and Tony Hermann have traveled to Haiti to work in a Rotary-sponsored vision clinic and to teach nursing to students.

In 2018-and 2019 the Lodi Interact club provided a micro-finance loan to a family in the Philippines to start a dried fish business. They also sponsored a piggery (start-up pig farm) in Zambia. These projects will help the families in these countries out of poverty in which the average family earns $3300.00 per year in the Philippines and $1480.00 per year in Zambia.