Rotary Means Business is an R.I. Fellowship focused on helping Rotarians do business. Here in Westchester County, we hold monthly networking meetings open to all - Rotarians and non-Rotarians alike. Networking: In 1905, our founder Paul Harris conceived Rotary as a way for business and professional men to help and support each other in their businesses. He called it fellowship and mutual helpfulness; today we call it networking. In 1945, Paul Harris explained: "This new club was called Rotary because in the early days the members met in rotation in their various places of business so that they might come to know one another better.  The heart and soul of the first Rotary Club in Chicago was fellowship...
...and the original idea of mutual helpfulness evolved into the idea of general helpfulness."

Women were not allowed to be members of Rotary until 1987. White Plains played a meaningful role in changing Rotary's rules to admit women! Thank God we did! Here is the rest of the story. First women inducted as members by an R.I. president were in White Plains!

The first R.I. President to induct women was M.A.T.Caparas who came to White Plains in 1987 to induct Jo Falcone. MAT was a long-time close friend of our member PDG Andy Morzello who arranged the visit to RCWP. MAT passed away at age 97 in 2020. Read Andy Morzello's Tribute/In Memoriam to M.A.T.

Every year -- even during pandemic 2020 -- our Rotary club is a sponsor of the Loucks Games, the largest high school track meet on the East Coast. We are proud of our involvement.

Report on the 2023 Goldberger 5K
The annual Loucks Games 3-day weekend is the largest Track and Field games on the East coast, attracting over 3000 athletes to White Plains High School. There is also a 5K road race, named after Rotarian Charles O. Goldberger who has spearheaded it for many years.

2022 Loucks Track Meet Program
In 2022, as the Covid pandemic was easing and in-person meetings resumed, White Plains High School hosted the 54th Annual "Glenn D. Loucks Memorial Track & Field Games." The program was dedicated to 2 Rotarians - Manson Donaghey and Josephine Falcone - who both served important roles as supporters of the Loucks Games. Check out these pages from the official program book.

We award scholarships every year to students at the high schools in White Plains. In addition, we make contributions to community groups and we support The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. Click for a contribution summary. [currently disabled]

RCWP member George Koplinka joined our club in 1966 and became interested in postage stamps commemorating Rotary around the world. He soon found a rich history of different countries honoring Rotary by issuing postal stamps, and he bacame a collector. In December 2019 George donated his collection to our club. We have developed a photo archive of some parts of George's collection. It is found in our website "Archives" which can be accessed from the main menu.

In Rotary, we have no tolerance for racism. Rotary values diversity and celebrates the contributions of people of all backgrounds, regardless of their age, ethnicity, race, color, abilities, religion, socioeconomic status, culture, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Rotary strives to build a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change.

The Rotary Club of White Plains is part of Rotary International, an organization of 1.2 million individuals from around the world and, consistent with RI's principles, is a multicultural, multiethnic organization welcoming all people. The Club has long been committed to diversity in its membership and leadership.

Our Club supports the recent, peaceful protests addressed to racial injustice and encourages authorities and community leaders to recognize the message being conveyed by these protests and to take all necessary actions to address that message.

Our members acknowledge that racial justice cannot co-exist with systemic racism in our institutions including policing, housing, education, access to affordable healthcare, incarceration and the justice system. We agree the time is now for consistent and concerted efforts to make fundamental changes toward finishing the work of achieving racial equality for everyone.

"To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try."
      - Rosa Parks

Our letter was addressed to R.I. President Jennifer Jones. This is the link to the PDF letter.
WAR and PEACE (Our Letter on Ukraine)

We also hosted a public seminar on November 22, 2022, at the White Plains Public Library, with presentations from distinguished officials including the Consul General of Ukraine and the Worldwide Chair of UN Affairs at the Ukrainian World Congress. During their presentations, a sad video was played, describing the dire conditions in Ukraine currently:

https://youtu.be/E7jY4MSnI-E [duration 4:19]