What is Interact?
- Interact is the Rotary’s leadership and service program for teens ages 12-18. It started in 1962 as an organization for young men but quickly realized that it’s exclusivity was severely restricting its value and potential. In 1963, the organization was redefined to included both young men and women. In 2022, Interact celebrated 60 years of teens changing the world. It has 437,000 members and 19,000 clubs. Young people in Interact have been making a difference all over the world, including typhoon relief efforts in the Philippines, stem cell donation awareness in California, and coastline cleanup in Taiwan. Hatboro Horsham Hogh has a very active Interact Club.
What are Rotarians doing in their communities?
- Rotarian JonDarr Bradshaw is a former military aviator and contractor for the US Space Agency. Bradshaw, along with his wife, enjoy the Rotary for the opportunities it provides to do good things in the world. Bradshaw particularly enjoys reaching out to younger generations and inspiring them to make the world a better place. In addition to his job as a community outreach coordinator, he leads aerospace education programming in Cleveland, Ohio. He has been mentoring young students from urban cities in STEM fields for over 20 years. He currently volunteers with a high school robotics team that is working towards developing simple prothesis for children in Ecuador.
- Rotarian Roger Ackerman. Rotary clubs in North and South Carolina are raising money to fund early-stage research on Alzheimer’s disease. The effort is called “Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust’, or CART Fund. The idea for this fund came from South Carolina Rotarian Roger Ackerman in 1995. It started out as a simple coin collection among Rotarians during their meetings. Today, 41 Rotary districts contribute to the fund and they have raised $11.2 million dollars and funded 64 research grants.